“Match equipment which was originally acquired to support the National Matches is made available by the National Board for the Promotion of Rifle Practice to aid in operations of the National Rifle and Pistol Championships this year.”
—1971 NRA National Rifle and Pistol Championships Program
In 1971, the centennial anniversary of the National Rifle Association of America, the organization’s commitment to marksmanship development and competitive shooting was as fervent as it was in 1871 when locating a range and establishing annual contests was a top priority.
The summer schedule at Camp Perry in 1971 was the fourth straight where the NRA National Rifle and Pistol Championships were conducted with no military financial or personnel support. Yet, as stated in the match program: “The tradition of the National Matches … is being carried on by the NRA who, with the cooperation of the State of Ohio and the many NRA volunteers at Camp Perry, will conduct the NRA Rifle and Pistol Championships, four of the National Trophy Matches, a Police Firearms Instructor School and the NRA Instructor-Junior School.”
Nearly 2,300 entries were processed in the Camp Perry statistical office and more awards were presented to non-military competitors than at any national championship in recent memory. But it was the relatively poor performance overall of a nine-member test group, comprising seven military and two civilian shooters in the National Trophy Individual Rifle Match, that drew the attention of everyone with an interest in marksmanship development.
“… because the M-16 series rifle has become the standard in many segments of the Armed Forces, it is appropriate that the Board support its use in competition.”
—Vice Admiral Lloyd Mustin in a July 30, 1971, letter to the National Board President/Under Secretary of the Army
During the National Board for the Promotion of Rifle Practice’s April 1971 meeting, the M16 rifle was authorized for use in Board-sponsored competition. A committee, chaired by Vice Admiral and future NRA President (1977-1979) Lloyd Mustin, was also designated at that time to study the applicable rule changes to Army Regulations (AR 920-30) as they pertained to the new service arm. As the National Championships drew closer, Mustin recommended that M16 shooters be allowed to provide and fire any safe ammunition. It was in a July memo to the National Board for the Promotion of Rifle Practice Executive Committee that Mustin addressed the need for improved 5.56 mm ammunition, given its inadequacy at longer ranges. He said that “it would be highly undesirable from the standpoint of the Board’s objectives and intentions if this summer’s initial competitive appearance of the M-16 resulted in scores grossly affected by poor ammunition.”
The use of handloads in the experimental firing was not enough to make up for the fact that shooters had no prior experience with the new service arm and no opportunity to zero for record. Combined with overall windy conditions, it's no surprise that low scores overshadowed the M16 debut at the National Matches.
Before the historic test fire took place, however, Match Director Louis Lucas had his hands full with almost a month’s worth of shooting activity that featured the regular complement of pistol, smallbore and high power in addition to shotgun and air gun side events, plus another scheduled firing of the prestigious Palma Trophy Team Match.
“An increased number of non-military competitors, male and female, took top honors this year.”
—The American Rifleman, October 1971
Some of the nation’s top shooters were not at the National Matches in 1971. Instead, they were in South America in Columbia, representing the United States at the Pan American Games. Marine Warrant Officer Frank Higginson was not able to defend his national pistol crown due to the concurrent firing of the two events, although he did bring home a gold medal from Colombia.
In 1971, the Harrison Trophy for national pistol honors went to Army Staff Sgt. John Smith, a recent returnee from Vietnam. Smith also collected the Clarke Trophy for the Center Fire Championship on his way to a 2629-113X score and the national title. Staff Sgt. Barbara Hile, a six-time women’s service rifle national champion in the 1960s, exhibited her ability to successfully cross over disciplines when she laid claim to the first of her five straight national pistol titles in 1971.
The Army’s strong presence in pistol carried into the Board Matches as Sgt. 1st Class Harland Rennolds, the Orton Trophy winner in the .45 Caliber Championship the day before, won the Custer Trophy for the National Trophy Individual Match. U.S. Army Western Region then finished atop the field of 36 contenders in the National Trophy Team Match.
When the 355 smallbore prone competitors took to the line in 1971, they stretched nearly half of a mile from the first firing point to the last. The shooters had plenty of room to spread out, a firing point being six feet wide, but they were tightly packed at the top of the scoreboard. Prone is a demanding discipline and in most cases, just a few Xs separate the winners from the also rans.
Among the iron-sight match winners was a man who was no stranger to prone shooting, albeit of a different kind. Navy Petty Officer Thomas Treinen, who posted a victory at 50 yards, was the 1,000-yard Wimbledon Cup winner the year before with a score that erased a 61-year-old record.
After all scores were tallied, Tricia Foster was awarded the Hoppe Memorial Trophy as the 1971 Metallic Sight Prone Champion. It had been 15 years since a woman had won a major title (Viola Pollum, Metallic Sight Smallbore Champion) and for Foster, the win fueled her drive toward the women’s national prone title.
George Stidworthy emerged as the any-sight champion by a substantial four-point margin despite not winning a single match. But it was Marine Reserve Sgt. John Comley who combined his second-place finish with his third place iron-sight score to claim the national prone title. The new champion was most recently engaged in shooting the service rifle when on active duty but, living on the GI Bill and a small retainer from his school for teaching rifle shooting in physical education classes, found smallbore more favorable to his student-sized budget. Stidworthy finished as high civilian while J. Kenneth Johnson—the 1956 champion—walked across the stage this year as the top senior competitor.
Like Frank Higginson in pistol, John Writer’s presence at the Pan American Games in Colombia prevented him from defending a national title, in his case smallbore position. In fact, several prominent smallbore shooters did not make it back in time to compete at Perry. One exception was Lones Wigger, Jr., who, after securing a silver medal in Colombia, pulled out his wallet, bought a ticket on a commercial flight and left his Pan Am teammates waiting for the team flight back to the United States. Once in Miami, Wigger borrowed a car from a friend and set his sights north for the National Matches.
By the end of the first day of competition, the sleep deprived but fiercely competitive Wigger relaxed in the glow of a 797-63X metallic-sight score that had bettered the previous record by two. But Wigger’s satisfaction was quickly replaced by astonishment when he learned that his record stood for just a few minutes. Mary Keys, a petite 17-year-old student from Virginia, had topped him by a point. Shooting a standard rifle, the junior cleaned the three lower positions and closed with a 198 standing for an aggregate 798-51X.
Wigger came back the next day and captured both any-sight matches to finish with a 3178-223X aggregate, just one point below the national championship record he had set in 1966. It was Wigger’s sixth position title and Keys, to no one’s surprise, won the women’s championship. Ray Carter earned civilian honors while Fred Roeding was high senior. Junior champion Ron Plumb finished third overall.
After Wigger drove home to Montana, he boarded a plane and returned to Vietnam. His trips to Colombia and Camp Perry in 1971 took place while on one of his earned breaks during his tour of duty in Southeast Asia. Over the course of two tours in the combat zone, Wigger parlayed his leave time into appearances at two national championships and one Pan Am Games. “Not too bad” was Wigger’s modest reply when asked to describe his globe-trotting competitive exploits that bore one national title and an international silver medal.
Several names atop the scoreboard in high power were pick-ups from the year prior: Ronald Troyer defended his national title, USMC Chief Warrant Officer Robert Goller topped the service field, Pauline Tubb was high woman while her son David repeated as high junior. The lone exception among the major category awards was senior champion, which in 1971 went to Sgt. 1st Class Gerritt Stekeur of the National Guard.
Troyer’s second consecutive title run began with victories in the 200-yard Members Trophy and 600-yard Army Cup Matches, half of the events that comprised the President’s Match Aggregate. The other championship aggregate, the Nevada Trophy Match, was won by Gary Anderson, who pushed the record score up another eight points with his 789-36X. Along the way, Anderson fired an impressive record score of 200-15X in the 200-yard standing Navy Cup Match.
For Troyer and Anderson, it was a fine showcase of talent that would have lasting impact on the National Matches. Over a seven-year stretch this decade, they won five national high power championships between them. Anderson, already an established international phenom with two gold medals in 300-meter competition at the 1964 and 1968 Olympics and possessor of the 1967 national smallbore position title, was still four years away from the first of his two consecutive national high power titles.
Service shooters won both long-range matches as Army Sgt. 1st Class Charles Davis and Marine Chief Warrant Officer G.N. Crane claimed the Wimbledon Cup and Leech Cup, respectively. And it was the Marines who ended an almost decade-long dry spell in the Enlisted Men’s Trophy Team Match with their victory in 1971, while the California State team repeated as Rumbold Trophy winners.
In National Board competition, which featured the inaugural firing of the M16, Navy Reserve Cmdr. Charles Schroeder won the National Trophy Individual Rifle Match firing an M14, while team honors went to the Army Marksmanship Training Unit.
1971 National Matches Facts
NRA National Championship medallions were added to the award schedule in 1971, which already included the trophy, firearm and brassard. Also, a Collegiate category was added to the high power rifle special award schedule, with Eric St. John the first honored recipient.
Though muzzleloading opportunities at the National Matches were first introduced on an informal basis back in the 1920s, the NRA placed a special emphasis on the historic firearm in the 1970s. An organized program of events was initiated in 1953 and by 1971, the match schedule had grown to the point where a separate program was printed for participants. Authentic dress was also encouraged and it was in 1957 when reference was first made to a contest where a selection committee recognized one man and one woman for most attractive period dress. The apparent enthusiasm and momentum did not transition into the 1960s, however, as muzzleloading competition at the National Matches consisted primarily of North-South Skirmish Association events until 1966. It was not until 1972 when NRA muzzleloading events returned to the National Match schedule. In 1966, the first NRA National Muzzle Loading Championships were conducted.
