Joe Bowman (marksman)
Joe Bowman | |
|---|---|
Celebrated sharpshooter, Hollywood consultant, firearms instructor, historian, and Old West artisan | |
| Born | April 12, 1925 |
| Died | June 29, 2009 (aged 84) |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | The Straight Shooter The Master of Triggernometry |
| Occupation(s) | Bootmaker, marksman, and Western entertainer |
| Spouse(s) | Betty (Fruge) Bowman (1954–1968, divorced); Betty Reid-Bowman (c.1992–2009, his death) |
| Children | 2 |
| Website | www |
Joseph Lee Bowman[1] (April 12, 1925 – June 29, 2009) was an American marksman called "The Straight Shooter", considered to have been a guardian of Texas and Western frontier culture. He was also an Eagle Scout, Army soldier, and bootmaker.
Biography
[edit]Bowman was born in Johnson City, Tennessee, and grew up in Asheville, North Carolina.[2] He began developing firearm skills at a young age, using BB guns.[2] When he was 12 years old, his family moved to Houston, where he became an Eagle Scout and went on to graduate from Sam Houston High School in 1943.[2]
During World War II, Bowman served in the Army and saw action in France; he received three Bronze Star Medals and a Purple Heart.[3] After the war, he attended the University of Houston for two years, before opening his own boot store in Houston.[3]
After selling his store in the 1960s, Bowman became a salesman and began performing as The Straight Shooter in his spare time.[3] His gun tricks included being able to shoot an aspirin tablet at 30 paces, and being able to split a playing card edge-wise at 20 paces.[3] The guns he used included a pair of Ruger Blackhawk revolvers.[2] He went on to teach gun handling to Hollywood stars such as Robert Duvall and James Arness, and was a firearms instructor with law enforcement agencies, including the FBI.[3]
Bowman died in June 2009, while en route to his home in Houston; he had stopped overnight in Junction, Texas, returning from a convention that he had performed at in Albuquerque, New Mexico.[3] In July 2009, he was posthumously inducted into the Texas Heroes Hall of Honor at the Frontier Times Museum in Bandera.[4][5] Bowman married twice, and had two children from his first marriage.[3]
References
[edit]- ^ "WWII Draft Registration Card". fold3.com. Retrieved June 17, 2020.
- ^ a b c d Grimes, William (July 5, 2009). "Joe Bowman, Sharpshooter, Dies at 84". The New York Times. Retrieved June 17, 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f g Holley, Joe (July 13, 2009). "Sharpshooter called himself the 'Master of Triggernometry'". Los Angeles Times. p. 12. Retrieved June 17, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ Genie Strickland, "Frontier Times Museum announces Texas Heroes Hall of Honor", Bandera Bulletin, July 7, 2009.
- ^ "'Captain' Joe Bowman". frontiertimesmuseum.org. Retrieved June 17, 2020.
Further reading
[edit]- Hutchcroft, Joel J. (August 2020). "Mr. Straight Shooter: Joe Bowman". Shooting Times. pp. 72, 70.