As published in Trap & Field, January issue, 2011.

Dave Berlet, Pat McCarthy, Phil Wright to be inducted into Trapshooting Hall of Fame

David Berlet, Patrick McCarthy and Phillip Wright will be enshrined into the Trapshooting Hall of Fame at a ceremony during the 2011 Grand American in Sparta, Illinois.

David Berlet

Dave Berlet was raised around guns, hunting and shooting. His dad George, who passed away in 1965, was vice president of the Ohio State Trapshooting Association, and Dave went shooting with him when he was a boy. He also worked loading targets at the local club.

Berlet’s first registered shoot was in 1957. He started out with a Remington 870 and before long built up a Model 12 field gun. “I was right ‘up town’ with that gun,” Berlet said. By 1961 he had two Model 12s. That year he was runnerup in the Grand American Handicap, and he took some of the winnings and bought a new Krieghoff Model 32. He bought the Krieghoff for doubles but ended up shooting all three disciplines with it. “I’ve probably broken more 200s with that than with all the rest of the guns I’ve shot,” he said.

Berlet attended the Grand during his first year of registered shooting, and he’s participated in the tournament every year since then. One of his most memorable wins is his first Grand trophy, which he earned in 1958. “My brother [Ned] and I won the Brother/Brother title, and we tied with Iva Jarvis and Gladys Pfost and beat them in the shootoff,” he said. The Berlets won the award five more times between 1961 and 1987, while Dave and stepson Dirk have collected four Parent-Child trophies from 1989 to 2002.

Another fond memory is Dave’s first Central Zone singles championship (1983) after 200 plus a 16-round shootoff that ended in the dark. That year he was also on the winning Central Zone team at the Grand, and he headed the Zone Champion of Champions. He considers winning the Clay Target Championship in 2000 a high point as well.

According to Berlet’s records, he was the sixth shooter in Ohio to make the 27-yard line, and he completed his ATA Grand Slam in 1995 with a 100 from 27. In 1967 his singles average placed third among everyone in the ATA, and he tied for the second-high average in 1978.

Dave has won more than 30 trophies during the 54 years he’s competed at the Grand. His Central Zone titles include the singles in 1983 and 1985, handicap in 1987 and veteran in 2008. He captured the Ohio state junior championship in 1959.
Berlet was inducted into the Ohio state Hall of Fame in 1995. During the past few years, he has served on the Hall of Fame committee.

Berlet says his wife Sandra has been very supportive over the years and a good companion at shoots. She came from a trapshooting family; her dad Silas Lammers participated in the sport. She goes to tournaments and visits with friends, goes shopping, reads and knits. “Without her support, I probably couldn’t have continued to shoot all these years, at least as much as I did,” he said.

Berlet notes that his brother has also been supportive as well as his parents when they were alive. When he first started shooting, Dave’s father didn’t push him or tell him what to do. Having seen other juniors whose parents were very hard on them, Dave tried to follow his father’s example with Dirk and grandson Dale.

After working as an assembler at a plant in St. Mary’s for 10 years, in 1972 Berlet went to the Goodyear plant in St. Mary’s. He was a machine repairman there for more than 30 years. Dave feels fortunate to have been raised in a garage with his dad, who sold farm machinery and did general repair work and welding. “I always tell people that in that environment, I didn’t necessarily learn much about anything, but I learned a little bit about a lot of different things,” Berlet said.

Dave saved his money all year to be able to shoot during the summer, using his limited vacation time to go to tournaments. Now he makes ribs and stocks to help fund his shooting—one of the benefits of growing up in a garage.

A friend started a wood-chopping contest in their hometown, and Berlet got involved with lumberjack competitions, including crosscut sawing, axe sawing and chainsaw. “I’m too old and too fat, but I still like to do it,” Berlet joked.

The biggest change Berlet has seen in the sport is the improvement in equipment. “Back then you basically bought a gun, cut the stock off a little bit so you could reach the trigger, and you’d learn to shoot the gun,” Berlet said. Now things such as adjustable stocks and add-on ribs, the abundance of instructors available, and the amount of time people spend practicing have made an impact on scores. Berlet also notes that the interstate system has had an effect on the sport and people’s ability to travel to shoots. “I remember as a kid being 50 miles from Vandalia, and it would take us two to three hours to get to the Grand. After Interstate 75 was finished, it took 50 minutes.”

Berlet has won the runnerup/Class AA trophies in the Ohio state Singles Championship six times, and one thing he would still like to accomplish is winning the title.

Berlet considers the friends he’s made to be the most memorable part of his shooting career. “The friendships have been monumental,” he said.

Hall of Fame enshrinee Brad Dysinger is presenting Berlet for induction at the Hall of Fame banquet in August. Brad says that when he started shooting, he remembers Dave as being one of the only 27-yard shooters around, and he looked up to him. Berlet says he has learned a lot about shooting from Dysinger over the years.
“It’s been a wonderful ride, and I hope it continues,” Berlet said.

Patrick McCarthy

Having shot skeet to prepare for hunting season, Pat McCarthy said he got talked into trying a trap league at Urbandale T&SC. Breaking about 8x25 on his first attempt, he became disinterested and wanted to drop out but said he would continue until a replacement was found. With practice, he got better and started enjoying trap more than both skeet and hunting.
He began registered shooting during the 1982 target year, and he took to it pretty well. The more he won, the more interested he became, and he began practicing a lot, going to the club five or six times a week to shoot 1,000 to 1,500 weekly. Before long he had made all new friends in the trapshooting community.

McCarthy completed his ATA Grand Slam in less than a year from the time he earned the first leg, which was 100 in doubles on Aug. 4, 1985. On June 19, 1986, during the Ohio State Shoot, he carded his first 200 in singles and first 100 from the 27 on the same day to earn the honor. At the time he didn’t even know what a Grand Slam was, and he thinks that probably made it easier to do since he felt no pressure to do it. According to TRAP & FIELD records, he has carded five more perfect centuries from the back fence since that first one, and he says it is always an exciting thing to do. Two of those 100s have been during the Grand; he won the George McCarty Handicap in 2000 and the Parliament Coach Handicap in 2009.
He also recalls fondly winning the Doubles title at the 2005 Grand and some of his wins at the Missouri Fall Handicap. He has eight Ohio state titles to his credit, including one each in singles and handicap and three each in doubles and all-around. His Central Zone title count is four, including one singles, one doubles and two all-around.

Saying he doesn’t get to travel to shoots quite as much as he’d like, McCarthy does attend the Grand, two to three Satellite Grands and the Ohio State Shoot each year, firing at 20,000 to 25,000 targets annually. In addition to registered shooting, he usually practices once a week and shoots in some leagues.

The biggest change he has seen in the sport since he started is the improvement in equipment, including voice pulls, automatic traps and adjustable combs. He believes the latter has helped scores more than anything. He also noted that in the early days he became pretty proficient at hitting slow pulls, and that’s one thing that helped him do well. Automatic voice pulls have taken that advantage away somewhat.

Pat says he looks up to the shooters who are able to do consistently well throughout the years, including Ray Stafford, Leo Harrison III, Phil Kiner and Robert Munson. He feels that his own shooting can be erratic at times, ranging from really good to mediocre, and he respects those who regularly put up winning scores.

McCarthy worked as an industrial insulation estimator for 15 years before spending a few years shooting for a living. After becoming engaged to Kim Dawson, he joined her family’s business, Dawson Enterprises, in 1991. The company sells trap, skeet, sporting clays and field guns in addition to targets, ammunition, reloading supplies and shooting apparel, and it has buildings at the World Shooting and Recreational Center in Sparta, Ill., and at the Cardinal Center in Marengo, Ohio. Pat handles the gun side of the business.

He says he likes working on “mechanical stuff,” and he developed and holds patents on the Stock Lock System™. The recoil reduction device features an inertia lock that prevents premature collapse during gun mount and swing. Upon firing the gun, the lock is released, and the stock collapses just behind the pistol grip with no movement on the face. It is also self-adjusting to different loads. He developed the product because he had tried recoil reduction devices but didn’t like that they moved while he was mounting the gun. It took about five years to develop, and he said he had fun working on it. He started selling the device in 2002 and has many repeat customers as shooters buy new guns. He has also developed a release trigger for Blaser guns.

The most important advice McCarthy has received is to be a good sport, take the wins with the losses, and to be humble. He also thinks it’s important to try to help others with their shooting, which he has done through the business and at local clubs when coaches have been needed.

Kim came from a trapshooting family. Her parents Greg and Pat were shooters, with Pat earning four Ohio women’s titles and being enshrined in the state Hall of Fame. Kim shot both registered and league targets until the couple’s children were born, and Pat says the kids’ activities seem to keep their grandparents off the firing line too. Pat added that Kim has been very supportive of his shooting career.

McCarthy also enjoys fly fishing in the winter, and he does a little hunting during the year.

One thing Pat still wants to accomplish in the sport is to win the Grand American Handicap. “I need to do that before I’m done,” he said. His other major goal is that his kids will want to shoot, and he looks forward to helping them but not pushing them into the sport. “If they don’t want to shoot, that’s okay too,” he said. His 14-year-old daughter Elaina has already started league shooting, and eight-year-old Patrick already enjoys his BB gun. Pat said maybe next year he’ll be ready to try a shotgun.

Phillip Wright

Phil Wright was introduced to trapshooting by Aubrey Wornham, a hunter and trapper who worked as a gunsmith in the sporting goods store that Phil’s father owned. Wright went to a couple of small turkey shoots at Wornham’s home club, and Aubrey saw potential in Phil. He tagged along with Wornham and at age 13 began shooting clay targets, starting with skeet using an old double-barrel Zephyr Woodlander. “I still have it to this day and shoot with it,” Wright said.

“If you got started with a good set of basics, had talent given to you genetically, and had a competitive side, you were able to succeed,” Wright said. “I was fortunate to have those pieces and make it work.” But he noted that it took him many years to do it, saying that it wasn’t until the mid 1960s that he got his skill set to a level where he could compete.

Wright has been treasurer of the New Hampshire Trapshooting Association since the late 1960s. He began attending the Grand around this time and was elected ATA Delegate shortly after that. Except for a break when he was in the service, he’s been Delegate since then. Phil served on the ATA Executive Committee and was ATA President in 2002, and he has been treasurer of most of the clubs he’s joined. He learned from his father how to cashier shoots and still cashiers some of the New England state tournaments. During his term as President, Wright saw open communication as key. “I still continue to talk with members about lots of issues and feel it’s important that they are heard,” Wright said. “They need an avenue to communicate.”

Wright attributes his ability to work at tournaments and shoot well to the fact that he started doing it at a young age. He tells himself that it’s just an hour that he needs to concentrate on shooting and not worry about his duties. He says he is also able to think about other things between shots and then concentrate when his turn comes, although he admits that he is not able to do that as well as he used to.
“I am so appreciative to have been able to have served,” Wright said. “That is so significant when you have a full relationship with the sport you’re in—to be a good shooter and also to be able to give back to the association and the community that has been so good to you. I enjoyed my term on the EC and presidential year. It was gratifying to me to be able to serve the rest of the shooting community, and it means more than my shooting accomplishments.”

Phil considers his most meaningful win to be one that took place during the Grand of his presidential year. That year friend and squadmate Dennis DeVaux won the Grand American Handicap with 100, and Wright claimed the 20th-place trophy after 98. “I have been in some high-powered shootoffs, but I have never been as nervous as I was watching Dennis shoot for the Grand American title,” Wright said. “The feeling I had when he broke his 50th target was truly indescribable. To be President and place in the Grand American would be fulfilling enough for most shooters, but to have your best friend win the GAH with 50 straight in a shootoff is a once-in-a-lifetime memory.”

Other good times include his first state championship, winning the 1977 Grand Doubles title and breaking his first and only 100 from the 27 in July 2000, which completed his ATA Grand Slam.

Wright also enjoys remembering some experiences when he didn’t come out as the winner. He shot off against Ohmer Webb Sr. when he won the Clay Target title in 1980. At age 72, Webb became the first senior vet to win the event. Wright said it was a “thrilling experience” to see him earn that trophy.

Phil also notes that he is better able to deal with losing than he was when he first got into the sport. “I was pretty intense when I was younger,” he said. “I had a pretty robust temper and would exhibit that on occasion. I don’t look back on it fondly. I didn’t do anything significant or damaging to anyone, but the fervor would overcome me.” He says he has evolved from hating to lose and not accepting it to hating to lose but being able to lose.

Phil and wife Sue met at a gun club and shot together in the early years. Sue came from a trapshooting family, and her father Bill Ayles is being inducted into the Rhode Island Hall of Fame in January. She shot well for years, but after the couple had their two daughters, Sue stopped shooting to devote time to them. She didn’t start again until they were in high school, and she now participates in handicap events.

Wright gives credit to his father for his support of his shooting. “My father may not have been an accomplished shooter, but he made it so that I could pursue the competitive side of shooting, and he was supportive in my development,” Wright said. “What I can never replace was his example. He was a gun club manager for many years, and what he taught me about shooter service and giving back to the sport molded my core values for the game. He has been and continues to be my mentor when it comes to what is best for the sport.”

Sue has also been instrumental in Phil’s success. “Oftentimes young adults have to curtail their pursuits of trapshooting success because of family considerations,” Wright said. “Susan sacrificed her shooting so I could continue at the championship level. She managed the household and raised two wonderful daughters. I would never have been able to achieve the levels I have without her. We now have a real rivalry going in handicap events, and even though I hate to have her beat me, I am proud when she does.”

Wright graduated from college with a dual major in accounting and computer science and started out working for one of the “Big 8” firms. After three years he went to work for a client and has been either controller, vice president of finance or CFO for a number of companies. Most recently he was employed by a heavy-construction equipment dealer. After the company was sold in November 2009, Wright worked full time on the transition for the new owner until last spring, and since then he has been working a few hours each week, winding down the old company. He says he enjoys his “newfound freedom” but misses the business world and has decided not to rush into anything but keep his eye out for new opportunities.

Friends DeVaux and Mike Blaisdell are presenting Wright for induction at the banquet during the Grand. “I’m deeply honored to have this happen,” Wright said. “It’s really a culmination of my career in shooting.”