Ernie Vande Zande (1988) - Hall of Fame - Murray State University Athletics

Ernie Vande Zande

Induction:
1988

Ernie Vande Zande – Rifle, 1968-1971 (Deceased)

It’s no longer news that the Murray State rifle team is a national power in the sport, with two national championships and two national runner up finishes in the last four years. But it’s not generally known that the Racer Rifles’ rise to prominence is not a recent phenomenon. Murray State has long been a national power in rifle competition, even before MSU began competing for NCAA titles in the 1970s.

While the MSU shooters were gaining wider recognition for their sport in the 1980s, one of the world’s top shooters, Ernie Vande Zande, was winning individual championships in all parts of the world. That’s the same Ernie Vande Zande who became Murray State’s first four-time All-American in rifle from 1968 to 1971.

Winning four National Rifle Association national championships, Vande Zande helped make MSU one of the nations’ top rifle teams during his career. He was named second-team All-America by the NRA as a freshman and a sophomore and gained first-team All-America acclaim as a junior and senior.

A Murray State team captain in 1970 and 1971, Vande Zande’s greatest accomplishments were yet to come.

In 1975, Vande Zande won a gold medal in rifle in the Pan American Games held in Mexico City. He followed that with a gold and two silvers in the 1979 Pan American Games in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Also in 1979, Vande Zande won a silver medal at the World Air Gun championships in Seoul, South Korea.

In 1981, Vande Zande took five golds and set two world records at the championship of the Americas in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A year later, he took the bronze at the World Shooting Championships in Caracas, Venezuala.

This year, he missed qualifying for the U.S. Olympic Team by four tenths of a point. All told Vande Zande he claimed 36 team and individual championships and set more than 200 national records in shooting to date.

A recent inductee into the U.S. Army Athletic Hall of Fame, Vande Zande competes for the Army Reserve Shooting Team. He has been a major contributor in rifle while working at the U.S. Olympic Training Center for the past five-and-a-half years, including service as project director for the building of a $2.7 million shooting complex. (The Murray Ledger & Times, September 27, 1988, By Tim Tucker, MSU Sports Information)

Obituary Information: https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/mesa-az/ernest-vande-zande-8012453 and https://goracers.com/news/2018/10/12/rifle-racers-mourn-loss-of-great-vande-zande.aspx?path=rifle