by Paul Davison NFAA Historian
Way Back When Remembering the Factory Pro Te a m S h o o t
T
he Allen Compound Bow was introduced in the 1960’s primarily as a hunting weapon. With its superior arrow speed and easeof-shooting, it was only natural that it would be adapted to the recreational archery market. After all, there was nothing in the NFAA rules that prohibited
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“NFAA and WAF news for all archers” 28 Archery Magazine April / May 2008
the compound bow. By the early 1970’s, Allen agreed to let other bow manufacturers produce their own compound bows under the Allen license. Upstarts Jennings and PSE were the first to jump on the bandwagon. The traditional recurve bow manufacturers soon followed. By the mid-1970’s, there were about a dozen different compound bow brands on the market, and the competition was quite fierce. There was no better way to convince the public that you had the best bow than to have the top professional archers shoot and win with it. Primarily because the Professional Archers Association prohibited compound bows, the NFAA Professional Division was born in 1973 for those top archers who wanted to compete for cash awards using “unlimited” equipment. At that time, there were virtually no big money tournaments that allowed anything but FITA equipment. The recurve-only PAA continued to have their standalone tournaments, while the NFAA Pros experimented with a few “anything goes” tournaments, most notably the “Lake of the Woods” shoot held near PSE’s headquarters
outside Mahomet, IL. Almost all top competitors at these early NFAA Pro tournaments were sponsored by one of compound bow manufacturer, principally Jennings, PSE and Astro. By 1974, Carroll, Bear and a few others began to sponsor factory teams. Still, unless the recreational archer watched one of these tournaments, or read a magazine advertisement expounding the staff shooter’s winning ways, he probably end up buying whatever bow his local proshop was pushing. Then at the 1976 NFAA National Outdoor tournament at Aurora, IL, the NFAA Pros and their sponsors finally got the exposure they needed. They came up with a winner-takeall, “World Professional Team Championship.” It was held in the late afternoon after each day’s field competition on the practice field behind the Holiday Inn. The format was quite simple. Contributing sponsors put up $500 per two-archer team. Each day’s round consisted of six, fivearrow, ends at 50 yards. In 1976, the target was the experimental NFAA Expert face. Later, it was the 50 cm Hunter face we use today. After Monday and Tuesday, the bottom half of the
teams were eliminated. Then after Wednesday and Thursday, only the top two men’s and women’s teams made the cut for Friday finals. This was my first experience in watching “stadium archery.” The practice field was laid out south-to-north on the east side of the three-story Holiday Inn. There was a grassy bank between the motel and the practice field which provided an ideal spot to watch the action. Then, with favorite beverage in hand, a few hundred spectators cheered their favorite team on to victory. I had no favorite. I was still shooting a recurve in 1976, but was certainly in the market for a new compound bow. The target butts, the spectators, and most of the range were in the shade. Only the shooting line was in the sun. Since most of the Pros shot right-handed with their backs to the sun, the late afternoon glare was no problem — except to left-handed Dean Pridgen. The final two women’s teams were sponsored by PSE and Carroll, while the men’s teams were sponsored by Jennings and Bear. The wasn’t much drama in the women’s finals — PSE’s Eva Troncoso and Nancy Pfeilmeier won handily — but it was another story in the men’s finals. Jennings’ Gary Lyman and Dean Pridgen enjoyed a comfortable six-point margin over Team Bear’s Dave Young and Joe Drury with only two, five-arrow ends to go. Then with one end left, the lead was reduced to two points. Finally, with just two arrows remaining, Team Bear grabbed the winner-take-all $6000 purse by converting a two-point deficit into a two-point victory. Although Dean Pridgen probably won’t admit it, Team Jennings’ hopes went down with
Dean Pridgen fights the sun in 1976
the sun. As the accompanying photo shows, teammate Gary Lyman did his best to shade Dean’s peep sight. The World Professional Team Championship continued using the same format for several years, always in conjunction with the NFAA National Outdoor tournament, but sometimes starting on Sunday instead of Monday. The sponsors changed, too. More bow manufacturers got into the act, and some other companies, like Bowhunters Warehouse and Toxonics, sponsored or co-sponsored teams. Even a few states, like Michigan, joined in. Then in 1986, factory-sponsorship disappeared, and the “teams” competed as either Professional or Adult, with all NFAA shooting styles being recognized. The “winner-take-all” prize money disappeared, too. The Team Shoot slowly became an entertaining,
self-supporting, time-filler at both the Outdoor and Indoor National Championships. It went from being 100% pro, to pro and amateur, to today’s pro with amateur, or, as we know it, the Pro-Am. The “amateur” is really a misnomer. The Pro-Am prize money is awarded without prejudice. Today, the contingency money awarded to top factory shooters more than makes up for losing the old factory team shoot. There’s more “bang-forthe-buck.” If you’ve attended a national tournament, or even looked through this magazine, you’re bound to notice the super-sized contingency checks the factory-sponsored winners are holding. You’ll certainly notice what brand of bow the winner is shooting. I still miss the old Team Shoot, though. Archery Magazine April / May 2008 29