When I saw the name "Willie Finch", I thought it was a typo for "Willie Flinch". What a great name for a trapshooter

I watched Wayne shoot off against Mike Schmidt at the Color Matrix shoot in Ohio 2009.
They were both shooting 12 gauge Beretta Autos. Wayne would change the choke in his gun for station 4. It was a flush choke and could change it between stations while he was walking and not miss a beat!

The amazing thing was his head never touched the stock and he would SMOKE both targets! His head was at least 1" off the stock!

Wayne Mays and Todd Bender won just about every two man event they ever entered and set many a record while doing it. Todd lost his wife about the same time Wayne passed, a double blow for him. I never tired of watching them shoot boubles and the birds never crossed the center stake. I need every inch of that field:eek:

craig you ve lived a life most of us only get to read about such as now..i m glad you and others are telling us about these great shooters.. charlie

While they were certainly excellent at all facets of the skeet game my old now gone friend Willie Finch had this habit of walking out on the shootoff field after everyone was finished, barefooted with his 410 tubes in his over and under . Then he'd shoot doubles on station 4 from the hip both directions a couple times each and he typically never missed !

Last time I saw him do it he was in his early 70's !

Yup, Willie was quite a guy, both in Virginia and Florida, where he spent winters. He shot ATA trap in addition to competitive skeet. There is a field named for him at the Fairfax Rod and Gun Club.

One of the best shoot off I ever saw was between Ralph Petely and George Lear. They had both run their 100 with the 410 shot doubles run another 100 then went to Kentucky doubles (stations 3,4,5) and whatever George did Ralph was right behind him. Mostly the birds never crossed the center stake, then on station 4 George used every inch of the field to break his pair and Ralph attempted to do the same except he missed one. He stormed off the field in a huff, no congrats nada he just picked up his stuff and left.

Yes he was ! I got accused of sand bagging once at a Fairfax ATA shoot . And that was when I was first coming up through the ranks . When I was coming up I'd get rather mad when I missed which in the long run caused me to miss more and after all was said and done it would screw my average . Anyway I went to Fairfax and was shooting 16 yard in C class and handicap at 22 yards . When I finished I had gotten a 98 at 16 and a 96 at handicap . Needless to say I got a couple prizes and the lady at the desk said I had sandbagged . Willie was standing there and told her he'd shot skeet with me for a few years and told her my little getting PO'd problem . She shut up gave me my winnings and a dirty look !

George Lear was the guy I tied for low man in AA HOA at Bruce Evans Piedmont Open shoot outside Winston Salem . Except I think he spelled his last name Lehr .

Over the years I think I was on a squad with Ralphie maybe 4 or 5 times . And I gotta say he was always tolerable .