The 1959 Pan American Games
The first medal Gary won in shooting was at an outdoor prone match in Grand Island, NE in 1957 (age 17). This was also his first-ever shooting competition of any kind and came shortly after he received his first target rifle, a Remington M40-X, as a high school graduation present. We once had a visitor in our home who was so impressed that we have the first medal on display and labeled "Gary's First Medal." Today the medal is on display at the Gary Anderson CMP Competition Center at Camp Perry, Ohio.
His first four-position rifle match came in January 1958 (age 18) when he competed in the Eastern Kansas Gallery Championship at Manhattan, KS. He tied Middleton Tompkins for first place but lost the tie-breaker!
Gary joined the Army in October 1958, just days before his 19th birthday. After Basic Training, he reported to the U. S. Army Marksmanship Training Unit at Fort Benning, Georgia in January of 1959 (see "The Lost Letter"). One month later, his 90 day trial was cut short and he was permanently assigned to the Unit. Team trials for the U. S. Pan American Games Shooting Team began in May. By then the cloth shooting jacket he was issued for the USAMU trial (photo below) had been replaced with a new leather shooting jacket. The Pan Am team trial was a two-stage process. He just made the top six cut in the first trial to advance to the second trial in June. In that final trial, he qualified for both the 50m and 300m teams and found himself, as a junior (ISSF age designation), in his first international rifle match at the 1959 Pan American Games in Chicago.
Gary Anderson arrived at the Marksmanship Training Unit at Fort Benning in January 1959
The Games were held from August 27-September 7 in Waukegan, Illinois on the (then) only municipally-owned International-type range in the United States. Six months prior to the Games, the range was in an area that was a dump. "Only through the tremendous effort of Waukegan Municipal authorities and the 3rd Pan American Games Shooting Committee was the range made ready for use prior to the opening of the games." (American Rifleman, October 1959, p.33).
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| Gary inspects his rifle at the Pan Am Games, wearing a leather jacket issued by the Army in 1959. |
At the Games, Gary's team won every combined team award and Gary himself won his first international medals, a silver medal for 300m standing and a bronze medal for 50-meter three-position. The medals presented do not have ribbons because neck ribbon or chains were not used then. The certificates are oversized (20.5x14.5). Gary had made his first USA Team and won his first international medals while he was still a junior and only slightly more than two years after he obtained his first target rifle and began serious rifle training.
