Apr 12, 2013

After 101 years of poking holes in targets, Robert K. Moore of Claysville has fired his last shot.

A winner of multiple national championships as a target shooter, Moore died Thursday in Breese Personal Care Home, Claysville.

Born March 16, 1912, in East Finley Township, Moore was the son of the late William Robert and Anna Margaret Crowe Moore.

He learned to love shooting at a young age and became enamoured with not only hunting, but target shooting as well.

Moore began his marksmanship career in 1937 along with his wife, Bertie, and cousin Wayne.

By 1943, that threesome, along with Charlie Moore, won a national prone championship.

It would be the first of many achievements for the Moores in a long and storied career.

“He was a man who was beloved in the local shooting community,” said Dean B. Trew, son of national champion Dean Trew, who was mentored by Moore.

“He was affectionately called ‘The Old Man.’ He mentored my father and helped him become the national and world champion that he was. He worked with junior shooters his entire life.”

And Moore did so well into his 90s at the Frazier-Simplex Rifle Club in Wolfdale, where he was a charter member in 1947.

“He taught everybody a lot,” said Jim Husk, who helps run the highly successful Frazier-Simplex junior program. “He was one of the best kneeling shots in the country, let alone the other three positions. He wasn’t afraid to give a lesson. All you had to do was ask.”

Moore, who also shot for the Sprowls Hardware and Firestone teams, won four Pennsylvania championships beginning in 1945, and in 1952, he was the NRA national section champion.

In 1958, he finally broke through and won his first overall national championship in the four position prone, and in 1960, he added a civilian position prone title at Camp Perry, Ohio.

Moore, who was first alternate two times each for the U.S. Olympic and Pan American rifle teams, also was the coach of the U.S. International Dewar team in 1959 and captain of the team in 1960.

But Moore had to be good to keep up with Bertie, who also was one of the top shooters in the country. Together, they helped form the nucleus of a Frazier-Simplex team that won the Greater Pittsburgh and Suburban Rifle League championship 19 consecutive seasons, from 1941 through 1960.

“From 1941 through 1960, Frazier-Simplex dominated,” said Trew. “Bob was one of the first great kneeling shooters in the country. He was loved and respected, but guys on the other team also hated him. We shoot our matches on Wednesday nights. He loved to watch a match and see what everyone shot. Then he’d go out and shoot whatever his team needed to win the match. More often than not, he did. He would walk out with a smile on his face.”

Moore continued shooting in the GPSL until he was well into his 80s and remained one of the league’s top shooters until finally giving up the sport.

“Even in his 80s, he was still one of the top five shooters in the league,” said Trew. “It really was amazing.”

So much so that the league Wednesday night named one of its three trophies in his honor, even though he was still living at the time.

“I stopped out to see him on Thursday to let him know and spent about 45 minutes with him,” said Trew. “By the time I had gotten home, I got a call to say that he had died.”

Moore was a 1930 graduate of the former Claysville High School and had attended Rolling Hills Chapel Church when his health permitted.

He was employed as an equipment operator for Buffalo Township for a number of years before retiring in 1989.

Moore was a member of the NRA, and he and his wife have both been inducted into the Washington-Greene Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, Bertie in 1988 and Bob in 1989.

He also was a member of Claysville Volunteer Fire Department and the Claysville Sportsman’s Club, enjoyed hunting and fishing and was a former CB radio enthusiast known as “grouse hunter.”

On Nov. 24, 1932, he married Alberta Glendean “Bertie” Shaler, who died May 11, 1995.

Surviving are a daughter, Shirley (J.D.) Richmond of Claysville; a son, Robert (Lois) Moore of Washington; seven grandchildren, B.J., Michael and Jay Richmond and Richard, Debra, Jeffrey and Lisa Moore; 12 great-grandchildren; 11 great-great grandchildren; and a brother-in-law, Leroy Shaler of Claysville.

In addition to his wife, he was preceded in death by his parents and a great-grandson, Jason Brent Richmond.

Friends will be received from 2 to 9 p.m. Monday in Claysville United Methodist Church, where services will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday, April 16, with the Rev. Rico Vespa officiating.

Interment will follow in Claysville Cemetery.

The family suggests memorial contributions be made to Claysville Volunteer Fire Department.