Sherry Kerr

Long-time Member Howard Confer Passes

October 30, 2016 By Sherry Kerr

NSSA regrets to report the death of Howard Confer, one of the association’s longest-serving active members and the person most responsible for the high-quality targets thrown at the World Skeet Championships. He died peacefully at home on October 23, 2016, at the age of 97.

Howard was an ambassador for the game of skeet in his home state of Michigan and the nation. He was inducted into the NSSA Hall of Fame in 1975 as the Ray Boller Award recipient and as a shooter in 1979. He is also in the Michigan Skeet Hall of Fame. Howard attended the World Skeet Championships 54 times, shooting in 52 consecutive World Shoots and winning a world championship in 1954. He served as NSSA president 1976-1978.

Howard Confer’s estate encourages his friends to donate to NSSA’s general fund,
youth shooting initiatives, or NSSA Museum in his memory.

Click here to donate.

As a long-time member of the Detroit Gun Club, Howard was a member of the famed Michigan Wreckers 5-man team that dominated team events in the 1960s and holds a number of team world records. Until the past few months, he was still active in the game and was still coaching at the Detroit Gun Club, as well as remaining busy designing clay target traps and installing sporting clays courses across the U.S.

Although he served his club and NSSA tirelessly in many ways, his greatest contribution was his quest for perfection in the targets thrown at the World Skeet Championships and other events. Howard wanted every target thrown to be perfect, and it especially mattered to him that the World Shoot throw targets worthy of the status of the event. That meant no broken targets from the machine and every target flying the same. To reduce the number of broken targets, he started by having referees count them, then analyzed the reason for the breakage: was it the manufacturing process, the way they were shipped and handled, the way they were loaded into the machine, a problem with the machine, or something else?

“At first he would ride on the back of the truck, watch us unload the boxes, and make sure we were handling targets correctly,” said Barney Brown, a trap expert at the National Shooting Complex and protégé of Howard’s. “He developed an 18-point checklist for every machine. If there were too many broken targets, his common phrase was ‘pull it,’ meaning we had to pull the machine and determine what the problem was.

“Howard was absolutely committed to ensuring quality in each and every target, in each and every machine and event. He certainly helped me become better at serving the industry. He revolutionized quality control and checks and balances in targets. I’m a better man for even meeting him. At first he was a mentor, making sure I was learning and doing what I should, but he evolved into an honest friend and someone I looked up to,” Brown said.

“Howard was a fixture in NSSA for over 55 years,” said Louise Terry, an NSSA past president who served with Howard in many capacities over decades. “His life was dedicated to our sport and he gave willingly of his time to the association. Howard was the primary person who dedicated years of focus to target quality, especially at the World Shoot. Anyone who has attended the World Shoot can attribute the high-quality targets to his work. Nobody loved skeet more than Howard, and this is a great loss to our association.”

Howard is survived by his wife of 71 years, Letitia; children Daniel (Debbie) and Sheri (Steve) Confer; grandchildren Carrie and Cole (Maria) Confer and Hunter and Sara Dzierbicki; and great grandson, Xavier Confer.

Funeral Service will be at Lynch & Sons Funeral Home in Clawson, Michigan, on Monday, October 31 at 11 a.m. Obituary and condolences are at lynchfuneraldirectors.com. A memorial service will be held at Detroit Gun Club on December 23 at 1 p.m.

Howard Confer’s estate wishes to encourage people to give to the NSSA in memory of Howard. At their request, we have set up a donation form for that purpose. Those who wish to remember Howard and his love of skeet shooting can click here to make a tax deductible donation online.

If you prefer to mail a donation, you may send a check to NSSA with the following on the memo line, or provide a separate letter accompanying the check:

In memory of Howard Confer to support (a) the NSSA Skeet Program, (b) NSSA Youth Skeet Shooting or (c) NSSA HOF/Museum.

For your tax records, the Federal Tax ID number of NSSA is 75-0108632.

Click on any photo to enlarge.

Past President Bill Batty Passes Away

October 27, 2016 By Sherry Kerr

NSSA staff and members are saddened by the unexpected death of past president William N. “Bill” Batty, Jr. on October 25.

Bill was a long-time member of Minute Man Sportsman’s Club in Massachusetts where he held numerous leadership positions. He was also active in NSSA governance over a 25-year period, culminating in his election as NSSA president in 2008. In 2013, he was inducted into the NSSA Hall of Fame as the Ray Boller Award recipient for service to the association.

He proudly served in the U.S. Marines, was a graduate of the University of Miami and Suffolk Law School, and practiced law for over 35 years in Boston and Billerica. While in law school, his charismatic personality enabled him to be a successful bartender at the Bull and Finch Pub, made famous by the TV show Cheers, and to meet his beloved wife, Jan. In addition to his support of skeet and trap, Bill was an avid participant in cowboy action shooting as a member of Harvard Ghost Riders.

Bill is survived by his wife Janice Batty and brother Boyden Batty. Services were held on Saturday, October 29 at Sweeney’s Funeral Home, followed by a celebration of life at Minute Man Sportsman’s Club.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Durand-Farley Fund, c/o Massachusetts Skeet Shooting Association, 19 Sagamore St., Braintree, MA 02184.

Thanks to World Skeet Championships Sponsors

October 10, 2016 By Sherry Kerr

NSSA and participants in the 2016 World Skeet Championships wish to thank the many sponsors of this year’s event, without whom the World Shoot would not be the same. From funding to shooters’ gifts to winners’ awards, the contributions of our generous sponsors are essential to having such a memorable, world-class event. We urge our members to consider the contributions of our sponsors when you are making decisions about purchases in the future.

Sponsors of the 2016 World Skeet Championships include:

Academy Sports & Outdoors
Ainsworth Trucking
BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse
B & P
Blaser
Briley
Browning
Chick-Fil-A
Decot Hy-Wyd
Elite Shotguns
E-Z-Go
Federal
Kolar
Krieghoff
Laporte
L & B Elite
NSSF
Paxton Arms
Rio Ammunition
Tachyon GunCam
Sportsman’s Insurance Agency, Inc.
Viola’s Ventanas
White Flyer
Winchester Ammunition

Kids & Clays Events Get Support from Winchester Ammunition

October 1, 2016 By Sherry Kerr

When Indiana McDonald’s restaurant owners Glenn and Kathy Lubeznik decided to chair a sporting clays tournament in 1999 to raise money for the Chicago Ronald McDonald House, little did they realize at the time how big the fundraising movement would become. They hosted 137 participants and raised $16,000. People had a lot of fun, too.

That one event became the impetus for the creation of the Kids & Clays organization, which this year will host more than 20 fundraising clays tournaments. Since 1999, it has raised more than $14 million for Ronald McDonald House Charities. And since that very first event, Winchester Ammunition has been right there with them.

“Winchester plays a large part every night when thousands of families benefit from the Kids & Clays program by receiving housing, food and other benefits from the houses,” says Doug Jeanneret, executive director of Kids & Clays. Ronald McDonald Houses assist in provide housing, meals and a positive environment for families traveling away from home to tend to a sick child in the hospital or receiving treatment for serious illnesses.

Winchester provides ammunition at the sporting clays fundraising events as one of the primary sponsors of Kids & Clays. “As one of the founding supporters of what is now Kids & Clays, Winchester made it possible for the program to get off the ground. These donations save the organization thousands of dollars at each event,” Jeanneret explained, “valuable funds that can be put back into supporting Ronald McDonald Houses across the country.”

In celebration of Winchester’s 150th anniversary this year, a special donation of one of only ten Winchester 1866 Yellow Boy firearms is being auctioned on GunBroker.com, with all proceeds going to Kids & Clays. For more information on the auction and upcoming events, visit www.kidsandclays.com.

“There may be no greater cause than helping families faced with the challenge of caring for a sick child, and Winchester is proud of our long-standing relationship with Kids & Clays in supporting Ronald McDonald House Charities and the incredible services they provide,” said Brett Flaugher, vice president of marketing, sales and strategy at Winchester Ammunition.

Giambrone Wins U.S. Open Skeet Championship at Stockton

September 9, 2016 By Sherry Kerr

Congratulations to Paul Giambrone III, HOA Champion of the U.S. Open Skeet Championship, which concluded Sunday at Stockton Trap & Skeet in Stockton, California. A total of 228 shooters competed in the event.
Steven Bivins was runner-up, followed by Skeete Smitha at third. Diana Riddle won the Ladies title.

Along the way to his 399×400, Giambrone won 12-gauge and 28-gauge gun championships. Dan Lewis was Doubles Champ, Dirk Proffer won 20 gauge, and Eric Tammen was .410 Champ.