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| Mike Sorchy |
| Mike is one of those rare natives, born and raised in San Diego County. Mike grew up in Poway and has lived there his entire life. He is a very successful project manager for A.O. Reed & Company, one of the oldest and most respected mechanical contracting firms in San Diego.
Mike was introduced to San Diego Shotgun Sports and registered trap in early 2003 when he enrolled his son Kurtis in a newly formed youth program called SCTP. Mike took a great interest in the program and began working as a parent volunteer from the start.
In 2004 Mike joined the ATA and began what must have seemed a long personal road back to the 27 yard line. At the same time, he also began a long term commitment by coaching our young shooters. In his first year as coach of the SCTP Junior Novice squad, Mike displayed his talent for coaching kids by leading his young squad to a 2 nd place finish at the California State Championship. Mike continued to provide the type of leadership, dedication, and positive influence that is so important to our youth over the next five years.
In 2006 Mike lead our Senior Experienced “Top Guns” to a 2 nd place finish at the State Championship with a respectable 972 targets out of 1000. For those of us that know Mike, he is a fierce competitor and that 2 nd place just wasn’t acceptable. Mike was willing to do whatever it took to move those kids into 1 st place, including loaning his guns, providing shells, or spending all of his weekends at the range. For the next two years Mike’s hard work paid off with back to back State Championship wins and record setting scores from his Top Gun squad. Those records, 981 and 982 out of 1000 targets, still stand today as a testament to Mike’s dedication and talent for leadership.
In 2007 Mike showed us once again his undeniable selfless character by volunteering to co-chair the SDSSA Trap League and agreeing to accept the duties of Youth Director.
In early 2008 Mike joined the SDSSA Board of Directors and agreed to serve as its Vice President. He has served this position well for two years, often bringing a measure of common sense and humor that seem sorely lacking in our society today. In short, whenever there was a problem to solve or work to be done, Mike has been there for this Association.
As an aside, he did make it back to the 27 yard line last year and there simply isn’t a more deserving person for that award or the Honorary Life Member award. Both required a lot of time and dedication.
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| Malcum Campbell |
Malcum Campbell was born in the state of Texas but celebrated his first birthday in the San Diego area and never left permanently.
After graduating high school he and a few friends joined the Air Force in 1961 and four years later returned to San Diego.
He met his future wife of 30 years and was married until she passed away.
Shortly after a returning to San Diego he went to work for North Island where he spent over 30 years. It was in the last five or six years that he found out he could shoot shotguns on base at their range. He always had an interest in bird hunting and shortly after starting to shoot at the range he realized what he liked most was shooting a shotgun and hitting a target. He could shoot at a range more often and pretty much gave up bird hunting.
After retirement and with more time to shoot he started hanging around Miramar Trap and Skeet more often. There were some improvements going on such as replacing the north Skeet fences. He volunteered with a lot of others but wanted to do more and he enjoyed repairing things.
He was asked to become the Committee chairman for the Buildings & Grounds committee and he accepted. He has been working at that ever since and turns in a written report to the Directors monthly since 2003.
He stills enjoys loading shells and shooting shotguns and participates at ranges mostly in the San Diego area. |
| 2004 - 2005 - 2006 - 2007 - 2008- 2008 - 2009 - 2010 - 2010 |
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| George Harbaugh |
George joined Miramar Gun Club on June 12, 1981. He immediately became involved in trap shooting activities and within several years became the Registered Trap Program Chair. During his tenure as the Registered Trap Program Chair, attendance increased and 10 – 15 squads per event were not uncommon. His Tournament awards were innovative as he would travel to the LA Market to personally select unique objects that would serve as awards.
George was involved in the construction of the current range office and subsequently the 2 nd floor office. That range office replaced a shed that was used by a volunteer/member cashier. In 1989, George succeeded Ollie Owens as Club President.
George served as President of MGC in 1989 & 1990. |
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| Oliver Owen III |
Ollie as he’s known, joined the North Island Gun Club; the founding Gun Club of San Diego Shotgun Sports Association, in February of 1953. He was involved in the move of that Club from North Island to Miramar NAS in 1956 where it was renamed the Miramar Gun Club. In 1975 he was again involved in the move from our former location at the northeast end of MCAS Miramar to our current location. Ollie was instrumental in the expansion of our facility to the current 12 fields layout. Thru agreements with San Diego Gas & Electric he obtained valuable fill for developing our fields in addition to having SDG&E pay MGC for the opportunity for disposing of that fill. It was the fill & income that allowed establishing our 12 field layout.
Ollie served as President of MGC in 1987 & 1988. |
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| Charles Bover |
| Charlie Bover was born in Vermont; best known for its Maple Syrup, which probably explains his voracious need for conversation. He and his wife Terry live in Mira Mesa.
He joined the Navy in 1952 following graduation from high school and after a distinguished career in Aviation Ordinance retired in 1982 as a Sr. Chief Petty Officer. He settled in San Diego following his retirement from the Navy. During his service he was a member of the Navy’s Rifle & Pistol Team winning a number of awards including the prestigious Daniel Boone award at Camp Perry.
Charlie joined SDSSA in 1999 and is an avid Trapshooter in addition to competing in various Skeet activities.
In 2006 he reached the 27 yard line in Handicap; a prestigious accomplishment in American Trap. His constant and meticulous practicing as well as his very technical approach to reloading was his recipe for getting him to that yardage.
Charlie can be found all day Tuesday and Thursday morning until noon; at the range busy working on various items requiring installation, modification or repair under the watchful eyes of Malcum Campbell. Malcum says that this person quits at least once a week, has been fired a number of times by Malcum but continues to show up and work. Bitching & moaning are 2 of his strongest traits say Malcum. Malcum is also quick to say that he doesn’t know how we’d get along without this person’s volunteer work.
Charlie readily volunteers his time working and supporting our Association.
It is for these reasons that our Board of Directors selected Charles Bover to receive the 2007 Honorary Life Member Award. |
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| Neil Vann |
Neil was born in San Francisco in 1934. Soon after, his family moved to Everest, WA. At that time his step-father was in the lumber business.
In 1950 the Vann family moved again to N. Dakota where Neil completed high school. In high school he was active in sports, especially track and football. It was in North Dakota that Neil became active in hunting. (What else could you do in ND?)
He moved to San Diego in 1954 and continued his education at night school. Neil and wife Barbara were married in 1957.
He earned his engineering credentials while working in the aerospace industry at a variety of companies including Rohr, Boeing, Aerojet General, Hughes Helicopter and Hughes MacDonald Boeing. He worked at the latter firm from 1977-1999 and spent 1992-1998 based in Arizona. He returned to San Diego in 1998 and retired in 1999.
He became interested in skeet as a dove hunter and was active with Vern Gideon at the old Winchester range at Otay Lakes. He became an early member of Miramar Gun Club and served as its president in 1980.
During Neil’s absence in Arizona the skeet program at Miramar declined and only 3000-4000 registered targets were thrown. Upon Neil’s return to San Diego in 1998 he resumed skeet shooting and soon became skeet chairman. He turned the program around through hard work, ingenuity and his own leadership and personal charisma. He expanded the program by finding donors and sponsors for shoots and awards; initiated volunteer lunches, founded a skeet newsletter and featured more and larger skeet competitions. We now have three major competitions each year—the Grey Silva in September, the Pacific Sporting Arms and the SoCal in May. In just five years the program expanded to 29,000 registered targets each year.
Neil was elected to the presidency of SDSSA in both 2003 and 2004. He led the association in accomplishing improvements to the range including a new and much needed clubhouse. Under his leadership our shooting fields were upgraded. International/Olympic trap/bunker, which like the skeet program had declined, was rebuilt, expanded and is now one of the top programs in the country. He set up a building and grounds program which included handicap access. He also promoted an active handicap-shooting program.
On the personal level, Neil has been a dedicated skeet competitor at the A and AA level and in 2002 was honored by being made a member of the California Skeet Shooting Association Hall of Fame. In 2005 he completed shooting 300,000 registered targets and is now (January 2006) 8th in the world in lifetime NSSA registered targets.
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Harvey
Fischer
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Harvey
Fischer joined the then Miramar Gun Club in June of 1978. He immediately
got involved in the club's activities and became a director in 1979.
During the next 10 years he served as: director 1979 - 1981, vice president
1981, president 1982 & 1983, director 1984, president 1985 & 1986 and
director 1987 & 1988. In 1992, following the dismissal of the range manager,
Harvey was asked by the club president to step in and take on the full
time range manager's position. He accepted and served in that capacity
from 1992 to 1996. Harvey also became very involved with the club's registered
trap program. in 1981 he became the trap chair and moved the program from
4 shoots a year to a 2-day registered shoot every month. Attendance increased
from an average of 4 squads a shoot to over 12 squads. He selected George
Harbaugh to succeed him as trap chair and the program continued to increase
in popularity. Harvey stepped in to become trap chair again in 2001 &
2002.
In the early 80's he established a 50 bird Wednesday ATA registered shoot
that grew in popularity. The increased trap activity brought in many new
members in addition to the primary source of revenue for the club. During
his involvement we constructed, a range office replacing a wooden shed,
a 2nd floor office, trap overlays on 4 fields bringing the total trap
ields to 8, 2 olympic layouts on 11 & 12, shade canopies and picnic tables
and rv hookups with water & electricity. Other significant contributions
included, replacing a cigar box with a modern day cash register, introducing
P&L reports with a computer thanks to the assistance of Glen & Karen
Gregory, hiring the 1st paid manager and the hiring of a CPA to examine
our financial record keeping.
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Pete
Buompensiero
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The
recipient for 2004 and the first ever for this award is a native San Diegan
who joined our Club, which is now an Association, back in 1979. He shoots
both skeet and trap targets and enjoys bird hunting with family members.
His first job was with a San Diego industry that sadly has disappeared
from America's Finest City. Before it disappeared he joined the construction
industry where he convinced himself that having his own business would
be the ticket to success. And successful it was and still is. Successful
enough that over the years he has helped with improving our facility and
supporting programs to the benefit of all. He never refused a request
for help and even volunteered assistance when not asked. He's a regular
at skeet but can also be found on the trap fields. He drives a vehicle
most people recognize when he comes to the range.
Our recipient is married and has 4 children and many people have difficulty
spelling his last name. A few years back he took an entire table at our
annual meeting and filled it with his family. By now a few of you might
have narrowed it down to someone you know. Just a bit more info before
I name him. A fellow skeet shooter and friend wrote, "He has always been
very generous. Before he started providing actual trophies, he fed a lot
of shooters. This is not just paying the catering bill: Many times his
lovely wife and daughters would prepare and serve wonderful homemade feasts.
Some of her desserts were to die for." A number of years ago we had a
member who painted the club "at cost" which was a good deal at the time.
However along came our recipient who offered to do future work for free
-- donating labor and materials.
Enough hints. By the way, his wife's name is Mary and his first job with
a San Diego industry that sadly has disappeared from America's Finest
City was the tuna industry. Pete Buompensiero, please come forward so
that we can all share in this honor to you.
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