U. S. International Shooting Championships
Phoenix, Arizona

Shooters in tourney

Some of the finest marksmen from the United States and several foreign countries will compete in the 17th annual U.S. International Shooting Championships at Maricopa County's Black Canyon Shooting Range during the next two weeks.

An estimated 150 shooters from the U.S., Canada, Australia, South Africa adn other nations have been invited.

They will be competing as amateurs for points toward international standings, match medals, trophies and as part of overall competition for berths on the U.S. Olympic Shooting team and other national teams.

Firing begins today with zeroing in of shooting equipment. Competition begins at 7 a.m. Monday with matches in standard pistol, air rifle, English adn small-bore rifle (prone) matches.

Other championship events scheduled during the competition include free pistol, air pistol, center fire pistol, ladies' smallbore pistol, rapid fire pistol, smallbore rifle (three-position), smallbore free rifle (three-position), free rifle 300 meter, and big bore rifle.

Some air rifle matches will be conducted in the basement of Metrocenter, where wind and temperature conditions can be carefully controlled.

Spectators are welcome at the Black Canyon range, which is located on Carefree Highway about a half mile west of Black Canyon Freeway. There is no admission charge.

Arizona Republic, Phoenix, Arizona, Sunday, June 12, 1977, Page D12

Anderson wins a real shootout

Lt. Terrence Anderson, New Orleans, La., held on Friday to win the rapid fire pistol event of the 17th U.S. international shooting championships at Black Canyon shooting range, despite a late charge by defending champion William McMillan of Del Mar, Calif.

Anderson, a member of the National Guard pistol team, posted a three-day total of 1768 points after finishing with a 589 Friday. McMillan, the only American to win a gold medal in the Olympic Games in the event, improved steadily with each round and finished with 1762 points, after checking with 591 Friday. Oddly enough, he won this match last year with the same score posted by Anderson.

Both men will be members of the U.S. international shooting team which will compete in the Confederation of the Americas championships at Mexico City in November. Joining them on the squad is Sp5 Melvin Makin, an Army reservist from Aumsville, Ore., who finished third with 1761 points.

Capt. Margaret Murdock, also an Army reservist, from Topeka, Kans., won the women's championship of the smallbore standard rifle 3-position match with a total of 1725 points.

Karen Monez of Fort Worth, Tex., was runnerup with 1708 points and Linda Baily, Hayward, Calif., was third with 1680 points. They, with a fourth member to be named today, will comprise the women's rifle squad of the U.S. team.

The open championship was captured by Capt. Boyd Goldsby, USAR, Little Rock, Ark., as he posted his second straight 566-point effert and an aggregate of 1710 points.

Army reservist Sp5 David Kimes, Huntingon Beach, Calif., was runnerup with 1701 points and Maj. Thurston Banks, USAR, Cookeville, Tenn., was third with 1697 oints.

The three juniors also qualified for the U.S. shooting team.

Arizona Republic, Phoenix, Arizona, Saturday, July 18, 1977, Page D13

The 17th U.S. International Championships

Paradoxically, the very qualities and nuances that make competitive shooting an intriguing sport simultaneously serve to prevent its practitioners from achieving the acclaim afforded those athletes you can see each Monday night during prime time. The television networks find it much simpler to record successes gained between hash marks and foul lines than to document "the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat" realized by shooters, those athletes whose efforts are measured between concentric circles only millimeters apart.

Shooters, in this country at least, unfortunately fare only slightly better in news print. Compared to their counterparts in other sports, who, it often seems, spend as much time appearing in commercials and courtrooms as they do on the playing fields, shooters are old-fashioned. They compete for the personal challenge, for the love of their sport and for the recognition of their peers.

It's in pursuit of these goals that the nation's finest rifle and pistol shooters come to the Black Canyon Range just north of Phoenix, Ariz., each year to compete in the NRA-sponsored U.S. International Shooting Championships.

This year's 17th Internationals doubled as the final tryouts for berths on the U.S. team which this November will travel to Mexico City to compete in the II Confederation of the Americas Championships. The running target team members were selected earlier, based on competition held at Ft. Benning, Ga., and the shotgun shooters were chosen at Pacific, Mo.

More than 250 competitors spent June 12-24 at Black Canyon this year, as guests of the Maricopa County Parks and Recreation Dept. The county provided the facilities, and a dedicated band of NRA Member/volunteers provided the logistical support without which there could be no championships.

Competing in desert temperatures that frequently approached 110°, one might think that rapid-fire pistol would be the most attractive event - shoot fast and head for the nearest swimming pool. Whatever their reasoning, 54 competitors entered this year's championship, and first round action found Army Reserve Capt. and sometime banjo player Robert Merritt of Philomath, Oreg., taking match honors at 588. Trailing Merritt by a point and just ahead of a pack of fellow handgunners was Rev. William Hare of Renfrew, Ontario, who shot the best score of his career, 587.

The standings changed dramatically the second day as Terry Anderson, the managing director of a construction firm in New Orleans, completed the round having dropped only two points at 6 sec. and four at 4 sec. for a 594 and a two-day total of 1179. Alone in second after rounds of 586 and 591 was Mel Makin of Aumsville, Oreg.; his 1171 total gave him a six-point edge over perennial rapid-fire champ Bill McMillan of San Diego.

Anderson finished with 589 and a three-day tally of 1768. Makin, on the previous relay, had concluded with 1761, so McMillan, shooting on the relay after the leader, became the only man who could prevent Anderson from taking his second Black Canyon rapid-fire crown. McMillan posted the final day's top score, but his 591 left him six points shy of overtaking the leader; the defending champ had to settle for second place.

Excerpt from the American Rifleman, Vol. 125, No. 9, September 1977