Ben.

Myron Fischer's piece "Ben Pearson Remembered" (Jan/Feb 2005) ignited many fond memories of a fine man and good friend. Not enough has been presented about this archery pioneer and though he received many accolades from his peers, too few modern day archers realize that Ben Pearson truly existed. To them "Pearson" is a brand.

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I consider myself extremely fortunate to have known Pearson quite well.

We first met in San Luis Potosi, Mexico at a place called Tanninul in 1966. The occasion was the Grand International Bowhunt, a sweepstakes Ben Pearson Archery put together that drew 25 lucky winners and guests deep into Old Mexico. I was one of the guests, and though the hunting wasn't much, the experience was unique.

As fate would have it, the corporate conglomerate that purchased Ben Pearson Archery hired me in 1967. Overnight I morphed from a jeans and sport shirt pro shop guy to a suit and tie minor executive with an office on the 32nd floor of a Los Angeles high rise in charge of "Archery and Bowhunting Promotion." Though the corporate headquarters were in Los Angeles, archery manufacturing facilities were still located in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, where the company originated in 1938. Flying back and forth to the plant became a regular routine and it was on these visits that Ben and I became very well acquainted.

I found Ben to be a very quiet, low-key kind of guy though possessed of a dry, entertaining wit. He was without a doubt a superb archer with uncanny skill on moving targets much like his close friend Howard Hill. In our years working together, including hunting trips from Canada to Louisiana, he was as pleasant a companion as any I've ever had. Our only disagreements dealt with our choices in broadheads and bows. Ben loved his two-piece Bushmaster longbow of 66 inches while I preferred 60-inch recurves.

Of course, Ben favored his Deadhead two-blade broadhead, while I leaned to multiple blade styles. Ben designed the Deadhead to fit the compressed cedar shafts he preferred. Heated, they fit perfectly on those smaller diameter shafts, but were almost impossible to line up on the aluminum ferrules I preferred on my Easton arrows because the Deadhead's ferrule was four degrees. In the end, that was the death of the Deadhead. As wood shafts gave way to aluminum and fiberglass arrows housing metal tapered ferrules, converting to the five-degree industry standard was prohibitive.

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I still have lots of Deadheads, and the Bushmaster bow Ben gave me, nicely inscribed from one good friend to another. Although I never shot that bow nearly as well as Ben shot his, I did manage to do in a few deer with it.

While everyone recognized Ben's skill as an innovative designer of machines producing archery gear, I don't think many knew that across the road from the archery plant there was a large facility that built huge cotton picking machines that also bore his name, or that Ben was an experienced aviator certified in multi-engine airplanes.

In the too short years we worked and hunted together before his death, we often zipped around the country in Ben's twin engine Beech Baron. Late one night, returning from a hunting trip and a bit worn out, we were on final into Pine Bluff. Somewhat familiar with the procedure, I became a tad uneasy and interrupted him with the question "Landing gear?" "Just checking to see if you were paying attention!" he replied as he ran down the wheels. In the green glow of the cockpit I could see his thin grin.

I saw Ben make lots of fine shots in the field and in exhibitions, but to me the most memorable was a running shot he connected with on a zigzagging swamp rabbit hightailing through spindly trees in a stretch of muddy Arkansas bottomland. In one smooth move the arrow was away knocking the big "swamper" tumbling. It was one sweet shot, and when I told him so he just smiled and nodded a polite thanks. Ben was never one to applaud himself. I have often wondered about the shot on that rabbit, wondered if inside he was quietly thinking, "That should show this kid a thing or two!" You see, I missed that rabbit sitting still at 15 yards; with my recurve!

Today, the bow company that Ben founded still lives. After a hiatus where the name was shortened to just Pearson Archery, they've now gone back to using the full name, Ben Pearson Archery, and I'm glad to see that title back where it surely belongs.