A special tribute to..........

 

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1976 Olympic Clay Target Champion


"The targets were very hard, you had to hit them
right in the middle to break them."
                                                                           ...........Donald Haldeman, 1976

                                                                                                             

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           In 1976, Donald Haldeman of Souderton, Pennsylvania became the second shooter from the United States to win an Olympic Gold medal in Trapshooting. On July 20, 1976, in Montreal, Haldeman completed his three day program with a score of 190 X 200, beating Marques Armando Silva of Portugal and Ubaldesc Baldi of Italy by one target. He joins Mark Arie as the only two Americans to win this most prestigious championship. Arie won his medal in 1920.

            Wind, background and extra hard targets were given as the reason why scores were not higher in the event. "The targets were very hard; you had to hit them right in the middle to break them." said Haldeman when interviewed after the event. Haldeman broke 72x75 on the first day, 71x75 the second day and 47x50 on the third day to win the title by one target.

             On June 17th, 1994, Donald was present at the Pennsylvania Trapshooting Hall of Fame induction ceremonies to accept a special Achievement Award from the Hall of Fame. On that visit he showed the gathering his remarkable gold medal and donated some of his personal Olympic memorabilia to the Hall of Fame. It is currently on display.