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Schläpfer Claims Inaugural MSU “Human Benchrest” Award
7/24/2019 12:03:00 PM | Rifle
Murray State rifle head coach Alan Lollar is pleased to announce a new award named after one his program's most distinguished alumni, Ernie Vande Zande and that one of his program's most decorated athletes in recent history, Barbara Schläpfer, will be the inaugural recipient.
"It's hard to explain how much Ernie meant to our program in general and me in particular," said Lollar. "There was obviously the fundraising that has made such a difference in our team. Without, Ernie, Bill and all our alumni and supporters we could not do the things we do. But, more than that, Ernie was a friend and mentor. I never asked a question that I did not get a complete and understandable answer. Ernie had the ability to encourage and push at the same time. He made you believe in yourself. He loved the idea of "The Murray State Way". His attention to detail is famous and was the genius of our "Standard of Performance". He is with us every day and we are proud to honor him with this award."
Vande Zande was a four-time All-American at Murray State University from 1968 to 1971. In 1975, he 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, Venezuela. In 1984, he missed qualifying for the U.S. Olympic Team by four tenths of a point. In total, Vande Zande claimed 36 team and individual championships and set more than 200 national records in shooting.
The "Human Benchrest" award will go to the Racer each year with the highest regular-season prone match average. It is named for Vande Zande and his prowess in prone shooting and comes from a nickname given to him by a fellow shooter in the US Army Marksmanship Unit. Before his recent passing, Vande Zande recounted the story about how the nickname came to be.
"When I was at the US Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU), we used to shoot a few American prone matches. One of the good and popular shooters in the 70's was John Chapman, from Texas. I was shooting at the Wildcat one year and doing very well, well in the lead, but that can change rapidly at that range. I had won the last four 6400 matches I'd fired in, a pretty good record. In any case, there were a bunch of us standing around between 40 shot matches waiting to shoot again. John was kidding me about how well I was doing and none of the other shooters had a chance against me. He commented about what a good technical shooter I was and had good equipment also. He then called me "the human bench rest". Well, everyone laughed and for a while when I shot, people mostly at the unit, would call me HBR, human bench rest. Steve Goff, long time unit shooter, always calls me that when he sees me. Naturally it makes me smile."
Vande Zande's prone abilities not only amazed his teammates in the USAMU, but competitors from around the world, including three-time Olympian Don Brook of Australia.
"I fired a prone 60 shot match in Linz, Austria, in the most horrific wind conditions I have ever fired in a smallbore match," said Brook. "Ernie Vande Zande fired a perfect 600, which absolutely astounded me, while my own score, a 592 - with a 100 in the last string, ran second. Ernie and I spoke for 5 hours over this, and when I got back to my hotel, I wrote it all down. That bloke fired that match in absolute genius mode, and we were the only two shooters over 590 points."
Schläpfer earned the inaugural award by finishing the 2018-19 season with a prone average of 198.58, beating out fellow senior MacKenzie Martin by just 0.28 of a point. In her final year at Murray State, she completed of the most impressive seasons in the history of the Murray State rifle team and finished the season as arguably the best shooter in the country.
"Barbara is the perfect first recipient of the HBR Award," said Lollar. "Her attention to detail and work ethic are impressive. It's a great way to start."
She led the nation in both smallbore and aggregate averages on the year, at 586.6 and 1180.8, respectively. In air rifle, the Gais, Switzerland native finished with an average of 594.3, which was not only the fourth-highest average in the nation, but also a new Murray State program record. Her stellar performance over the course of the season earned her Rifle Athlete of the Year Honors, the sport's top individual honor, from the Collegiate Rifle Coaches Association.
"It's hard to explain how much Ernie meant to our program in general and me in particular," said Lollar. "There was obviously the fundraising that has made such a difference in our team. Without, Ernie, Bill and all our alumni and supporters we could not do the things we do. But, more than that, Ernie was a friend and mentor. I never asked a question that I did not get a complete and understandable answer. Ernie had the ability to encourage and push at the same time. He made you believe in yourself. He loved the idea of "The Murray State Way". His attention to detail is famous and was the genius of our "Standard of Performance". He is with us every day and we are proud to honor him with this award."
Vande Zande was a four-time All-American at Murray State University from 1968 to 1971. In 1975, he 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, Venezuela. In 1984, he missed qualifying for the U.S. Olympic Team by four tenths of a point. In total, Vande Zande claimed 36 team and individual championships and set more than 200 national records in shooting.
The "Human Benchrest" award will go to the Racer each year with the highest regular-season prone match average. It is named for Vande Zande and his prowess in prone shooting and comes from a nickname given to him by a fellow shooter in the US Army Marksmanship Unit. Before his recent passing, Vande Zande recounted the story about how the nickname came to be.
"When I was at the US Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU), we used to shoot a few American prone matches. One of the good and popular shooters in the 70's was John Chapman, from Texas. I was shooting at the Wildcat one year and doing very well, well in the lead, but that can change rapidly at that range. I had won the last four 6400 matches I'd fired in, a pretty good record. In any case, there were a bunch of us standing around between 40 shot matches waiting to shoot again. John was kidding me about how well I was doing and none of the other shooters had a chance against me. He commented about what a good technical shooter I was and had good equipment also. He then called me "the human bench rest". Well, everyone laughed and for a while when I shot, people mostly at the unit, would call me HBR, human bench rest. Steve Goff, long time unit shooter, always calls me that when he sees me. Naturally it makes me smile."
Vande Zande's prone abilities not only amazed his teammates in the USAMU, but competitors from around the world, including three-time Olympian Don Brook of Australia.
"I fired a prone 60 shot match in Linz, Austria, in the most horrific wind conditions I have ever fired in a smallbore match," said Brook. "Ernie Vande Zande fired a perfect 600, which absolutely astounded me, while my own score, a 592 - with a 100 in the last string, ran second. Ernie and I spoke for 5 hours over this, and when I got back to my hotel, I wrote it all down. That bloke fired that match in absolute genius mode, and we were the only two shooters over 590 points."
Schläpfer earned the inaugural award by finishing the 2018-19 season with a prone average of 198.58, beating out fellow senior MacKenzie Martin by just 0.28 of a point. In her final year at Murray State, she completed of the most impressive seasons in the history of the Murray State rifle team and finished the season as arguably the best shooter in the country.
"Barbara is the perfect first recipient of the HBR Award," said Lollar. "Her attention to detail and work ethic are impressive. It's a great way to start."
She led the nation in both smallbore and aggregate averages on the year, at 586.6 and 1180.8, respectively. In air rifle, the Gais, Switzerland native finished with an average of 594.3, which was not only the fourth-highest average in the nation, but also a new Murray State program record. Her stellar performance over the course of the season earned her Rifle Athlete of the Year Honors, the sport's top individual honor, from the Collegiate Rifle Coaches Association.
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