A History of the United States National Outdoor Smallbore ... - Results

States, Great Britain, and Canada faced of in a shoulder-to-shoulder iron sight Dewar.
The United States ten man team, drawn from the top ten eligible shooters in the metallic
sight aggregate, featured most prominent names in prone shooting for the past several
decades. The United States sent six national champions to the line, Pres Kendall, Dave
Weaver, Mary Stidworthy, Lones Wigger, Dave Ross, and Ernie Vande Zande. The
1977 Civilian champion John Chapman joined Bob Mitchell, the service titlist from 1979.
The ninth and tenth shooters were Aaron Hupman, who had made his mark earlier in
the match with a 100-yard win and young Jesse Johnston, a product of the Blue Trail
Range shooting incubator. The Connecticut teenager, the youngest rifleman to ever
compete on a United States Pershing Team, was somewhat of an unknown quantity in
the rarefied atmosphere populated by national champions. The team was lead by
Captain Robert Smith, Adjutant Harry Hoy, and coaches William Summers and Herb
Hollister
In the past the Pershing was between the United States and Great Britain with
Canada the inevitable third place finisher, but this match would be different. Six United
States shooters cleaned the Dewar course and the other four shooters dropped just five
points between them for a match winning score of 3995-331X. The British and the
Canadians battled it down to the last target with each team coming up with a 3992. In
the end both teams from North America would beat the Mother Country when the
Canadians pulled ahead of Great Britain by six Xs.
The second half of the prone championships opened on weather that favored
sunburn as opposed to the frostbite of the first two days. The quality of the scores
reflected the fine weather. Black Hawk Rifle Club member John Reynolds, winner of
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