The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Handguns => Topic started by: D.R. Middlebrooks on July 21, 2012, 04:56:59 PM
-
Dave Arnold passed away today as a result of injuries suffered in a car wreck. :'(
Dave started USPSA. It was his brain child. I remember the day back in the early 80’s like it was yesterday. We all were hanging around after a match, having a cold drink and talking about IPSC.
Dave wasn’t happy with some things the IPSC World body was doing and he said,
“The United States should start its own Practical Shooting Association!”
We all turned and looked at Dave sitting on the tailgate of my truck. So, I asked,
“O.K. Dave, so what are we going to call it?”
To which he said,
“The United States Practical Shooting Association!”
We all cheered and said, “Yeah!” 8)
The rest, as they say, is history.
Dave Arnold was President of USPSA for quite a few years (I can't remember how many? :-\ ).
“We shall miss his soul tonight” - From the Movie The 13th Warrior
-
I don't know how to get in touch with Michael Bane, and I know he and Dave were close friends. I also did not know where to post this thread. :-[
Would somebody kindly report this thread to a Moderator for me????
I tried to report it myself, but it said "Reporting your own thread to a Moderator doesn't make any sense!"
Thanks,
D.R.
-
If anyone has any questions, please email me at info@TacticalShooting.com
Thanks!
D.R.
-
I don't know how to get in touch with Michael Banes, and I know he and Dave were close friends. I also did not know where to post this thread. :-[
Bane - Singular not Banes.
He reads the forums, and he'll see this thread sooner or later.
-
Very sad to lose such an icon in the shooting industry. D.R., My condolences to the loss of your friend Dave Arnold.
If Michael doesn't know already, or if you would like to contact him directly, send a PM to Marshall Halloway, and Michael. Also on MB's blog he has a contact link as well, and an area to post directly.
MB does lurk here very often, and I'm sure the loss of someone like Dave Arnold will make its way to the "hidden bunker" of MB..
Again, my condolences.
tw
-
Thank you, D.R.; thank you Tom for notifying me.
D.R., I need to get in touch with Dave's wife...how might I do that. michaelbane@mac.com
I don't even know what to say. He was my brother, maybe the closest friend I've ever had. He was there for me at the worst points of my life.
I'm sorry...I don't know what else to say...I am heartbroken.
mb
-
Michael,
I just found out and immediately thought of you, so I came here 1st.
I know Dave thought the world of you, too. .
I've been thinking about him for a couple of weeks now, then this. :'(
I don't have her contact info, but will get it.
I will let you know ASAP as soon as I know more.
Take care,
D.R.
-
Thank you, brother.
mb
-
Sorry to hear it. May he RIP.
-
I just started shooting USPSA this summer and have already heard Dave's name mentioned and a little of the history behind USPSA. I think he was from the PNW and that is why our HQ is up in the Seattle area, my prayers go out to all that knew him and he will be surely missed.
Maybe this could be a place for those who knew him to post some stories much like D.R. started the thread with. So starts the legend...
-
Here is what I wrote on the blog:
I note the passing of one of my best, and dearest, friends, Captain Dave Arnold, from injuries sustained in a car crash in Virginia this weekend.
I don't even know where to begin...Dave, along with Walt Rauch, founded the United States Practical Shooting Association (USPSA) after Dave's initial work with the International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC). Dave and his running buddy Lloyd Harper felt very strongly that the United States, as the largest participant in the fledgling sport of practical shooting, needed its own organization.
The "bones" of USPSA were put in place after the first Florida Invitational Pistol Tournament in, I believe, 1980. The sport of practical pistol, and IPSC itself, had been created at the 1976 Columbia Conference, called by Col. Jeff Cooper et all. "Combat shooting," as it was called back then, had grown like a weed in all directions, and some of those directions were pretty strange. I shot one combat match back then that, as soon as someone yelled "Go!," you dropped your gun on floor and kicked it down range, then ran to retrieve it to start the stage.
Following the FIPT, Dave, Walt, Jake Jatras (editor of the only publication about the fledgling sport, The Combat Shooters Report), Dave Churilla (who would go on to be the first head of the National Range Officer Institute (NROI), Tom Campbell (then with S&W and one of the sport's first top shooters) and me took a yellow legal pad to a strip joint called Thee Doll House in Orlando and created the outlines of USPSA.
Dave was adamant that the new sport become more formalized, especially on the safety rules. Remember, combat shooting was a major change from traditional position bullseye shooting...run and gun was something totally new. At the end of the meeting, Dave and Walt became the formal founders, Churilla and I would work on range officer training.
After working on national rules and range officer training, Dave went on to found the International Range Officer Association for IPSC and was Match Director of major national and world competitions. As a law enforcement trainer he worked in training for line officers and elite operators as well. He took on the tough job of running the Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail, a job to which he bought not only toughness, but compassion. It takes a man's man to not only arrest a first-time drug offender, but help arrange for his education when he got out. Dave understood evil, but he believed in redemption as well.
He worked as my Chief Rangemaster in the NSSF Media Education Program, which was as much Dave's as mine and NSSF's. He was, as usual, flawless on the range, an example of what each of us strived to be. He was an early adopter of IDPA and helped me create the curriculum for the first IDPA Safety Officer class I ran, which I believe was the first one before the creation of the formal Safety Officer program.
In the late 1980s, after Florida adopted shall-issue, Dave and I began working together on concealed carry issues, and much of my current thinking on concealed carry was hammered together in those days. Heck, Dave even convinced me to try cowboy action shooting!
As one of Dave's rangemasters, I learned more than you can imagine. More than that, Dave became first my friend, then my brother. We stood beside each other during dark times in our lives and shared the joy of the good times. We shot side by side more times than I can remember. He never stopped competing, usually at law enforcement matches where he liked to "whip up" on the young officers. He once took a couple of years off shooting to restore a 1957 Chevy, but then sold soon after because, "It turned out just to be a car." He married his high school sweetheart and found joy.
He was a hero in Vietnam, but that was a story he chose not to tell in public, nor will I.
I guess the bottom line, if such a spectacular and wonderfully lived life can be summed up in a sentence, is that if you have ever stepped up to the line in a match, regardless of whichever branch of the practical shooting tree you've chosen; if you've ever taken any training and marveled about the standards of safety; if you've ever seen one of my shows, my friend Dave Arnold touched your life.
I always imagined that somewhere in our dotage Dave and I would be sipping good brandy and exchanging lies about the good old days. I will miss him more than simple words can express.
Go with God, brother.
"The world is a sadder place...but legends endure."
Nick Alexakos
International Practical Shooting Confederation
Michael B
-
D.R. and Michael,
My condolences on the loss of your friend...
Fair Winds and Following Seas Mr. Arnold!
-
At times like these condolences seem like wasted breathe, like trying to stop a tsunami with towel, but all I can offer for me and mine is a heart felt Thank You to Dave and you as well.
As I stated earlier I just started shooting USPSA this summer at the young age of 40 but what I failed to mention was I introduced my 16 year-old daughter to the sport as well. She needs to take the introduction class offered by our club before she can shoot and we'll have to share my XDM for a while until we get another handgun but the point is to spend some time together having fun, putting rounds down range. What better tribute to Dave can I offer?
Go with God, peace be upon your house and blessed be your family both immediate and extended.
Amen.
-
The loss of someone that is considered a "true friend" or "brother" is a punch in the gut that is sometimes worse than the loss of a blood relative.
My sincerest condolences to you guys who knew him well.