National Search & Rescue Association, Inc.

Bob Wright Sr. is the man the National Champion Pistol traveling trophy is named for.

Bob was the basic designer of the way we have pistol competitions today. We pistol shooters owe a lot to Bob.

In December 1941 Bob became an officer of the Utah Highway Patrol. He was assigned to serve in Weber and Davis Counties. He served 2 years. Then in 1943 he went to work for the Southern Pacific Railroad as a locomotive engineer. As with many of us once the law enforcement bug bites it cannot be easily removed from the system. After getting his pilot's license he joined the Weber County Sheriff's Air Patrol in the early 1950's.

In 1956 he joined the Weber County Sheriff's Jeep Patrol and was a charter member and very active in both the Utah State Jeep  Search & Rescue Association. In the early 1960's he became the first Pistol Chairman for the National Jeep Search & Rescue Association. Bob was an avid shooter and won both the Utah State and the Nation Jeep Search & Rescue Association's Pistol Champion Awards numerous times. After winning the National title consecutive times, the original trophy was given to him to keep. For the first few years there was not a  pistol competition held at the Conventions. Nor were there any classes. Each shooter fired a score that was verified by their Sheriff. The targets were mailed to the pistol Chairman. He tabulated the scores and awards were given at the following convention. First, second, and third only. The first time a pistol competition was held at a National Convention was in 1965 in Las Vegas. There again, only the top three scores won awards.

At the February 1967 National Board Meeting held in Phoenix, Arizona, Bob proposed that a pistol competition be held at the annual National Convention and that the shooters be put into one of fi9ve classes depending on their shooting skill level. He proposed that there be five classes. Those are the five classes we use to this day. Bob passed away before his design was implemented. Others took Bob's design, refined it and put it into practice.

Bob Wright passed away on April 21, 1967 at the age of 52.

the first time a pistol competition was held at a National Convention using the five classes was at the 1968  convention in Great Falls, Montana. At the National Convention held in Vernal, Utah in 1972, Bob Wright Jr. returned the original Pistol Champion Trophy to the National Jeep Search & Rescue Association. From that date on, the trophy has been know as "The Bob Wright Memorial Revolving Trophy" awarded each year to the men's National Piston Champion.

Researched and compiled by Don DeVoe PNC

National Pistol Chairman NS&RA