HalofFame

The Lebanon Rifle Club was organized by Roy Bergheiser in about the year 1929-30. Mr. Bergheiser was at that time interested in rifle shooting and set up a range in the basement of his home. After a while, it got too crowded. So, the group got permission to use the National Guard Armory on Chestnut Street. This had 5 firing points. The membership grew and finally that place was too small. Finally, the club rented the present range in the Masonic Hall with 9 firing points about 1930. So, the club is at the same place over 50 years.

Mr. Bergheiser was a pretzel salesman, at the time, and catered to taverns and stores in Lebanon, Dauphin and Lancaster Counties selling pretzels and talking shooting. As a result, several parties got interested and formed a league with Elizabethtown, Ephrata, Quarryville, Lititz, Lancaster and Lebanon participating. About a year or two, Manheim replaced Lititz.

Through the years the league evolved to meet the demands of the smallbore shooting community. Outdoor prone shooting was added, new teams were formed and courses of fire were modified to keep up with the times. At some point in time, the name Inter-County Rifle League was designated for this group of deicated shooters.

Roy is gone but his memory remains as a pioneer in promoting the smallbore rifle shooting sport.

The following is a biography of Joe’s shooting contributions and performance, which benefited not only the Inter-County League but also the shooting world in general.

Joe’s shooting performance was always at the Master level when he shot three- position and especially conventional prone. He usually posted a contributed score for the Cartech Rifle Team.

From the time he was a teenager, Joe attended most league matches until his coaching duties took a greater demand on his time.

Joe helped many members of the Inter-County League with advice and one-on-one coaching. He was well known for this. Joe also introduced many of his shooters to the Inter-County League to participate in the league matches.

Joe’s contribution to the shooting sport was his life with his coaching of the Kimberton Junior Rifle Club and the Kutztown University team who both won several trophies at Camp Perry and in the MAC league. His involvement in the MAC Collegiate league as an officer was also extensive. He coached at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs on several occasions.

His own shooting accomplishments were numerous which included his Distinguished Smallbore Prone award, member of several Pennsylvania State Prone Teams, placing in numerous open prone matches and his firing a 3200 at Seitzland Rifle and Pistol Association.

Submitted by:

Mike Fluck

Ralph Kofroth participated in the Inter-County League outdoor and indoor matches. Ralph attended the National Matches at Camp Perry.

He was a constant presence at the Carpenter Steel Rifle Club during training and competitions from 1948 to 1990.

Ralph was a tool and die maker by trade, which was a valuable addition in maintaining, rifles and equipment used at the club.

Ralph was the leader of the Cartech Junior Rifle club that met on a weekly basis. He served as a faithful instructor in the club’s Hunter Education and Marksmanship and Training school. He also was the Club’s Secretary and kept accurate records of meeting minutes, rifle and equipment records and trainee progress.

During Ralph’s tenure, over 600 people were trained at the school.

RICHARD (Dick) CROWL

CLUB: YORK RIFLEMEN

BIRTH DATE: APRIL 2, 1939

PERFORMANCE: Dick started shooting in the league in the late 1950’s. He was a regular at the National Matches at Camp Perry over the years. He shot at many national held events as well as some international matches.

CONTRIBUTIONS: Dick has done a lot of work at the York rifle range and held the office of Vice President for a number of years. Dick spent many hours at the range to hone his skills to become a top competitor. Dick is known for his shooting ability and dedication to the sport.

PARTICIPATION: Dick competed in the league from the late 1950’s through the early 1980’s. Dick is one of York’s top riflemen over the years.

COACHING: Dick was always open to giving advise. If Dick saw an individual was truly interested in rifle shooting, he would work with you to hone your skills and groom shooters for larger competitions.

TENURE: Three decades of League shooting and five decades of other shooting disciplines.

ROBERT (Bob) GIBILISCO

CLUB: UNIVERSITY RILE CLUB

BIRTH DATE: OCTOBER 27, 1940

PERFORMANCE: Winner of the Inter-County Rifle League Prone High Grand Average numerous times.

Pennsylvania State Overall Champion 1990, 1993.

Pennsylvania State Metallic Sight Champion 1990, 1996, 2004.

Smallbore Prone Distinguished Rifleman Award 1996

Member of the winning team in the National Matches American Dewar Cup Prone Metallic Sight Match.

MEMORABLE ACHIEVEMENTS: Fired a 3200 Any Sight Prone score in the 1984 National Matches.

Pennsylvania State Postal Team Match Firing Member for many years.

As of 2005, fired 11 Any Sight 1600 scores in open matches.

CONTRIBUTIONS: Office holder in the Inter-County Rifle League.

Cartech Rifle Club President for 25 years.

Contributed many hours in the maintenance of the Cartech, University and New Holland shooting facilities.

Instituted electronic communications within the Inter-County Rifle League.

Inter-County Rifle League Website Manager.

PARTICIPATION: Very active in the Inter-County Rifle League matches, events, banquets and meetings.

COACHING: Conducted Safety, Marksmanship and Hunter Education training for 25 years at the Cartech Rifle Club.

TENURE: Member of the Inter-County Rifle League for since 1962.

JOHN (JACK) HOLLINGER

CLUB: UNIVERSITY RIFLE CLUB

BIRTH DATE: FEBRUARY 25, 1913

PERFORMANCE: Jack at the age of 93, remains a competitive force both indoor and outdoor prone, winning matches and adding his score to the team effort.

ACHIVEMENTS: Life time Master Class shooter

Shot at Camp Perry and nearly made the US Dewar team

Made the Pennsylvania State outdoor prone team.

Expert classification in the United States Marine Corp

CONTRIBUTIONS: CartechTech Club Treasurer

Always ready and on hand for work details.

PARTICIPATION: Started shooting in the League in the mid 1930’s through today which is an unbelievable 70 years.

COACHING: Jack was CARTECH’s original coach in the late 1930’s and coached Junior shooters at CARTECH until the range closed in 1991. There were perhaps 400-500 shooters that participated in this program. Jack also coached the women’s team at Rosedale Knotting Mill at the beginning of WWII. Jack was also a USMC rifle instructor from 1944-1945.

Some interesting notes about equipment in Jack's time:

Sometime around the mid 1930's Jack bought his first rifle which was a Stevens Model 19 Target rifle with a blade front sight. After a little practicing Jack attended the Pennsylvania State Postal Match and won a medal.

This piqued Jack's interest so later, still in the 1930's, he purchased a Stevens Walnut Hill Single Shot Target rifle and continued to do well. During this time the ammunition available was Winchester Easy X's, Western MK III, Remington black powder ammo, and Peter's Hi-Speed. A little while later, Remington Less Smoke became available and which was manufactured with part black powder and part something else. All of this ammo sold for about .37/box at that time.

In 1939, he Purchased a Winchester Model 52B (without sights) for $80.00 from Neublings on Penn Street (no longer there).

In 1947, Jack was introduced to the BSA Martini MK III which he purchased new for $210.00 (without sights).

Jack started shooting with a 1-1/2" Unertl riflescope in 1947. His second scope was the same model which he purchased in 1979 for $100.00.

In 1987, he bought a used BSA Martini Mk III with Redfield sights for $200.00. He still has both BSA rifles which he shoots today at 93 years old.

WILLIAM IDE

CLUB: YORK RIFLEMEN

BIRTH DATE: APRIL 3, 1922

PERFORMANCE: Bill shot both smallbore and high power rifle. Bill is one of York’s most decorated riflemen. He has been a regular at the National Matches at Camp Perry from the 1950’s through the new century.

Bill was a dominate force for York’s power house team in the 1950’s.

CONTRIBUTIONS: Bill always brought a competitive spirit to the match – even today. Bill also aided a lot of his team shooters at the range and through his gunsmithing skills to get the most performance from his team.

Bill liked to win!

PARTICIPATION: Bill shot in the league from the late 1940’s and up into the 1990’s. Bill still shoots at the York range and continues to help at work days and preparing for shooting events.

COACHING: Bill worked with his own children the most to teach them the skills of shooting. He has laid the ground work for another generation of shooters.

TENURE: Five decades of competitive shooting.

GEORGE SCHUCKERS

CLUB: PALMYRA SPORTSMENS ASSOCIATION

BIRTH DATE: JULY 28, 1929

Before participating in smallbore competitions, George Schuckers was active in both trap and benchrest shooting. In each of these disciplines, George worked his way to the top of the competition. In fact, in benchrest, he set several national records.

George started shooting smallbore in the Inter-County Rifle League, about 1986 and during this time competed with both Lebanon and Palmyra. He helped both clubs earn their respective league titles as well as win his class in other sanctioned tournements such as the Mid-Atlantic Prone Championship.

But, George's largest impact has been over the past 8 years, as a critical part of coaching juniors and expanding the Palmyra Junior Rifle Team. His help was beneficial in many ways including coaching on the line (usually twice per week nearly 50 weeks per year), gunsmithing work on junior club's rifles and in the overall guiding of the junior program. His input has helped the junior team become one the top programs in the country including over 40 national titles, 20 national records and dozens of state titles.

His dedication is also responsible for at least 5 juniors receiveing college scholarships and 3 juniors making it to the the level of the United States Shooting Team.

His commitment to our program and junior shooting ingeneral will continue to be felt for years to come in the lives of the juniors he touched so far.

ELMER SCHWEITZER

Team: Columbia Fish & Game Association

Performance - Elmer Schweitzer has performed at the highest level in all aspects of shooting, gunsmithing, coaching, teaching, mentoring, and being a friend to all who come into Inter-County Rifle League contact. At the ripe age of 79, Elmer shot his first 1600 in Prone competition at the State Championships in Wilkes Barre, PA. Always a perfectionist, Elmer shot 100’s of prone matches at night, 100’s of Sunday prone league matches, and thousands of Friday night league matches, traveling rain, snow, moonlit nights with his ultimate coach and companion, his wife Anna.

Contributions -- A strict, specific and demanding coach to young (and old) children, Elmer demanded perfection from the beginning of a kids career and guided them methodically through the stages of development into young shooting stars. Always involving the whole family in developing young shooters, Elmer and his wife Anna of over 50 years would load up a car-full of kids and drive across PA or other states to participate in hand selected matches for the better development of their skills for future competitions. Elmer also contributed in developing and improving rifles for youth and all ages of competitors by working closely with Winchester Firearms for a number of years when the Model 52 was the premier and developing competition rifle. Elmer’s suggestions, travels to Connecticut, and research & development along with top engineers at Winchester provided the cutting edge target rifle in the Winchester Model 52 across the USA.

Participation – Not only did Elmer develop his own children, Jack, Bill, and Mary Anne, into shooting stars across the nation in top colleges, competitions, and into Olympic-level competitions, but he developed all of his students in the same manner, as though they were his own children. Elmer participates and guides the Lancaster County Youth Field Day every year by maintaining high discipline, rigid teaching, and ultimate assistant coaches to guide and promote the sport of rifle shooting among 10 to 15 year olds….and open the opportunity to an alternative sport to the rat-race of today’s youth; A sport that will be with a person for the entire length of their life.

Coaching – Elmer Schweitzer has been the consummate coach for over 70 years in Lancaster, PA. He has rubbed elbows with National and International coaches, putting some of their techniques and teachings to shame, as Elmer coaches in his own manner that brings the best out of each individual. Not an easy coach, but one who demands respect, attention, and off-range training that encompasses all regards to rifle shooting and mental toughness – in shooting and life.

Tenure – Elmer coached for 53 years,lived in Lancaster County, PA for over 70 years and participated in the Inter-County Rifle League from almost the beginning stages back in the 1920’s.

Elmer Schweitzer IS the Hall of Fame….not only in the Inter-County Rifle League, but a Hall of Famer for the National Rifle Association, US Shooting Team, Camp Perry National Championships, and the United States of America.

Respectively Submitted – Columbia Rifle Team, Scott W. Sipple

William Burkert

Birth Date December 17, 1951

Performance

Bill has won many awards in the league by maintaining high score averages. He has earned the title of the 2009 Pennsylvania State Smallbore Prone champion. Also in 2009, at age 57, finished 24th overall in the Smallbore 3-Position National Championships at Camp Perry completing the requirements to earn the NRA Distinguished Rifleman Award in Smallbore 3-Position.

Memorable Achievements

As of 2010, holds two Inter-County Rifle League indoor records with averages of 199.80 in prone (2008-2009) and 197.67 in kneeling (2008 – 2009) on the A36 target. Also holds a league outdoor record in Night Individual Irons (2009) with a 400.00-31.6X (top five scores), shooting 320 consecutive tens through eight matches. In 2008 and 2009 finished fourth and sixth overall, respectively, in Any Sight Kneeling at Camp Perry. His first outdoor 1600 was shot in 2008 with iron sights.

Contributions

Bill has done an outstanding job as the league secretary. He developed an improved match bulletin and was an effective leader in revising operational procedures.

He has been an innovator in the creation of the scholarship match.

Bill has established meaningful relationships with our junior shooters and spearheaded the scholarship program.

Participation

Bill is a team player. He can always be relied upon to shooting qualifying scores for league and open competition.

Coaching

As a result of his interactive relationship with junior shooters, Bill has shared his knowledge and experience on an ongoing basis.

Tenure

Began shooting in 1976 when his uncle, Robert Burkert, a WWII combat veteran introduced him to smallbore shooting at Car Tech in Reading. Bill received his shooting instruction from Ralph Kofroth, Jack Hollinger, Bob Gibilisco and Joe DeMarco. He shot for Car Tech in the Indoor League until 1991 when the range closed. Bill resumed shooting in 2001 and discovered that outdoor prone shooting was also a lot of fun and has shot for the New Holland Hornets in both indoor and outdoor competitions since that time.

ARCH (Archie) GLATFLTER

CLUB: YORK RIFLEMEN

BIRTH DATE: JANUARY 9, 1914 DECEASED: May 3, 2010

PERFORMANCE: Arch was a top shooter on the York Rifle Team from the early 1930’s through the 1970s. Arch started shooting for the White Rose team in 1927.

Arch helped lead York Riflemen through their many years of growth and shot on most of York’s power house teams.

CONTRIBUTIONS: Arch is the only living Charter Board Member from when York Riflemen was incorporated in 1933. Arch was the driving force in York’s range development for seven decades. Arch traveled to many matches on the east coast and there were many a shooter that rode with Arch to matches in his many vans that he owned.

PARTICIPATION: Arch started shooting in the Inter-County League from almost day one. Shooting has been the main stay in Arch’s life. He competed in the league for more than five decades.

COACHING: Arch and his brother taught hundreds of young people how to shoot, many at a competitive level. Arch is still a wealth of information in the skill of smallbore shooting.

TENURE: Five decades of shooting

Inter-County Rifle League Hall of Fame Candidate Form

Candidate Bill McGuigan Club Seitzland Birth Date Jan. 30, 1933

Performance

Bill has been an outstanding competitor in small-bore rifle shooting for many years. His forte was prone shooting. His team could always count on him to be there and contribute fine scores for his team.

Memorable Achievements

While shooting in a 3P competition in Carlisle a number of years ago, Bill was approached by a Master Class shooter. This guy was used to winning everything, and had figured that he was the Match Winner in Prone as well. When he noted that he wasn’t the match winner it took him awhile to locate the prone match winner. He looked through the Experts, he looked through the Sharpshooters and then he found his answer. It happened that Bill, a Marksman in 3P, had beaten him and the guy wanted to congratulate him.

Bill’s Seitzland team was a perennial powerhouse in the 1980’s. Bill’s team won the league championship several times during that decade.

Contributions

Whenever one thinks of the Seitzland Rifle Club, Bill McGuigan comes to mind. Bill has been the face and leader of the Seitzland Rifle Club for many years. This dates back to the Indoor Season of 1980 – 1981 when Seitzland joined the league. Many shooters have come and gone at Seitzland, but Bill McGuigan has always been that steady and dependable constant. Always a humble man, Bill describes himself as “only the bus driver”, referring to his big white van used to bus his team to matches. We all know that without a driver, a bus doesn’t go anywhere. Bill was the driver behind the Seitzland team.

Bill has been an active participant and leader in ICRL affairs since 1980.

Bill’s leadership in developing and hosting the many non-league outdoor and indoor shooting competitions at Seitzland is well recognized by many shooters from inside and outside the league. These matches were always well run. Bill’s ongoing assistance continues to make these matches a success.

Participation

Seitzland club members started shooting with the York Rifle Club in 1978 and 1979. Bill and several other team members then started the Seitzland Rifle Team in 1980.

Coaching

Bill has helped many shooters throughout the years.

Tenure

Bill has participated in the ICRL since 1978

Erin Gestl

Club: Palmyra Birth Date Oct. 8, 1969

Performance

Erin has been a dominant shooter in the Inter-County Rifle League since his arrival in 1995. In the last 15 years he has won the Indoor Aggregate 11 times, standing 11 times, prone 4 times, and kneeling 6 times. He is an outstanding Outdoor Prone competitor as well, winning the Pennsylvania State Prone Championship in 2008 and again in 2010.

Camp Perry National Championship performances:

1986 – Intermediate Junior Prone Champion

1987 – Junior Prone and 3P Champion (despite two cross-fires!)

1988 – Junior 3P Champion

1989 – Junior 3P Champion and Collegiate 3P Champion

1990 – Collegiate 3P Champion, Collegiate Prone Champion and Metallic Sight Prone Champion,

finishing 2nd Civilian.

1991 - Collegiate 3P Champion

Memorable Achievements

Distinguished Award in both 3P and Prone (probably attained around his 18th birthday and certainly before his 21st birthday, per mother Dallas).

Four time MVP on his High School Rifle Team and was honored as Scholar – Athlete of the year in his senior year.

1989 – New World Record Junior Men in 60 Shot Prone at UIT World Cup in Suhl, Germany.

1991 - Kelly Cup for Outstanding Athlete at the Keystone Games.

1991 - Collegiate All-American Rifle Team.

U.S. Dewar Team several times starting in 1987 and 1988 and once on the Roberts Team.

Contributions

Erin’s contributions to the League and small-bore shooting are significant. His advice, suggestions and opinions are always valued.

Without the Palmyra Junior program, the ICRL, and the level of competition in the ICRL, would not be what it is.

Erin is also a leader in state and national small-bore shooting. The Palmyra Invitational is the biggest and best indoor rifle match in the country. The Mid-Atlantic 6400, originally started by his father Ernie in 1995 and now taken over by Erin, continues as one of the premier outdoor prone matches in the country. These matches would not be what they are without Erin’s leadership and his ability to involve the many other people who are needed to make them successful.

Participation

Erin participates as a shooter in the ICRL Indoor and Outdoor Leagues, but perhaps his greatest contribution is his ability to recruit and develop younger shooters who also shoot in our league. It is therefore not only his personal participation, but more importantly, the participation of the many junior shooters that he and his team of coaches develop, who give the league a real boost in participation and excellence.

Coaching

Erin’s results as a coach are without parallel. His leadership has forged the Palmyra Junior program into one of the premier junior shooting programs in the United States. There is a constant flow from the Palmyra range of outstanding juniors who become National, All-American, Olympic, and World Champions.

This performance continues to this day when daughter, Alyssa, and son, Alex, also became National Champions following in their father’s footsteps. The 2010 Pennsylvania Prone Championships were dominated by shooters from Palmyra.

Erin’s wife, Shelly, should also be recognized. She is always on hand assisting with the matches and provides Erin with a lot of support.

His mother Dallas informs me, “Erin loves this sport and he has very deep feelings that it is the responsibility of people who love the sport and have gotten so much out of it to give something back”.

Tenure

Erin has been shooting in the ICRL since 1995. He began shooting at about 12 years of age, coached by his father, Ernie Gestl.