We regret to inform you of the passing of James Ellwood Doebereiner. A historic contributor to the skeet game and a long long time presence at Sportsmen’s Shooting Center in Canton OH, it could be said that Jim had the life that most skeet shooters would dream of.

 

It began at the age of 10 when he became a trap boy under the wing of Bill Umstattd who was then President of the Timken Roller Bearing Co. as well as President of the skeet club. Because of Bill, young Jim also began shooting at that ripe old age and in his first year went to his first Ohio State Skeet Championships and won Sub-Junior class with a 43/50. What 10 year old boy wouldn’t be completely hooked? Mind you, this was 1948 and only 13 years after the very first World Shoot which was held in Solon OH.

 

Jim followed that up with three more title wins in Junior Class as he got older. His life long membership at Sportsmen’s and his consecutive string of referee credentials both began in ‘53 at the age of 15, long before most of the current members were even born. This man didn’t just know our game, he lived it’s early years and nurtured its existence.

 

By the age of 20, Jim was AA in all four guns and started to turn some of his attention to the “paperwork” side of the game. At the same time he pursued a Mechanical  Engineering degree which may have accounted for his need to examine the details. At 22 he started as Shoot Cashier for the club and less than a year later ran the entire OSSA Championships.  In 12 years, young Jim had grown and gone from trap boy to head of the OSSA Championships... but he wasn’t stopping there.

 

Between starting as Cashier at the club and running the state shoot, Mr. Doebereiner got married to Judith Blazer and proceeded to drag her to that state shoot while still on their honeymoon. That was the start of a 46 year marriage and a partnership behind the counter at shoots that continued for year after year, decade after decade. His string of continuous attendance at the OSSA Championships totaled 57 years and will not be broken anytime in the foreseeable future.

 

With the support of his new wife, Jim served as OSSA Secretary as well as Sportsmen’s Club Manager from ‘63-’68. He later moved up to OSSA President in ‘71, ‘72, and again in ‘76 and President of Sportsmen’s from ‘78 to ‘83.

 

Jim and Judy also began a family. They had a daughter who grew up to marry an executive at the NRA and a son who went to gunsmithing school and who now works in the sporting industry. They are a tribute to Jim’s love of the game, the outdoors, and all the adventures he had shooting in places all over the world. But, that’s getting too far ahead in the story...

 

As Jim’s luck would have it, the not yet NSSA President Ray E, Boller, Jr. was from Sydney, Ohio and got Jim the job of Chief of the ScoreBoard at the World Shoot in Savannah, Georgia in ‘65 because of the great work he’d done in Ohio. Two years later when Ray was only Vice President, he again invited Jim to help run the World Shoot in Savannah. That year Ray was elected the new NSSA President and his first act was to request that Jim Doebereiner step up to take his place actually running the World Shoot. “The recommendation was approved on motion by C.J. Crites, seconded by Truman Smith and passed.” (1967-68 NSSA executive committee meeting)

 

The next year at the still young age of 30, Jim ran his first World Shoot in Bucyrus, Kansas. He then did the World Shoot in Rush, New York in ‘69, then back to Savannah in ‘70. At the same time he had joined the Timken Co. right out of college in ‘56 as a draftsman and was on his way to finally retiring after 45 years as Director of New Product Development of Bearings at Timken Research. Maybe his personal career or his growing family gave him pause, but that’s about when Jim turned his attention back to Ohio and his local club.

 

He’d done his time at the top and had been there to develop the “Shoot Registration Forms” that we all used for so many years. He grew up in the game of skeet and lived our game’s history. This was not your run of the mill “sometime-comes-around” shooter. Jim was in love with this game and did as much as he could to make it more fun, because that’s what Jim was having... FUN!

 

You could almost see his cheeks getting flushed with excitement when the shoot was over and he’d managed to shuffle the paper fast enough to pay off the winners BEFORE they went home. Or the smile that went from ear to ear when he’d run 100 in some gun after slaving over stacks of shooter’s forms most of the tournament.

 

Jim loved the 5-Man Team style of shooting and joined and shot on Sportsmen’s main team during most of the ‘60s and ‘70s. In 1984, Jim had a very good year winning the 28 gauge titles at both the Mid America Championships and the Mid-West Open.

 

This is the period when his career at the Timken Co. took him worldwide inspecting plants and dealing with the largest of customers. Jim got to shoot in some great places all over the planet and many of his buddies can tell you stories of dove hunting in Central America or the different fields in Europe that Jim stopped in to try.

 

With the popularity of computers in the late ‘80s, Jim was in constant touch with those writing various skeet programs and offering insight into what works and what doesn’t. This came from his experience at running everything from the tiniest of shoots to major “big time” events with equal grace. Many of the software programs we’ve all tried and used have had some input from Mr. Doebereiner as to how to figure a Lewis Class or how best to sort shooters for the easiest results.

 

In Ohio, Jim was the expert when it came to the history of the game simply because he lived it.  He also got a kick out of testing his memory to see if he could remember what city and state each and every competitor came from. He seldom missed.

 

Few of us remember Jim in a suit and tie, but most of us have memories of his extensive wardrobe of shooting apparel and his always crisp baseball cap from some major manufacturer. The picture above is the way most of us remember Jim as smiling and happy with the reflection of skeet fields in his glasses. As a final tribute, Ohio shooters lined up at the recent state shoot and shot one of Jim's hats - one last time.

 

His presence was commanding and his knowledge of the game and it’s growing pains was unsurpassed. When giants of the game leave us, we are all left wondering how many people it will take to equal their ability to keep our sport alive and well. Jim Doebereiner gave back, he had fun, and he raised and created a legacy for the game. As a dedicated skeet shooter, could a better life been had?  Our only regret is that it ended all too soon.