Early IPSC'er

In the first couple of years, the plates were not attached to the bar. When struck, they fell off of the support onto the ground or back into the hill side. That made the first year particularly muddy---here you can see one in the mud on the bank and another about to fall off of the support: This gives you an idea of conditions on the Mover Range: John Bianchi made an appearance at the range and even did alittle shooting: The final outcome of the 1st Bianchi Cup: Since you probably can't read that too easily, here are the results so that you can compare them to today's scores: 1. Ron Lerch 1816-62 2. Mickey Fowler 1799-71 3. Michael Murray 1795-46 4. David Bates 1792-57 5. Tom Campbell 1785-58 6. Jerry Usher 1784-52 7. Addison Clark 1767-45 8. Steve Hamilton 1755-60 9. Bill Wilson 1741-55 10. Jim Scordato 1739-44 11. William Norton 1727-49 12. Jim Baynes 1725-50 13. Kirk Kirkham 1714-43 14. Massad Ayoob 1703-36 15. Jim Cirillo 1686-86 16. John Shaw 1682-55 17. Ralph Pendleton 1674-40 18. Al Burnett 1672-60 19. Leonard Knight 1664-45 20. Arthur Melanson 1661-38 21. James Lenardson 1658-44 22. John Robbins 1640-43 23. Dick Crawford 1633-50 24. Lloyd Harper 1624-37 25. Ed Self 1618-38 26. Rick Miller 1616-35 27. Richard Watson 1615-45 28. Frank Coffey 1614-44 29. Archie Kirchner 1606-40 30. Buck Toddy 1598-37 31. Ken Hackathorn 1591-52 32. Art Jeffries 1546-42 33. Jim Joy 1541-38 34. Gasper DeFino 1539-42 35. Keith McClanahan 1533-49 36. Larry Gray 1530-27 37. Bob Crovatto 1529-21 38. Frank Triplett Jr. 1528-39 39. Roy Giles 1524-36 40. Mike Carmean 1513-42 41. Darrell Early 1510-41 42. Greg Moats 1508-36 43. Charles Grabbatin 1491-31 44. Robert Aldridge 1490-30 45. Lynn Schoening 1487-36 46. Wayne Freer 1486-34 47. Seth Nadel 1481-29 48. Lewis Sharp 1471-40 49. Mike Plaxco 1471-28 50. Roger Harrison 1470-30 51. John Robbins, Jr. 1448-29 52. Ed Martinez 1440-24 53. Dale Puckett 1430-31 54. Joseph Pascarrella 1420-23 55. Norvell Zeiger 1409-21 56. Michael Vogel 1406-28 57. Bill French 1404-33 58. Richard Archibald 1401-28 59. Victor Fields 1399-29 60. Sammy Puentes 1399-27 61. Joe Simcho 1398-26 62. Daniel Buchanan 1377-29 63. Dick Thomas 1365-26 64. Rick Phillips 1334-19 65. Richard Marx 1330-18 66. Bud Watson 1315-17 67. Robert Spring 1303-23 68. Brian Torgeson 1302-15 69. Harry Osborn 1292-28 70. Frank Behlert 1288-25 71. Royce Mullens 1274-14 72. Frank Murphy 1265-34 73. Werner Weissenhoffer 1261-12 74. Rick Remelen 1258-15 75. Eugene Carkoski 1256-27 76. Fred Nagel 1253-15 77. Wayne Harrison 1250-17 78. Guy Neill 1235-22 79. Bill Weatherman 1230-17 80. John Nowlin 1223-15 81. Raymond Treve 1210-26 82. Charles Funk 1203-15 83. Irv Stone 1188-20 84. Bill Tinsley 1188-19 85. William Palermo 1177-11 86. Tim Oliver 1175-14 87. Harper Creigh 1171-17 88. Walt Serth 1168-13 89. Thomas Dowd 1157-18 90. Jerome Duran 1151-22 91. Chuck Wilson 1034-13 92. Theodore Hunt 1027-10 93. Scott Heter 1009-16 94. Russell Rebouche 980-11 95. Peter Winnie 963-12 96. Art Benjamin 897-14 97. Bob Arganbright 861-13 98. John Nicolson 849-10 99. Heidi Lippmeir 823-8 100. Don Tobin 773-10 101. William Harton 713-10 102. Jim Woods 689-6 103. John Lightfoot 654-4

The first Bianchi Cup Champion Ron Lerch at the banquet: It looks like Sonny Bono was there, but that's Bill Wilson--he came in 9th IIRC At the head table-John Bianchi, Bill McMillan (guest of honor and speaker) and Dick Thomas. For some of you newer guys, you've possibly never heard of Dick Thomas. He was a lawyer there in Columbia, MO that did alot of work for a young up-and-coming dept. store called WalMart. Jeff Cooper credits Thomas with being the impetus for conceiving and organizing the original Columbia conference in 1976 which gave birth to IPSC. He's why it was held in Columbia. He's also the reason that there was a Chapman Academy. He and his buddy Raul Walters convinced Ray to move to Columbia when he retired in California and start the Chapman Academy. The three of them were partners initially although the partnership didn't last too long IIRC. I guess you could say that if there hadn't been a Chapman Academy, there wouldn't have been a Bianchi Cup, so w/o Thomas, it may have never happened---same with IPSC to a lesser degree. I'll get more shooting pics later.

The first Bianchi Cup (1979) was held before the range was really ready. The wall separating the moving target range from the falling plate range was new as were the walls concealing the beginning and ending locations of the mover. None of them were painted, nor were the newly erected barricades on the barricade stage. The location of the barricade stage and practical stage had recently been bulldozed flat and gravel had not been laid. It had rain prior to the shoot and those two ranges were a mess! Here's the Practical Range--berm was new and wide enough for 2 shooters---almost had to wade to the shooting postions. The first morning of the match, things were delayed while work was completed on the mover. Somewhere I had a pic of Leonard Knight up on one of the end barricades with a wrench, helping Ray tighten the guide wire. Some of us wheeled wheelbarrows of mulch onto the practical and barricade stages to help soak up the water and give the shooters something to stand on other than mud. The first morning, the barricade stage got started first. Heres the first relay. Unfortunately you cant see the shooter in the box on the right---its Kirk Kirkham who was the first U.S. IPSC champion in 1977. Im in the box on the leftwe got to shoot the first rounds of the first stage of the first Bianchi Cup (actually Kirk fired the first round, beating me to the draw quite easily). Here's a pic of the range looking toward the Barricade stage from door to the office. These guys are standing at the back of the Mover range.

Here are a few shoot off pictures. The first one is Raul Walters on the right and (I'm pretty sure) Chip McCormick on the left: Notice the go signal was a series of lights Jeff Cooper's philosophy was that all of the events of the tournament simply be used to determine who gets to shoot in the shoot off and that the shoot off was a "winner take all" affair. At the Section Coordinator's meeting in Park City, the section coordinators over-ruled him (which is an oxymoronic misterm--Cooper was NEVER overruled) but he agreed to make the shoot off a seperate event. That's why if you remember the American Handgunner article on the 79 Nationals--Mickey Fowler won the match but Seyfried is standing on the top box in the photo because he won the shoot off. Therefore a year or two later everyone wanted to see this pairing---Fowler and Seyfried: This picture really shows the difference in their stance and style---look at the differences in their shoulders and leg/feet postion as well as their head-tilt differences.

In a discussion of the early days on a previous thread, someone brought up the name Ray Neal. I first shot with Ray in Oceanside in 75 or 76---he came to the match with an 8 3/8" Model 29 in a shoulder holster--he was using stout ammo too. His arms were as big as my legs. Here he is on the straddle-wall: Seyfried on the Rhodesian Wall---this was probably the 3rd iteration of the obstacle---the first one that I recall was in Park City in the 79 Nationals---suddenly they were everywhere for a few years: Here's a close up of the holster that changed the sport. Seyfried was the first competitor to win with a non-muzzle-forward-rake holster during the 78 Nationals. He had Milt make a fancier one-notice his love of Africa demonstrated by the elephant-screw-head on the retention device. After this, the sport went thru a spasm of practicality--even compensated guns were carried in muzzle-rear-or-neutral holsters for a few years---I think that scopes pretty much killed the idea.

Ok by me, pm me first please.

Here's one of Mickey Fowler crawling up on the straddle-wall--targets were engaged from the top: Same scenario of Ray Chapman struggling to get there: Here's John Shaw entering the tunnel--there were two windows that targets were engaged thru. Notice he's covering his left arm with the muzzle---we're all fortunate that there were NOT ALOT of self inflicted wounds in those days: More later.

That's Tommy Campbell--he worked for S&W and used his own design "sternum" rig. It placed the gun approximately over the solar plexus. Since virtually all of the stages began from the surrender position, it wasn't a bad location. BTW, he kicked some serious butt using minor caliber in those days. I'm sure that I'll have some pics of his rig somewhere, but I've got literally 1000's of negatives and slides---it'll take some time.

Finally got a film scanner and ran a few old B&W negatives thru--unfortunately these came out in a sepia tone but I've subsequently learned to correct that. This first one is from the shootoff at the US IPSC (pre-USPSA) Nationals of either 80 or 81, pitting Tommy Campbell against our own Brian Enos (I think, that's you in the pic isn't it Brian---if not, it's an anorexic Robby!!) My two favorite competitors in the late 70's were Ross Seyfried and Ken Hackathorn, both of whom I became friends with. Here's one of Seyfried running an assault course and reloading on the run--had to pan the shot as he moved quickly!! Must have been the 80's Nationals as he's still wearing his lucky shirt. Here's a rare pic of Hackathorn and Jim Cirillo at the 1980 SOF shoot I'll post more later as I learn to master this thing. Found contact sheets from the 1980 Bianchi Cup--thought I had some from the first one, but can't place my hands on it yet.

I originally had contact sheets printed and just picked from those what I wanted enlarged---what I need is a machine that will take b&w developed film strips and convert to digital pictures---I understand that such machines exist but have no frame of reference for what they cost---any help would be appreciated.

The obvious one is Cooper in the background. Can't make out the face of SA hatted fellow and the one to the left of Cooper looks familiar but can't place a name. The guy in the tee-shirt whose face we can't see to the right of Cooper looks like Jerry Gore.

Wow, good call Vidar. There was a time when that pic would have been worth some serious black-mail money!! :-) I've got a bunch of b&w's from those early days but no way to digitalize them---great pic! Do you still shoot??

...just a short footnote, Vidar, Tommy Campbell was still shooting "super-gun" out of his sternum holster--or least he was in '78 and following. It was a 9mm which made him quite unique among the top US shooters and made his scores even more impressive. The following issue of American Handgunner had an interesting interview between Ayoob and Westerhout: http://www.americanhandgunner.com/1980/HJF80.pdf

I'm delighted that you liked the book, Brian. So far I've given a few to friends and family that are teachers as well as our Police Dept.s' firearms trainer. Great book.

Guy, sorry that I just now saw this post. My condolences. Knowing the quality of the son, the father can "report in" with a "job well done." Greg

Hi Guy, You moved to Oregon???? I was one of the Section Coordinators that voted for you when you ran against Jake Jatras. I never really cared for Jake much but he did report Kirk's passing with grace in his CSR/paper---he handled it quite well I thought.

Here's a link to an American Handgunner issue with an interview with Westerhout. Also coverage of the 79 US, IPSC Nationals. http://www.americanhandgunner.com/1980/HJF80.pdf

I had a good friend in the fairly early days named Roy Erwin (now deceased). He was a unique character to say the least and had fairly deep pockets. I met him in 78 or 79. He had 2 consecutively #'d fully tricked out Govt. Models by Armand Swenson, as well as a Swenson Commander and a Browning HP (the only Swenson HP that I've ever seen). They all had the classic Swenson stuff -- S&W K sights, squared/checkered trigger guard, full hard chrome, etc. Roy sent the HP back and had Armand put a long barrel in it which had two vertical ports, parallel (not perpendicular alla Magna-port) to the muzzle. When he got it back, Swenson had fitted a barrel bushing to the gun. That was all well and good but Roy couldn't take the gun apart and Swenson hadn't sent any directions on how to take the barrel out. Roy called Armand (I was fortunate enough to be there and hear the conversation) and asked him how to clean the gun since he couldn't get it apart. If any of you knew Swenson, he called everybody "Laddy" and was quite a guy. Armand couldn't remember how to take the gun apart and finally said, "Laddy send me the gun and I'll clean it for you." I guess that you had to be there at the time to find the humor in that, but it sure was funny at the moment. I remember that Walters got a HP tricked out by Pachmayr similar to his "Combat Special" .45, but never really used it much, although I don't remember why. IIRC, Ray Chapman shot it a few times in local matches, while he and Raul were still business partners. I don't recall anyone in the US doing well with a HP in the early days--of course Tommy Campbell was the utlimate minor caliber guru. At the 1979 Nationals in Park City he won a 1911, .45. When he went up front to accept it he said, "I know where I can get this converted to 9mm." He was/is a special guy.

Wow, that made me feel old. Looking at the list I knew (or had met) 10 of the top 25, a few of them I knew quite well. A name that I hadn't thought of for years was #19 Davis. Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure that was John (Jon?) Davis of Illinois -- any of you old timers remember him??? He was a loosey/goosey guy that reminded me of John Farnham. He ran a course once on the old MPPL range in Columbia, MO where the original IPSC conference was held in 76. He drove down and slept in his car on the range. He used a real beater of a 1911 that looked like it had been dragged behind a truck down a gravel road---shot lights out though. He, like Walters, had cat-like reflexes. IIRC he got into some kind of trouble and had to give up shooting---anybody here remember him or the story?????

Thanks, Dan. Looks like he charges $175 to anodize the frame--seems reasonable--I appreciate the lead.

Please forgive me if this has been covered in the past--I'm somewhat infrequent in my visits so this may have been dealt with already. I picked up a Lightweight Colt Defender the other day and would like to have the front strap and trigger guard checkered and the bottom of the mainspring housing and frame slightly rounded. In talking to my local gunsmith he said that he didn't know of anyone that he could send it to to re-anodize the frame when he was done doing the work and therefore suggested passing on the alterations as it would leave the frame "soft" in the checkered/rounded areas. I know that other gunsmiths have checkered/altered lightweight frames in the past. Does anyone here know of someplace that could re-anodize the frame???? OR is this really even necessary--I'm woefully ignorant of metallurgy. Thanks for your help.

Graham, I think that you would like a book that I just started reading, The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle. Gil Ash, the shotgun coach who is very much into the mental game, said that it was the best book that he's ever read on skill development and how we learn a skill vs. develop latent talent. I wish that I could fill in the details but I just got the book yesterday.

I guess you found it--this from you on Shotgun World :-)--worth all of us reading: A young man, a boastful champion challenged a Zen master who was renowned for his skill as an archer. The young man demonstrated remarkable technical proficiency when he hit a distant bull's eye on his first try, and then split that arrow with his second shot. He challenged the Zen master to face him. "There," he said to the old man, "see if you can match that!" Undisturbed, the master did not draw his bow, but rather motioned for the young archer to follow him up the mountain. Curious about the old fellow's intentions, the champion followed him high into the mountain until they reached a deep chasm spanned by a rather flimsy and shaky log. Calmly stepping out onto the middle of the unsteady and precariously hanging bridge, the old master picked a far away tree as a target, drew his bow, and fired a clean, direct hit. “Now please try”, Zen Master said as he gracefully stepped back onto the safe ground. Staring with terror into the seemingly bottomless and beckoning abyss, the young man could not force himself to step out onto the log, no less shoot at a target. "You have much skill with your bow," the master said, sensing his challenger's predicament, "but you have little skill with the mind that lets loose the shot."

...perhaps "comparing" and arriving at a "verdict" are seperate concepts. Comparing can be objective measurement, a "verdict" is however a judgement. ...although a trite and cliche example....popular wisdom said that it was physically impossible to run a mile in under 4 minutes---once it was done, it was done by many in a short time. The "comparison" in that case wasn't "limiting" but expanding, was it not??? ...although passe to you current competitors, it never hurts to keep an historical perspective, to wit---the roots of your/our activity go back to the Big Bear Leatherslaps which were all mano-a-mano. In this case there was no objective measurement apart from comparison. Even at the 1979 IPSC Nationals, we Section Coordinators had to petition Jeff Cooper to seperate the shoot off from the other events. His idea was that the entire match was only a precursor to dictate who would be allowed to compete in the man against man shootoff, and that the shootoff would ALONE determine the national champion. Had that not taken place, Mickey Fowler would not have been the 1979 champion.I guess my point is that comparison is not in and of itself counter to growth, developement or the zen of shooting. Assessing and judgement based on that comparison may be however. JMO.

I used to shoot in the old MPPL (Midwest Practical Pistol League) with Raul in the mid-late 70's. Some of you may not know that he's responsible in large part for the Chapman Academy. His close friend, Dick Thomas was the moving force behind the original IPSC Columbia conference in 1976. He and Hachathorne were buds and convinced Jeff to convene the conference. The reason that it was conducted in Columbia, MO was because Dick and Raul were there and made a central location available for everyone. Dick and Raul formed a business relationship, bought the land and set up the original Chapman Academy. The first class that Ray held (which I was fortunate enough to be in)--Ray was still commuting from California. Ray moved to Columbia and after a couple of years he and Dick and Raul had some disagreements and decided to split the blanket. It was awkward for awhile as Dick, Raul, Andy Langley and Ken Hackathorne formed a seperate organization called "Personal Safety" (or something like that) and also held classes at the Chapman Academy for awhile. Raul was a real race-horse--very competitive and extremely talented. I understand that he moved to California after the loss of one of his kids. I'd like to know anything about his passing, if any of you have info.