The passing of Earl "Billy" Scripture

A shooting buddy of mine called to tell me that Earl Scripture had passed away.
RIP

 

Earl was a friend of mine, RIP

 

Earl was a fun guy, when he was at Indiana there was never a dull moment

 

I always liked Earl.

 

Heck of a man-warts and all. He is irreplaceable.

 

I knew the guy could break targets but didn't know more about him until I did a search on the net. Missed the night, 8/4/1988, when he was on Letterman.

 

He was quite the ball player. He will be missed. RIP.

 

RIP Earl Scripture, and God Bless my friend, you will be missed greatly

Gary Bryant................................DLS

 

RIP and God Bless

 

Rest in peace Earl, you were a good friend. Roger C.

 

"A person that departs from this earth never truly leaves, for they are still alive in our hearts, through us, they live on." ..... Unknown .....

My condolences.

 

May I share a memory of the first time I ever laid eyes on him? Some may find this amusing but at the Grand in the 80,s he was talking to a guy and I just sit there and listened to him talking then I looked and saw that he was shooting a old ass TM1 Perazzi, or at least it looked old at that time then I noticed something that was unusual. He was shooting with a Morgan Adjustable Flat Pad on his gun but it was turned upside down. Yes!!!!! The narrow toe of the pad was on top and the heel of the pad was on top! Hell I started to turn mine upside down it I could have shot half as good as him! May God Bless you as you were one of a kind! One of the best!

 

user1
No man is truly dead until there is no one alive to remember him. Roger C.

 

User1,
Earl and I were sitting talking at the spring grand, when this young man came up and ask Earl how can I get as good as you are. Earl told the young man all you have to do is run every penny you ever make down the barrel of your shot gun.Roger C.

 

Earl was a human dynamo around a gun club as a manager. If one was lucky enough to see this side of him; they would surely want at least one such individual around their home club.

When conducting a shoot in which trophies and titles were involved; he would not compete. When conducting a marathon; he would be right there with you on a squad.

Earl was a magician in the kitchen. He often prepared two meals a day for the shooters: the noon meal and the after shooting meal. I think he would have prepared breakfast as well; if the shooters would have come early enough to allow him time to still oversee his employees and set the traps.

There are many shooters. Earl was not only a shooter; he was a shooting ambassador. I think he would have excelled in the diplomatic service had he an interest in such work.

Earl’s work is over. I would like to think of him as on a trap field in the sky.

 

RIP Billy.

 

I always liked Earl, to many stories to share them all but one I always liked was about Earl as a duck hunting guide. Earl told me when he guided "the sports" he always wore an old worn out hunting coat and used gloves with lots of holes in them, he'd get a bigger tip that way if they thought he was down and out. I think all who knew him will miss him. Earl was definitely one of the characters of the old ATA. Brad

 

I met and talked to Earl one time, he is truly the type of person you can talk to once and never forget ... RIP Earl, wish we had talked a lot more ... (Yep, I'm really that tall, it ain't the boots) ... WPT ... (YAC) ...

 

Met him years ago at the Oklahoma State Shoot. He was shooting an old TM1, had a big nail driven into the end of the forend. Quite a character! Wasn`t aware of some of his accomplishments... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Scripture

Trap3

 

Earl Wayne Scripture - 1961 Wake Forest Yearbook





He was a guest on the Letterman show in 1988 & 1989



At the 1990 Grand

Earl was interviewed at the 1993 GAH.
He described the trapshooting game in 8 words.
In his baseball days, known for gnawing the covers off baseballs and taking balls to his chest from the pitching machine.



It was reported that he held the long run record of 2,263 straight.



At one time, destined for the Trapshooting Hall of Fame





​

 

And to think of others were weren't capable of carrying Billy's shellbag but still enshrined in the HOF. The Pete Rose of Trapshooting.

 

I shot next to Earl at the old Flagstff trap club. We were shooting the western zone shoot many years ago. He broke 199 out of 200 targets from the 27 yard line, jumped in that trans am, I said are you not going to wait for your check, he said I will be in El Paso in 8 hrs. They can mail me the check. He danced to his own drummer, I think that is why I cared for him.
He should surely be in the hall of fame. Lots of people less qualified than he are in there. Roger C.

 

I seem to recall Earl would not dance to the beat the ATA was playing after they got some BS story of him cheating , he pretty much told them to shove it where the sun don't shine without saying a word or bending over for them … Having only talked to him face to face but one time, I would imagine if he was going to cheat no body would of been the wiser … I got the impression he could be a motivator in a very short amount of time … Earl was a Man's, man who would not play their games … WPT … (YAC) …

 

Thank you HB. As always, you have good stuff. Very interesting article for several reasons.
In 1993 at the Grand in Vandalia, "115 shooters knock down all 100 targets in event 6, the Leo Harrison III singles competition."
Geez. And folks don't think this game is tedious?
Thanks for the interesting post, as usual.
Jake