George Leonard Chapman, Jr. died Friday, June 11, following several months of deteriorating health issues. He was 75.
Chapman was best known for his tireless promotion of archery among shooting enthusiasts, sporting goods retailers and quite frankly, anyone who would listen. Throughout his career as a competitor, bow builder, company employee, bowhunter, dealer instructor and archery shooting coach, Chapman impacted the sport and its business though his motivating and passionate personality, and his congenial and forthright, grassroots manner.
He was among the first to join Pete Shepley, the president and founder of bow manufacturer Precision Shooting Equipment, in the building, marketing and sales of some of the first compound bows offered to the public, beginning in 1973. When he retired from PSE after 32 years, he was the only remaining original employee, having served as the company's national sales manager, engineering director, quality assurance manager, special projects director, archery coach and dealer school director.
It was Chapman's direction of the groundbreaking PSE Dealer School Program beginning in 1989 and his subsequent coaching and shooting instruction that garnered him industry-wide acclaim.
The Chapman-led dealer instruction program was the first of its kind in the shooting industry, later spawning imitators among both archery and firearms manufacturers. Under his direction, thousands of archery equipment dealers and retail employees were trained in the basics of selling, maintaining and marketing bows and arrows, as well as how to promote the sports of archery and bowhunting. The Chapman concept was simple, but effective: teaching retailers how to succeed and thrive in the shooting-sports business. Concerned about a growing attrition rate among archery dealerships in the 80s, Chapman believed that only through education could the trend be reversed.
Chapman also served as a coach, mentor, and tutor to hundreds of archers and bowhunters, novice and pro alike. After his retirement from PSE in 2005, he and his wife Patti-an accomplished archer in her own right-continued to coach and teach through the George Chapman School of Archery. Mrs. Chapman preceded him in death in 2009.
Many of Chapman's friends and school alumni never knew many details about the depth and scope of his own archery prowess. Having shot his first bow and arrow in 1948, during the 1960s and 70s Chapman was a leading competitor on the Midwest archery shooting circuit. In the late 1960s he took top honors at a pair of major events-the Illinois NFAA Outdoor State and the NAA Indoor State-shooting one right-handed and one left-handed. He also shot the first recorded perfect field-round score with a compound bow (560), during a 1973 tournament in Robinson, Illinois. That Citation bow, the first off the PSE production line, is a cherished part of the Chapman family heirlooms.
George Chapman is survived by his son, Steve Chapman of Fresno, CA; son, Scott (Debbie) Chapman of Middleville, MI, and daughter, Sandy (John) Buss of Belleville, IL; brother, Lloyd of Covington, IN; seven grandchildren, Chris, Kyle, James, Robin, Greg, Jeff, Elizabeth and Jessica and five great-grandchildren, Leah, Taylor, Zach, Bobby and Bryce.
-J.R. Absher