NSSA - National Skeet Shooting Association
The National Skeet Shooting Association is the world's largest organization dedicated to the sport of Skeet Shooting.
You can keep up with all event scores in a timely manner, as well as being aware of all upcoming registered events, by receiving our monthly Skeet Scoreboard and Upcoming Shoots email. The results and events are formatted like magazine pages and can be viewed online, downloaded, or printed. The email is distributed on the 16th of each month. Sign up for it at bit.ly/NSSAScores. You are welcome to share that link with non-members who are interested.
We are saddened to report the passing of John B. Dinning, Sr., on July 27 at the age of 91. Dinning was a member of the NSSA Hall of Fame and a Life Member of Loch Raven Skeet and Trap Center in Maryland. NSSA Executive Committee Member Alessandro Vitale remembered Dinning as a true gentleman. “He was my coach when I was in high school,” said Vitale. “He taught for the love of skeet; his pay was seeing the joy of others breaking targets.”
Always an outdoorsman and avid shotgunner, he found his way to the Loch Raven Skeet and Trap Center soon after it opened in the late 1950s.
Among his survivors is his wife Kathleen “Tucky” Dinning, who is also in the NSSA Hall of Fame, as well as a son and two daughters.
We regret to report that Allan Lehman of Dewey, Arizona, owner of Lehman Optical Sports Glasses, passed away on July 3. Lehman was both a shooter and a friend to skeet and sporting clays shooters who bought glasses from him and socialized during his many years of attending major shoots. In addition to shooting, he had many hobbies that included hunting, fishing, horse racing, and travel.
According to NSSA Chief Instructor Ralph Aaron, Lehman taught the Level 1, 2, and 3 instructor classes for 16 years. “He was truly a subject matter expert and was always generous with his time,” said Aaron. Other shooters, including Louise Terry and Andrea Lehr, recalled being customers of Lehman’s for decades and had an appreciation for his dedication to helping shooters get just the right glasses to enhance their shooting. “In many ways, he moved his industry into the modern era with blue-blockers, polarized lenses, and new tints,” commented Lehr, “always telling you what ‘Wayne (Mayes) and Todd (Bender) are wearing’ for colors.”
A celebration of life for Lehman is being planned for the fall. You can read his full obituary here.
The 2018 iZone VI Championships are being dedicated to the memory of Don Snyder, the former NSSA-NSCA Executive Director, World Skeet Champion, and Texas Skeet Hall of Fame and Armed Forces Skeet Association Hall of Fame inductee who passed away on May 30.
When Zone VI was considering switching to an iZone format for its 2015 zone shoot, Snyder supported and influenced the decision to do so. When the new format proved to be a tremendous success, Snyder was quick to congratulate organizers and credit them for pulling it off.
The HOA Championship at the upcoming iZone VI shoot has been retitled the Don Snyder iZone VI HOA Championship in appreciation for Don’s encouragement for the format and his support and guidance to competitive skeet. A new shoot pin has been developed to reflect the honor.
There is much as skeet shooters that we owe to the people who have led the NSSA. Their leadership and dedication have made it the premier shooting organization in the U.S. One of those, Jim Conley, was from Nebraska. He passed June 29 at the age of 81.
Jim’s shooting career started fairly late. He was 36 when he began a more than 40-year pursuit of skeet excellence. It wasn’t long before he emerged as a top shot in Nebraska. He was on the Nebraska All-State Team for 25 consecutive years, while shooting more than 210,000 registered skeet targets. He also attended 40 consecutive World Skeet Shooting Championships.
As his career progressed, he became president of North Platte’s Lincoln County Wildlife Gun Club, president of the Nebraska Skeet Association, NSSA Director, and eventually president of the National Skeet Shooting Association. In 1994, he was inducted into the Nebraska Skeet Shooting Association Hall of Fame.
Along the way, he and his longtime two-man team partner, Bill Harder, set a World Record, shooting 200 X 200 skeet doubles. His individual wins included 22 State Shoot titles and numerous gun titles across the country, highlighted by winning the U.S. Open, which was held in Pennsylvania. He tied with All-American Dave Starrett, both shooting 399/400. Jim won the shoot-off. That year Jim was awarded All-American status.
His influence on skeet shooting and skeet shooters over the years are immeasurable. Few were as well-liked in the skeet community.
Funeral services were held in North Platte on July 26. You can read more about Jim’s extraordinary life at carpentermemorial.com.
– Contributed by Bill Harder
