For 40 years Tom Lynott traveled throughout the western United States as sales manager for the Winchester Repeating Arms Co., earning numerous trophies as a professional and also defeating amateur shooters. At one Wyoming doubles championship he was four targets over the field, and he often hit 200 singles when there were no pro trophies. Tom was the third shooter to break 98 from the first year of the 27-yard line, following Arnold Riegger and Maynard Henry. Tom placed on 14 first-string All-America professional teams and one second from 1949 to 1967. He also led industry handicap averages in 1949 with .9288 and in 1955 with .9152.

At the 1952 Grand American, Tom was the lone shooter in the entire field to break 200 straight in the Introductory Singles. Two days later Tom broke 100 in a squad that set a Grand record of 499x500. In the 1954 Grand he was industry Class Singles runnerup after a shootoff with 199 and 48x50. Four years later he defeated two industry men in the Class Championship with 198 and a shootoff. In the 1960 Dayton Homecoming he won over industry competitors with 199.

Tom’s shooting included seven states and a Canadian province. At the 1952 Golden West Grand he won in doubles, handicap, and the high-over-all on 700. Handicap prizes came in 1953, 1954, 1955, 1957, 1960, 1961 (180x200) and 1962 (190x200 from 27). He also collected doubles awards in 1953, 1955 and 1961 (98 high over the field). In singles he claimed trophies from 1960, 1965, and 1966. Other industry awards were from 1949 Sun Valley, 1956 Calgary Canadian Championship (98 from 27), and 1960 Tucson Grand. At Salt Lake in 1949 he broke 200 singles, at Billings, Mt. 198, and for the 1953 Rocky Mt. Oyster event, he was H-O-A.

It was said Tom’s patience and exuberance introduced new shooters to the sport and gave them a foundation on which to build. A world explorer, Lynott made two African safaris. Back home, he once escaped from a charging grizzly bear, dropping it with one shot. Knowing how to line up sights, during World War II he was a first lieutenant B-24 bombardier pilot, receiving the Air Medal, Purple Heart and the Presidential Unit Citation. Back home again Tom was High Chief Thundering Gun in the Shoshone Indians, and he was a member of the Utah Hall of Fame. He passed away in May 2006, three days before his 90th birthday.