A little English goes a long way …
Posted on: May 28, 2009
I’ve been doing a lot of research lately, and one of the items I’ve been reading is the 2nd volume of the History of the National Archery Association by Robert Rhode, which covers the years 1946-1978. A good part of the history is comprised of interesting, sometimes humorous writeups of the Outdoor Target Nationals.
Since this is a blog about College Archery, I’ll give you a snippet from the History about a former College Archer – who also happens to be a Three-time World Champion, an Olympic Silver Medalist, a 4-time All-American, and many-time US National Champion…. If you don’t know who it is yet…. Well, this guy also has one of the most interesting archery forms in the history of archery.
Standing with feet forward to the line, and tipping, whipping, and snapping his bow and release arms, he still hits the 10. Best of all – he’s always smiling —
In 1977, Rick McKinney was not yet a student athlete at Arizona State University, but he was busy rocking the archery world along with Darrell Pace. That year, at Nationals, held at Miami (Ohio) University, Darrell finished second having shot one of the only four 1300+ scores in the history of archery, a 1302 and a 1257 to McKinney’s 1288 and 1298. I remind you – these were with aluminum arrows – not the carbon/aluminum X10’s or ACE’s of today… aluminum… the stuff that we eschew as ‘not for outdoor’ these days.
On pages 1304 and 1305 from the History of the NAA, Glen Helgelund chronicles the 1977 Outdoor National tournament:
“McKinney and Pace put on a good show in the Men’s division. Pace’s first FITA, a 1302, gave him a 14 point lead over McKinney at the halfway mark.
McKinney began drawing closer the third day, and on the fourth day it went like this: Pace, 1918 to McKinney’s 1915, Pace 1943 – 1941; McKinney, 1969-1968; McKinney, 1997-1994; McKinney 2024-2018; McKinney, 2051-2044; McKinney 2076-2070; McKinney 2105-2096; McKinney 2131-2114, and from there Rick built his lead to the final 27-point difference.
He had been steadily picking up a point or two here and there, but one disastrous arrow for Pace sealed it. Only nine points back at 2096-2105, he shot a rare two point arrow when the fletch tore off upon release. “It was a good power shot “ Pace said, “but as soon as I shot the tail did a roll, round and round in the wind.”
McKinney stated, “My whole archery thing is in better perspective these days.” The Olympics taught me a lot. I’ve gotten married, bought a house and am working two jobs. All that wrapped together, the new responsibilities and perspective, gave me a personal confidence I hadn’t had before. I’m handling it now. I also realize someday it will end. My tensions are under control; they help me shoot better now. And I’m going to enjoy it.”
McKinney not only appears to stay loose on the line, he keeps the spectators loose. Charlie Nicholas, Detroit, Mich., said, “He’s the most entertaining shooter I’ve seen in a long time. That follow through of his is different every time. He’ll let an arrow go, give it a little right English with his hip or body and … ten. He’ll let another arrow go, give it a little low English by bending at the knees and … ten. One time his string hand will be tight on his neck and the next time he’ll be waving at the crowd with it. But as long as the arrows go where they’re suppose to go, that’s all that matters.”
Richard McKinney
NAA Champion 1977
Champion of the World 1977
Mothers, being mothers…. Have their own comments… and Rick’s is no different – when asked about Rick’s form, Betty McKinney stated, “He has two types of follow through – one that finishes cleanly and one that doesn’t. But the one that doesn’t, that ends up who knows where, doesn’t affect the arrow because it’s gone by the time he gets into follow through, just as with any archer.”
So there we have it – the magic formula for world class archery — the ‘who knows where’ release developed and patented by Rick McKinney, one of the greatest archers of all time.
Lorretta Sinclair
27 May, 2009
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