Rick Pope

Rick Pope began his skeet shooting career at the age of 12 in 1966. He was selected to All American First Teams each year he shot minimums. Rick was captain of the Junior First Team one of the four years and was the first person to serve as captain of the Open First Team for three consecutive years (1976-78). He was also selected to eight Open Texas All-State Teams, being named captain four times.

Two years after his first registered shoot, Rick was junior high average leader with a .9700 in the 28 gauge. He went on to be high average leader of individual gauges a total of eleven times between 1968 and 1977. Seven of these titles were average records including a .410 average of .991, a 12-gauge average of .9992 and a high overall average of .9929 in 1977. In addition to high average records, Rick set a world record for the first 500×500 high overall at the 1976 Texas State and the .410 long run of 386. He was also a member of six two-man teams setting world records with Bubba Wood and Robert Paxton and thirteen five-man world team records with the Texas team, Cosmic Cowboys.

Rick’s World Shoot accomplishments include the 28-gauge championship in 1976, high overall runner up in 1975, 12-gauge runner up in 1974, and 20 gauge third in 1975. Rick shot his final registered target at the ’77 World Shoot in Savannah.

Rick also won numerous Texas State championships and was inducted into the Texas Skeet Shooting Hall of Fame in 1984. Rick was inducted into the NSSA Hall of Fame in 1993

Selected as Captain of the NSSA Open First Team 3 years in a row – 1976 – 1977 – 1978
HOA High Avg leader in 1971 – .989
1975 HOA Runner-up World Champ
1976 28 ga. World Champ
1976 12 ga. Runner-up World Champ
HOA High Avg Leader in 1977 – .9929 (1977 was the first year the 99+ HOA average was broken under current rules – 3 shooters achieved the feat, but Rick had the highest average)
12 ga. High Avg Leader in 1977 – .9992
.410 High Ave Leader in 1977 – .9910 (First shooter to achieve a 99+ .410 average)
Set .410 Long Run Record in 1977 at 386
1976 28 ga. World Champ
1976 12 ga. Runner-up World Champ
Member of the Cosmic Cowboys 5-man team that set many records (many of which still hold today)
First person to break 500 x 500 HOA score (200 x 100 x 100 x 100) – at 1976 Texas State Shoot
.410 High Avg Leader in 1971 – .982 28 ga. High Avg Leader in 1971 – .990

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