|
|
HIGHLIGHTS, MILESTONES AND FIRSTS
IN CTAGA HISTORY
April 28, 1957
CTAGA was founded by 27 charter members, meeting at St. Anthony's Community Center in Wichita, Kansas.
E.D. Stone was the first president. The members continued to meet at St. Anthony's Community Center until mid 1959.
Sept. 7, 1958
The first CTAGA shooting match was held. (Club President Phil Mellor took a 1st, 2nd, & 3rd place in 3 of the 4 events.) The public was invited to attend as spectators and to fire the old guns.
Note: from 1958 to 1974, CTAGA rented a piece of farmland west of
1959
The first CTAGA Gun Show was held at St. Anthony's Community Center in April. The success of that modest show led to a second in the fall. The office of Gun Show Chairman had not yet been created; so the various duties and responsibilities for putting on the show were divided among the members. The spring and fall succession would be the pattern for each year that followed.
1960
CTAGA began holding its meetings at the Minisa Park Building.
1961
Early in the year, Secretary Bob Agnew began publishing a typewritten newsletter for the Gun Club.
It recorded events within the Association and provided general news to the members. In May, by a vote of the members, the name Ramrod
was adopted for the Newsletter.
The growing CTAGA Gun Show was moved first to the Broadview Hotel in the fall and the following spring to the Frontierland Ballroom, where it would remain for several years. 1964 CTAGA began holding its meetings at Cowtown.
Thus began a long and sometimes stormy relationship that lasted until 1979.
During most of that period the Club maintained the Cowtown gun shop. December 1966 On a motion by Paul Buchanan, prizes began to
be awarded for regular shooting matches. Door prizes were also begun in 1966. 1967 A new member, Wes Lumry, revitalized the
shooting program by introducing a variety of new events. 1967-1970 CTAGA members played an important part in the
1969 Wes Lumry negotiated renting an additional
piece of land to extend the shooting range to 100 yds. 1970 Don King attended a trapper's rendezvous
elsewhere in the state and talked it up at CTAGA meetings. Subsequently a number of members began attending rendezvous at various locations around the state. It would be another
six years before CTAGA would be able to host this increasingly popular shooting event.
August 1974 After an incident at the range, involving a
stray round and a Winnebago, a search was begun for a new range location. 1975 CTAGA acquired range property near October 1976 The first CTAGA Fall Rendezvous was held at the new range.
Wes Lumry was the Booshway. January 1977 Following the death of Jack Steventon, on a
motion by Paul Buchanan, a special award for service to CTAGA was created,
called the Jack Steventon Memorial Award. 1978 The first Jack Steventon Memorial Award was
given to James "Doc" Norfleet. 1979 CTAGA became a regular participant in the
annual Riverfest activities, with members marching in parades, giving
muzzleloader and cannon firing demonstrations, and setting up trapper camps.
These activities tapered off in the 80's and ended in the 90's as the City of 1980 Program Chairman Homer Kinch organized the
first annual club dinner, which would evolve in succeeding years into the
annual CTAGA Awards Banquet. Chuck Rodman organized the first CTAGA bus
trip. This one was to the (Note: the following year, Chuck Rodman rode
horseback from Membership in CTAGA reached the 100 mark. 1981 Annual aggregate shooting awards were
introduced by RO Phil Lovchik. 1982 CTAGA purchased gun show tables and a semi
trailer in which to store and transport them. Refreshments were first served at monthly
meetings in July '82. Sept. 1985 A long-standing feud between CTAGA and
Cowtown over ownership of some guns and the cannon was finally resolved. 1986 CTAGA entered the electronic age, acquiring a
computer for use by the Gun Show Chairman.
Rudimentary as it was, it was a major step forward toward better
organization of the shows. Nov. 1986 The First CTAGA Turkey Shoot was organized by
Bob Allen and friends. May 1987 Jim Dvorak and Phil Lovchik initiated a
regular spring rendezvous. August 1988 Another discipline entered the CTAGA shooting
program with the first scheduled .22 rimfire match. Fall 1988 A water well was dug and electricity was run
to the range house. Jan. 1989 The black-powder-cartridge-only rule for CTAGA
shooting events was adopted. 1990 A wooded stretch of river property near In October, the first CTAGA rendezvous at the
leased property near 1991 When a sizeable piece of land to the west and
north of the range became available, the Club began negotiating its purchase.
Once it was acquired, a committee, consisting of Dale Wood, Phil Lovchik, Rod
Bruntz, and Clint White, was formed to survey the land and to begin planning a
layout for an expanded range. June 1992 The first CTAGA Cowboy Shoot was ramrodded by
Ron Bohrn, who had campaigned relentlessly during the previous 6 months to
create interest in and acceptance of this kind of event. His persistence paid off as cowboy action
shooting would become one of the most popular segments of the CTAGA shooting
program. Oct. 1992 A phone line was run to the range house. 1992-1994 A 200-yd. rifle range and a 25-yd. pistol
range, with covered firing lines, were constructed on the new property. Rodney
Bruntz headed up the project. A trap range was also constructed, with a wobble
trap thrower installed. Summer 1993 A group of cowboy-shoot enthusiasts and other
volunteers constructed a cowtown facade on the east range for use in staging
cowboy shoot scenarios. In succeeding years this facade would grow into quite
an elaborate setting for an expanding number of cowboy shoot events. May 1995 First CTAGA Annual Schützenfest was held on
the new 200-yd. range. Fall 1995 The old obsolete computer was scrapped, and
the Secretary and Gun Show Chairman were equipped with up-to-date computers.
This made possible a major improvement in the layout and appearance of the Ramrod.
The Ramrod layout would undergo a number of revisions in the years ahead. Winter 1995 The wooden footbridge at the range, which
floated away whenever the creek flooded, was replaced with a steel bridge acquired
through the efforts of the Lumrys. Spring 1996 CTAGA first hosted the Young Hunter Education
Challenge, which, under the initial guidance of Fred Crandell, would become an annual
event at the 1998-1999 RO Bob Allen oversaw the addition of a combination
range house and storage building for the 200-yd. range. Fall 2000 A major renovation of the 100-yd. range was
undertaken by RO Jeff Keys, including leveling the range floor to make it safe
to shoot at all distances. 2001 Committees under the leadership of Reid
Jewett and LeRoy Burgess undertook major revisions of the CTAGA membership
policy and the CTAGA By-Laws. Both revisions were accepted by the membership. Obsolete and unwieldy desk-top computers used
by the Secretary and the Gun Show Chairman were replaced with laptop computers. Secretary Phil Lovchik initiated electronic
communications to members, including sending the Ramrod via e-mail to
members requesting it. The first transmission was to 16 recipients. 2002 After careful research by Jeid Jewett, the
ancient Ford tractor, that had seen long service keeping the range mowed, was
replaced by a new John Deere tractor with mower and loader attachments. Shortly
after that the Hustler mower was also traded for a newer model. Under the direction of RO Jeff Keys, RV pads,
equipped with electrical and water hookups, were constructed near the 200-yd.
range for use by visiting shooters. In 2002 CTAGA suffered the loss of the last
of its founders, with the death of Duane Stone.
Duane, or E.D. as he was often referred to, had remained an active
member throughout the Club’s 45-year history, serving ten times as its
President. 2003 In order to ensure compliance with a newly
state-legislated Range Protection Act, a committee consisting of Phil Mellor
(Chmn), LeRoy Burgess, Phil Lovchik, & Jim Dvorak drew up a comprehensive
Range Safety Practices Manual. The manual, adopted by CTAGA, contained a
revised set of range rules & procedures modeled after the NRA Range Manual. A storage building was erected on the 2003 saw the beginning of another tradition
for CTAGA shooters as Phil Mellor began sponsoring annual shoots in which the
prizes were muzzle-loading rifles from his workshop. 2004 After forty-odd years of holding its meetings
on Tuesday evenings, the Club changed it to Thursday in order to accept an
invitation from the Kansas Dept. of Wildlife and Parks to use, gratis, its fine
meeting facility at the Two new recurring shooting events emerged
from the energetic mind of Randy Kaufman, who had for several years been highly
active in promoting cowboy action shooting in the Club. January saw the first Tom Horn Rifle Match and November saw the first Cops vs. Cowboys, a charity shooting
match between local law enforcement officers and CTAGA cowboy shooters. Proceeds from the match went to Toys for
Tots. 2005 The fifteen-year-long lease arrangement that
provided CTAGA with a spacious and beautiful site for rendezvous and other
muzzle-loading events on the banks of the Arkansas River near 2006 Because the cowboy town facade had come to dominate the east range, it was no longer suitable as an 1830s rendezvous site. It was decided to turn the considerable undeveloped and unused acreage to the north of the range berms into a permanent rendezvous site. The first event held at that location was the spring rendezvous, Ken Sackett Booshway.