Robert Paxton - Life Time Achievement Award
The dreams I want to hear of excite some fortunate people from the time they wake up each morning until they fall asleep at night. They are the stuff of passion and tenacity. They might be defined as goals, but goals so bright that no one needs to write them down to remember them. In fact, the hard task for the [athletes] I work with is not recalling their dreams, but occasionally putting them out of their minds and taking some time off from their pursuit of them. The dreams I want to hear about are the emotional fuel that helps people take control of their lives and what they want to be. Time and again, I have heard stories of dreams that are intimately connected to the ability to play great… A person with great dreams can achieve great things.
– Dr. Bob Rotella
As a young teenager, Robert took a solitary journey to his first State Championships, riding a Greyhound bus and, toting a Remington 870, 20 Gauge. Like all the attendees, he had a dream. The 97 x 100 in the sole event in which he competed was unremarkable, but it did not diminish his dreams. Robert has held onto his dreams for fifty years and with his great dreams, he achieved great things.
In 1971, a few years after attending his first state shoot, Robert burst on the skeet scene, by winning the World High-Overall title with a 548 x 550. Many would have been happy with crossing this success off a ‘bucket list’ and moving on to new challenges but Robert still had dreams. He won the World HOA title again, four years later and has a total of seven (7) World titles. He holds nine (9) Texas HOA titles and a total of twenty-seven (27) Texas State Championship titles.
Robert did not shoot the first 400 x 400 in our sport. The honor of the first 400 x 400 went to Kenny Barnes in 1967. Robert broke his first 400 x 400 in 1975; he was the fifth shooter to achieve this feat. He went on to demonstrate that shooting perfectly was more than a statistical oddity by becoming the first shooter to break two (2) 400 x 400’s, and he didn’t stop there. In his career he has broken a remarkable twenty (20) 400 x 400’s and two (2) 500 x 500’s.
Those who page through the record books will see the name Paxton featured prominently. He still maintains a presence on multiple five-man team world records, most of which were established with his beloved ‘Cosmic Cowboys.’ He also holds the current 20-Gauge long run record of 2,173 targets; this record was established in 1991 and has stood, uncontested, for the past 28 years.
Robert is a forty-six (46) time Open All American and has been on the First Open Team thirty-one (31) times. Incredibly, he has been on the Texas Open First Team for the past forty-nine (49) consecutive years. In those years he has been Captain of the team twenty-three (23) times including an eight (8) year consecutive streak from 1987 through 1994.
We are fortunate to bear witness to a person with unwavering dreams. Roberts dreams have lasted half a century and his achievements have changed the trajectory of our sport. His feats have become legend but most importantly, he has fostered friendships that have spanned a generation.
The Texas Skeet Shooters Association is humbly honored to bestow a Lifetime Achievement Award to Robert Paxton.
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