I was asked the other day to put some of the early CASA History to print and I thought I would start a thread to that end.
The Founder of CASA is Harry Klump. The first three members were Harry, Kieth Phillips (Mac1 salesman) and Myself.
Since memory isn't my best asset a lot of what happened in the last 25 years is a blurr. A few things I was instrumental in so they are not so hard to remember. One of them was hanging an Address book on a string in my Dads shops from 1978 onwards.
The front of the books said "Put your name in here if your interested in Airgun Competition".
It was the year I graduated from Business school and I wanted to work in the shop but my Dad wanted me to get a real job. Our management styles were not on the same page and he fired me in early 1979 as a push out of the nest.
In early 1981 I got a call from my Mom and she asked me to see if I could save the business. My dad had lost interest apparently in a tough market and I had to close the San Diego Store and see if I could salvage the LA operation.
I always wanted to own the business but it was in a pretty sad state.
I took over the debts in 1982 and was the owner of the oldest AG service operation in the US. It was 50 years old and I was 28 with 50 years of AG knowledge tucked into my head.
The address book in the San Diego store had a few names in it but the LA book had lots of address's. We sent a mailer out and we had our first match.
Our 1st Silhouette Match was attended by Kieth, Harry and Me out at the Whittier Narrows Police Range. Nobody showed up but us.
Our second match we had a few more shooters and a lady .22 rimfire silho shooter smoked us all with a 22/40.
Distances were 1/10th high power or 20M, 30M, 38.5M and 50 Meter. That was like 164ft for the Rams. I hit two and was relieved not to get zip. This was hard.
By the third or fourth match we had shrunk the Distances by Texas proclamation (NRA AG Rifle Silho was run by the Massey Bros in Texas) and we settled for 20, 30, 36 and 45 yards.
I think Ld showed up at the matches around that time. He had been hanging at the shop for our Airgun Shooters and Collectors Association (ASCA) which started around the same time. We had collectors hang out at the shop each Saturday afternoon and shoot the AG breeze. Jerry Hill and Jon Jenkins were the anchor for that group and much fun was had at out late afternoon lunch and whatever.
Over the next couple of years we probably had 10-12 matches. Harry was the one who had manufactured the first Targets and sold them to Beeman who of course became the father of American Silho if you believe the catologs.
I'm sure Ld has the best handle on when we shot our first FT match but my guess would be '84. I had met Ivan Hancock that year and I was on a quest to try to bring the UK game over here.
There have been some outstanding charachters associated with CASA. Fred Pratt, Alan Otsuka, the Shimizu brothers, Dennis and Mel O'Flaherty (Ojai Condors), Randall Blake, John Van Beveran, Diane Beale, Chuck & Teri Rensing and many others were key figures in making venues available and getting the word out.
I want to thank everyone that has it in their heart (past and future) for CASA to succeed and continue to be what George Gardner referred to as the "Best" and the oldest US Airgun Club.
I'm sure with some new charachters this club has a new growth spurt ahead and maybe we can get a few of the oldtimers back to share the fun.
We've had some great times over the years and with any luck, the best is yet to come.

Later

Tim

CASA Founding Member