Erhardt

Kirksville’s Bragg Has Big Weekend Capturing Three Shooting Titles Sedro-Woolley, WA — If all he did was take the United States Practical Shooting Association’s (USPSA) Area 6 Limited Division title it would have been a big weekend for Emanuel “Manny” Bragg of Kirksville, Missouri. But shooting just one match wasn’t part of his plan so Bragg shot three matches, in three different time zones, in three days and won them all. On Friday, Bragg took the Limited Division title at USPSA Area 6 match in Covington, Georgia by winning four of the 12 stages and finishing in the top three in eight. He then flew to Ft. Collins, Colorado to compete Saturday in the Rocky Mountain 300 Championship where he finished High-Overall in Limited. On Sunday in Houston, Texas he again claimed the Limited title at the Space City Challenge. “This was what I call my ‘Ironman’ weekend,” said Bragg. “Taking on three matches across the country in just three days wears you down but coming out on top makes it all worthwhile.” Bragg, who competes under the Xtreme and STI team banners, is one of the country’s top Limited shooters. He also serves as the Area 3 Director for USPSA which encompasses the states of Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. “As an Area Director for USPSA, I appreciate the great effort that goes into putting together a major match. The volunteers and staff in Area 6 always run an exceptional and challenging competition, this being one of the toughest yet. I was lucky enough to win it two years ago and after a rather poor performance last year, returning to the ‘winner’s circle’ sure felt good,” explained Bragg. The USPSA Area 6 Championships were held at the South River Gun Club in Covington, Georgia. A total of 335 top shooters competed in USPSA’s Open, Limited, Limited-10, Production, Revolver and Single Stack divisions. – 30 – About USPSA: The United States Practical Shooting Association is a non-profit membership association affiliated with the International Practical Shooting Confederation (I.P.S.C.), which is comprised of approximately 67 nations. USPSA’s now 16,500+ members and 350 affiliated clubs make it the largest and fastest growing Practical Shooting sport.

Actually there are three operations run out of San Antonio. One is NSSA, the second is the National Sporting Clays Association (NSCA) and the third is the National Shooting Complex. Each is an independent entity with shared admin staffs. The complex is one of the best shooting ranges in the country with facilities for Trap, Skeet, Sporting Clays, 5-Stand as well as a large pistol range. They have a vendors row which is well supported during the big matches. They also bring in a lot of sponsorship dollars - far more than USPSA. They have several key industry people for their sport involved in the organization. Theirs is indeed a system to look at and "borrow" from their best practices. The same is true for Trap and the ATA. They have had some significant successes in the last couple years, most notably their coordination with the industry on the Scholastic Clay Target Program which pulls in 1,500 young shooters to the Grand American and significant financial support from those manufacturers who recognize the opportunities presented. In talking to Dave Thomas I know that he, the admin staff and the BoD are aware of the opportunities to learn from these other organizations and apply some of their tricks to the benefit of USPSA. That is the most refreshing aspect of USPSA. They are eager to learn from others and work with others for the benefit of the overall membership. - ERHARDT

The following is the official press release distributed yesterday announcing the match. - ERHARDT USPSA Acquires Steel Challenge Sedro-Woolley, WA — The United States Practical Shooting Association announced that it has acquired the Steel Challenge and the Steel Challenge Shooting Association from founders Mike Dalton and Mike Fichman. “The Steel Challenge is a natural fit for USPSA and we look forward to both growing the match as well as Steel Shooting in general,” said Dave Thomas, Executive Director of USPSA. “One of our primary goals is to greatly expand the role of the Steel Challenge Shooting Association here in the US and internationally. Working closely with our more than 16,000 members and 350 affiliated clubs, we see a very bright future for the Steel Challenge.” The Steel Challenge World Speed Shooting Championships were founded in 1981 with just 70 shooters competing for $20,000 in cash and prizes that first year. In the 26 years since, the match has grown to become one of the crown jewels of the shooting circuit and the premier professional pistol competition with more than 220 of the world’s fastest shooters competing for over $390,000 in cash and prizes in 2007. “We founded the Steel Challenge out of our love for the shooting sports. We wanted a match that was challenging and fun but would also be easily understood by non-shooters who would see the competition and find within themselves a greater desire to join the shooting sports,” said Mike Fichman. “The fact that today the Steel Challenge is the premier shooting competition with competitors travelling from around the world to compete gives us great pride. We have watched this match grow far beyond what we could have ever imagined 26 years ago. However, we realized that our once small match is now at a point that requires greater resources to move to the next level and USPSA has the expertise and organizational structure to do just that,” said Mike Dalton. Mike Dalton and Mike Fichman, regarded as two of the most accomplished shooting event organizers and promoters, will stay on through the 2008 championships to insure a smooth transition with sponsors and competitors as well as train USPSA personnel on running the Steel Challenge. Dalton and Fichman will also serve as Match Directors for the 2008 Steel Challenge which will again be held in Piru, CA, August 14-17. – 30 – About USPSA: The United States Practical Shooting Association is a non-profit membership association affiliated with the International Practical Shooting Confederation (I.P.S.C.), which is comprised of approximately 67 nations. USPSA’s 16,000+ members and 350 affiliated clubs make it the largest and fastest growing Practical Shooting sport. About the Steel Challenge: The Steel Challenge will be held Thursday through Sunday, August 14-17 in Piru, CA. To learn more about the Steel Challenge visit the Web site at www.steelchallenge.com where you will find diagrams of the stages of fire, complete listing of the 2007 results, past champions and more.

With all due respect, I think you're casting aspersions on people based on very limited knowledge of the actual process. Listening to one podcast that is now 4 days old and then making assumptions about what you heard is unfair. This process took nearly 2 months to complete and included research into the match. There were at least 2 other potentials buyers and would have been more if word had spread. I can tell you based on conversations with Mike Dalton held before USPSA was involved that the selection of the new owner was taken very seriously with the future of the match in mind. They also wanted to move quickly to complete the sale prior to SHOT so the new owners could prepare the industry and sponsors for the change. Fichman and Dalton did not build up the match to simply watch it collapse. They had a vision of what the Steel Challenge and the SCSA could become in the shooting sports world. They realized they did not have the resources to execute that vision but saw that USPSA did. USPSA knew the they would not have every answer to how to handle the match, rules, growth and so on, and they wisely opted to retain Dalton and Fichman as consultants to help them with that process. They will also serve as match directors for 2008. To say that the BoD did not know what they were getting or that it was pushed on them is wrong and borders on being malicious. While you may not know the details or understand the reasons behind this move you should not assume that those involved were equally blind. - ERHARDT

I neglected to mention one exceptionally important bit of press coverage which is Michael Bane's Shooting Gallery. I don't list his show since I can't take credit for generating that bit of press coverage. That credit goes solely to Michael. - ERHARDT

I can answer that question for you. In 2003 I did the press for the match. I sent out one media advisory and 27 individual press releases. The result was 25 total stories in 22 outlets which included 2 TV stations. The total circulation/viewership was over 2.8 million and the earned media value was over $46,889.60. The biggest part of that came from a story on KABC CH-7 which ran in the 5:30pm news block during the sports coverage. The piece lasted 4 minutes and 4 seconds and had an estimated 479,076 viewers. In 2004 I was not able to do the same amount of work on the match due to my new job at the time but did coordinate a video news release and had KC Eusebio interviewed live on Fox News Channel. Below is a list of the media outlets that ran stories in 2003 on the match. To address your point about why they bought the match, while the driving force was not "exposure" it is a key element. Having handled the press on the Scholastic Clay Target Program where I generated 151 stories in 2002 and 276 stories in 2003, I called Dalton and asked to do the press for the match in 2003 to prove the PR system would work for any kind of match. The result I noted above. The Steel Challenge presents one of the best PR opportunities for the pistol shooting sports and USPSA is prepared to take advantage of that opportunity to grow the sport. These same PR tactics will be applied to USPSA matches as well. FWIW the announcement about the acquisition by USPSA was carried on Michael Bane's podcast, The Outdoor Wire, The Shooting Wire, Tom Gresham will cover on Gun Talk, it should run in Bullet Points, Russ Thurman at Shooting Industry said he'd run it and Jeff John at GUNS emailed me to let me know he'll probably run it as well. That'll be well over 400,000 circulation/listeners when it is all said and done assuming nobody else decides to mention it (which I doubt). For an organization with 16,000+ members that's 24x in potential members we're talking to. And this is only the beginning. - PAUL ERHARDT 2003 Outlets Covering the Steel Challenge KABC KWCH Ch.12 (Wichita, KS) McPherson Sentinel (KS) North Country Times (Escondido, CA) Tracy Press (CA) Clanton Advertiser (Clanton, AL) East Valley Tribune (Mesa, AZ) Reno Gazette-Journal (NV) Merced Sun-Star (CA) Daily News (Los Angeles, CA) Fillmore Herald Atlanta Journal Constitution The Record (Stockton, CA) Outdoors Arizona Outdoors In America Tuscaloosa News (AL) Bullet Points (NSSF Newsletter) Inland Valley Daily Bulletin (Ontario, CA) ArmedFemalesofAmerica.com San Gabriel Valley Tribune (West Covina, CA) Sunnyvale Sun (CA) Outdoor Life

JIM - Not too many people reading this thread really understand how important your opinion is. I am glad you did chime in. Like you I knew about the sale early on and spoke to Dalton at some length about who is interested in buying the match and who I thought would be good and why. Each potential buyer had strengths and weaknesses but overall USPSA was the most logical choice to continue on with Dalton and Fichman's vision. Obviously they saw it that way too. In talking to Dalton I told him how important it would be for he and Fichman to guide the transition with shooters, sponsors and running the match itself. He understood completely that their knowledge base was needed to make it work. This sale was not as much about money as it was about preserving the future of the Steel Challenge. And that future isn't one of maintaining its current position but growing to the next level. The Dalton/Fichman vision of the shooting sports is grand in scope and anybody thinking about an admin role in the shooting sports should sit down with them. USPSA understands this very well. The members of the BoD that have spoken up here deserve a lot of credit. They made the right decision(s) about the Steel Challenge and have taken a raft of sh*t from some people here with far more composure than I would. This should tell those doubting this whole move a little about the people they elected to run USPSA. As for the future of the Steel Challenge, in my conversations with Dave Thomas at no time was there any suggestion that the match would be changed. It wasn't even an issue. Dalton and Fichman are held in the highest regard and were brought in as consultants to educate USPSA personnel on the organization of the match. They will be at SHOT to help with sponsors. They will also serve as match directors in 2008. In 2007 the Steel Challenge reached $390,000 in cash and prizes and got to the point where, without the help of staff and infrastructure, Dalton and Fichman could not take it much further. They'd be the first to admit that. They knew now was the right time to make the transition because the match is the strongest it has ever been and has momentum. Dalton and Fichman also have enough passion and energy for this match that they can work to transition the match correctly. I know that the people at USPSA headquarters are very excited about the Steel Challenge. I know Dalton and Fichman are excited about the possibilities that exist with the resources at USPSA's disposal. While some people take this opportunity to dream up the negative possibilities, the reality is that the Steel Challenge has such a strong core of support made up of people like you, Jim, and others that would step in to help at a moment's notice out of love for the match and for Dalton and Fichman, that I find it hard to imagine anything but success. And hell, you know I'm already updating my PR plan I drew up in 2004 without even having to be asked or told to. Some day in the future when there are large Steel Challenge matches going on throughout the country and an association of shooters clamoring to see their national ranking on Smoke & Hope and how far behind KC they are, we'll look back at this moment and think, "What the hell was I worried about. This was a great move." - PAUL ERHARDT