Archery Icon The Official Newsletter of The Archery Hall of Fame & Museum, Inc. Volume 3 • Number 1 • Spring - 2010
Allen, Asbell, Compton, and Gandy chosen for induction into the Archery Hall of Fame, Class of 2010
olless Wilber Allen, the person whose compound bow inven- Htion revolutionized the world of archery, and tournament great, Frank Gandy, have been chosen to be inducted into the Archery Hall of Fame, Class of 2010.
Joining them will be G. Fred Asbell, whose involvement in archery over the past 4 decades Holless Allen directly impacted the archery and Innovator / Inventor the bowhunting community. Contributor to the Sport
G. Fred Asbell Rounding out the class Bowhunter of 2010 will be Will “Chief “ Compton, who along with Ishi and Pope and Young, paved the way for the bow- hunters of today.
How fitting that Asbell and Compton will be inducted in the same class as Fred currently is president of the Compton Traditional Bow- hunters, named for Chief Compton.
The Archery Hall of Fame is proud to welcome G. Fred Asbell, Holless Wilber Allen, William “Chief” Compton Frank Gandy and Frank Gandy. Competitor Will “Chief” Compton Contributor to the sport Continued on Page 3 Continued from Page 1 tally check off the names of other past and future AHOF From The President individuals who turned up at the Anderson clinics which I attended. DEER STANDS AND TURKEY BLINDS can be ideal There was my longtime friend and AHOF founder, places for personal reflec- Dave Staples, whom I inducted posthumously into the tion and introspection. This is especially true on those unaccountably quiet woodland morn- ings when wily bucks and elusive longbeards are busy elsewhere and even the ubiquitous squirrels and forest birds have abandoned your favorite hunting site. It was on precisely such an M. R. James uneventful morning this past May, with not a single gobble to be heard echoing from the hills surrounding my camouflaged blind and turkey decoys, that I found my wandering mind recalling the International Bowhunting Clinic gatherings Archery Hall of Fame in early 2009; another good friend, once held each June in Grand Ledge, Michigan. There I Jim Dougherty, whom I had the pleasure of inducting in eagerly spent much anticipated and enjoyable three-day 1997; “Mr. Compound Bow,” Tom Jennings and knowl- weekends joining in the company of some of our sport’s edgeable archery pro Sherwood Schoch; talented archer finest and best known archers. Among the Clinic headlin- Ann Clark, another dear friend whose shooting demon- ers were a number of bowhunters and archers with close strations always awed the onlookers; archery’s technical ties to the Archery Hall of Fame. guru, Norb Mullaney; hunting legend, Chuck Adams; my good pal and Bowhunter magazine co-founder, Don For those readers who may not know Michigan history, Clark; Dr. Dave Samuel, a friend and Bowhunter contrib- the family-run Anderson Archery Corporation opened utor since the early ‘70s, whom I was proud to induct into its doors for business in the 1950s with J. D. Anderson the AHOF in 2007; and Michigan’s own Floyd Eccleston, at the helm. The business archery historian and broadhead collector extraordinaire. grew to be advertised as “the world’s largest Perhaps other Hall of Famers and AHOF officers archery center.” By the turned up at the Anderson Clinics over the years, but late 1970s, Anderson those named above are the ones I distinctly recall. And Archery launched its first by the late 1990s when Anderson Archery finally closed, annual Bowhunting Clinic. the list of well known bowhunters and archers appearing It featured dealer booths, there reads like a Who’s Who of Modern Archery His- movies and instructional tory. That once-popular Michigan event certainly helped seminars, bow checks and give rise to the currently successful, annual celebrity clin- tune-ups, and the oppor- ics sponsored by Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s, as well as tunity to meet and chat the Deer and Turkey Shows that attract tens of thousands with industry personalities to yearly gatherings in states where hunting is a way of such as the legendary Fred life for millions. Bear. Several thousand Admittedly, I’d rather have called a strutting gobbler people showed up. And at their peak of popularity in the that spring morning earler this year. However, when that 1980s, the yearly Anderson Clinics drew weekend crowds didn’t happen, I found that a pleasant walk down memory upwards of 20,000 bowhunters and target archers. lane proved to be the next best thing for a graybeard bow- Sitting in my turkey blind, I thought of the swarms of hunter whose remembrances of shining times with friends people Papa Bear attracted and how he patiently signed and fellow archers proved to be a true treasure indeed. countless autographs, shook extended hands, and posed for endless photos. Remembering, I also tried to men- Continued from Page 1
Holless Wilber Allen neighbor. Innovator / Inventor / Contributor to the Sport “What if,” he thought, “I positioned the pul- ley’s pivot hole off-center?” That was it! Within It’s hard to imagine that any two days, Wilbur Allen had built and tested his other single invention has so im- compound bow. It was crude, even by Allen’s pacted a sport like the compound standards – the eccentrics were of wood, the bow has influenced archery. But handle of pine boards, limb cores of oak flooring, Holless Wilbur Allen’s new bow welded T-bolts held it together with the help of design did just that – it revolu- Elmer’s Glue and epoxy-impregnated fiberglass tionized archery and bowhunt- threads. But, it worked! ing. The invention didn’t come easy. Allen achieved significant increase in arrow Allen, a mild mannered Missou- speed over a recurve bow of equal draw weight, rian, was frustrated, like many relaxation of draw weight at full draw of 15%, bowhunters, that whitetail deer and a bow that would shoot lighter arrows than could jump out of the way of his slow-moving hunting the equivalent recurve. His compound pro- arrows. He set about trying to increase arrow speed by duced impressive performance. building bows and testing his ideas. He built a recurve Allen filed for a patent on his new bow on June bow, laminated with fiberglass, which he bonded to the 23, 1966. It was granted in 1969. By 1977, limb core with epoxy. No luck. He tried fabricating a there were 100 different models of compound long handled bow with very short, extremely recurved bows available, only 50 recurves. After only limbs to increase arrow speed. Again, no increase in eight years in production, two thirds of the mar- speed. He tried shooting a short, light weight arrow ket was in compound bows. down a track attached to his bow and got some in- Holless Wilbur Allen had laboriously contrived crease in speed but poor penetration; this testing broke a rather complicated device that performed a his bow, too! But nothing gave him the speed he was relatively simple task – shoot an arrow fast. He looking for. fought hard to get approval from state game Wilbur Allen agencies for his new bow to be used for hunting was a tinkerer, and succeeded. Likewise, competitive archery a problem-solver organizations finally approved the compound always bent on for tournament shooting. using what materi- als were available The rest is history. to find remedies. Once, his son Douglas relates, Wilbur was a G. Fred Asbell counselor on a Boy Bowhunter Scout camp-out on Missouri’s Osage G. Fred Asbell began shooting a bow in 1961 River when the following military service. Two years later he word came into camp that the white bass were biting. was elected President of the Deer Creek Archers He’d left all of his fishing gear at home so he drove to in Cloverdale, Indiana, and in 1965 was ap- the nearest town, bought a forty-nine cent fishing rod, pointed Bowhunting Director of the 3,000-mem- some ten-cent lures and a small spool of line. Not want- ber Indiana Field Archery Association. As his ing to spend $15 on a new fishing reel, Wilbur bought interest in bowhunting steadily grew, Fred a thirty-nine cent egg beater, rigged it up to a coffee can became the founding President of the Indiana and limited out on bass in short order! Bowhunters Association in 1966, a position he held until 1970 when a job transfer took him Such was the innovative spirit that drove Wilbur Al- to Colorado. There he soon became a director of len to wile away the hours contemplating a better way the newly formed Colorado Bowhunters Associ- of building a bow that would shoot arrows faster. It aition. really comes as no surprise, then, that lightening would strike one evening in 1966 while Wilbur was studying It was in the Centennial State during the his drawings of a pulley bow, designed after reading up 1970s and 1980s that Fred’s passion for bow- on kinetic energy in a physics book borrowed from a hunting took root even as his organizational and In 1999, Fred was a founding director of Compton leadership skills blossomed. Over Traditional Bowhunters and two those decades he enjoyed a variety years later was elected President of of accomplishments that directly the traditional organization which impacted the archery and bowhunt- currently has 1,200 members across ing communities. These included: North America. He also organized Wing Archery Advisory Represen- the Compton Traditional Rendez- tative, Director, Pope & Young vous, which has become one of the Club, Hunting Editor, Bowhunter world’s largest archery events. The Magazine, Contributor, Profes- annual Michigan-based gathering sional Bowhunters Society Maga- recently attracted more than 7,000 zine, Founder/President Bighorn interested and enthusiastic indi- Bowhunting Co., Makers of Custom viduals. Bows, President, Pope & Young During the past half century, Club, Author of the Book, Instic- Fred bowhunted in 32 states and tive Shooting, 75,000 Copies, 9 Canadian provinces, as well as 2 reprinted 6 times and published in 3 African countries, harvesting 19 foreign languages, plus english. separate species of big game. Trav- While President of the Pope and eling widely, Fred has routinely Young Club, Fred led the reorga- presented shooting and bowhunting nization effort that resulted in the seminars for decades; he also has establishment of a permanent home in Chatfield, Min- been a regular guest speaker at state and local bowhunt- nesota. He oversaw the purchase of the Club’s current ing banquets throughout North America. Since 2000, he headquarters and museum facility, as well as the pur- has presented annual Shooting/Tuning Schools at Black chase and eventual relocation of the Seattle-based Glenn Widow Bow Co. in Nixa, Missouri. St. Charles Museum to Minnesota. Under Fred’s direc- A visionary archer, bowhunter, and leader who possess- tion, the Pope and Young Club became financially stable, es an obvious sense of history and a deep appreciation for advancing from a hunting club operating in the red to a the pioneers of our sport, Fred himself has long served as club with more than $1 million in banked assets. Today an articulate and tireless ambassador, earning his rightful P&Y is widely recognized as one of the nation’s most place beside the men and women previously recognized prestigious pro-hunting and pro-conservation organiza- for their own service and contributions. tions. An excellent writer, William “Chief” Compton Fred has published Contributor to the Sport more than 500 articles William John Compton was born September 28, 1863 for a variety of state in Flint, Michigan but at the age of seven, his family and national publica- moved to Norfolk, Nebraska, where the young Will lived tions during the past among the Sioux Indians. 35 years. These include From the Sioux he learned Bowhunter, Traditional the ways of making bows Bowhunter Maga- and arrows, and of hunt- zine, Field & Stream, ing with these weapons. Sports Afield, Pe- He also gained much wis- tersen’s Hunting, and dom and learned humility, Petersen’s Bowhunt- traits that would influence ing, plus others. Fred fol- his pattern of life for many lowed the success of his best-selling Instinctive Shooting years to come. (1986) with two other widely acclaimed books: Instinc- tive Shooting II (1991) and Stalking and Still-Hunting In September of 1877, at (1998). The former book sold 35,000 copies and was the age of 14, he shot his reprinted 4 times, while the latter sold 25,000 copies. first deer. Later that same Fred also produced a complementary video, Instinctive year he took another deer Shooting (1991), with some 15,000 copies in circulation. with his bow. In the next He currently serves as Shooting Editor of Traditional few years Will would take Bowhunter Magazine. up to 20 deer, four ante- lope, two elk and a bison,