Rob Leatham
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Robert Jennings Leatham (born January 27, 1961 in Mesa, Arizona), also known as "TGO" (a nickname coined by his good friend Brian Enos, it stands for "The Great One" and has since been used by Springfield Armory on a series of Leatham-inspired pistols) is a successful professional shooter. He is a 20-time USPSA National champion and 5-time International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC) World Champion.
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[edit] Biography
Leatham was born to parents Nyle and Carol at the Southside Hospital in Mesa, Arizona. From the time he could walk, he always carried a stick with him wherever he went. His mother believes it was his weapon of choice before the introduction to guns.
Leatham developed an interest in firearms at an early age and was fortunate enough to be surrounded by them as he grew up. His earliest childhood memories from the age of five or six entail many weekends that his mom and dad would pack up the family and head to the desert to shoot. Leatham has an older brother, Alan, and two younger siblings, David and sister Susan, and they all spent a substantial portion of their childhood shooting and competing with handguns, shotguns and rifles. While tin cans and paper plates were the standard targets, Leatham was rarely the winner in the family competitions.
On Leatham's twelfth birthday, he received his first gun. His family surprised him with a new Smith & Wesson Model 34 revolver on one of their trips to shoot in the desert. As the family desert competitions evolved, Leatham's father designed the five-yard game: if the target was missed you were out, but if you hit it, you moved back five yards and shot again. Whoever got the furthest back, won the game. Leatham would often lose and his mother feels his siblings beat him simply because they tried harder.
Leatham continued desert shooting throughout his teenage years but also became involved in other sports. He wasn't an academic star, but loved to play basketball and compete in track-and-field after school. Leatham fit the profile of an athlete, tall, lean, fit and muscular, but never thought of becoming a professional pistol shooter. He developed a keen interest in racing motorcycles, which continues to this day - he currently owns a Honda RC30 and has stated he will never sell the bike. Leatham's mother never allowed him to own a motorcycle while living at home, so he moved out after graduation and bought his first street bike.
Following high school, Leatham landed a job with the Arizona Republic, the leading newspaper in the Phoenix metropolitan area, as an operator in their computer room. At the time, the computer room was a room full of mainframes that had less computing power than the average PC today. Leatham loved the job, especially when things went wrong, as he loved the challenge and pressure of being under the gun. He worked the second and third shifts which allowed him to practice shooting during daylight hours.
[edit] Competition shooting
Leatham's first competition took place in the late 1970s at a night shoot at the Mesa Police Department range. He shot a Smith & Wesson Model 27 revolver with a 6-inch barrel loaded with 200-grain round-nose bullets that Leatham loaded himself, including a custom holster made by local leather worker, Jess Bird, who had built holsters for Leatham's father for many years. Leatham finished third revolver behind Mike Henry and Charlie Mills and cites this competition for causing his addiction to competitive shooting.
Leatham would skip church on Sundays and go to matches at the Cactus Combat Match League in Phoenix. Soon he was threatening to win every category entered. At those events there were categories for Auto, Revolver, Snubby, Rifle and Shotgun. The Cactus League also had a best-of-the-day competition, that pitted the top revolver shooter against the top auto shooter in a one-on-one shoot-off. This is where Leatham grew to love, and excel at, shoot-offs.
Leatham met Brian Enos in the early 1980s and they began a tight friendship that continues to this day. The two fed off each other, and their love of firearms and the desire to learn drove them to performance levels not previously seen in the sport of shooting. They questioned everything they had been taught about shooting and developed techniques that worked specifically for them, discarding fad and traditional methods. Both Leatham and Enos started trends that, to this day, are considered state-of-the-art. They don't consider themselves to be "form shooters" and Leatham dislikes the concept of "do it this way because I do" that he was originally taught when beginning practical competition.
When Enos returned from a successful Steel Challenge competition in 1981, Leatham asked him about the match and Enos replied that he didn't feel he (Leatham) would do well, as it was a match which placed more emphasis on accuracy than the IPSC competitions they had been shooting. Up until this point, Leatham had been renowned more for his speed than his accuracy. This angered Leatham and became a turning point because he "wanted to prove [Enos] wrong." The two practiced heavily all year long and went to the 1981 IPSC US Nationals, Leatham's first big match, where he finished tenth and Enos followed in eleventh. Leatham has attended every US Nationals since.
Leatham first shot the Steel Challenge and the Bianchi Cup in 1982. These two events, plus the IPSC US Nationals, were the pinnacle of action shooting. The IPSC principles of diligentia, vis and celeritas (Latin for Accuracy, Power and Speed) had been equally represented in practical shooting. However, the Bianchi Cup and Steel Challenge did not follow these guidelines. Bianchi places all its emphasis on accuracy with comparatively little speed while the Steel Challenge is more about speed with some accuracy. Neither has the power equation factored in. Together, the three principles (accuracy, power, speed) are a good test of everything an action pistol shooter should be. Over the next few years, Leatham shot these the three majors and a host of local events. In 1985, he won the Triple Crown of practical pistol shooting: the IPSC US Nationals, the Bianchi Cup and the Steel Challenge. He is the only competitor to ever win all three matches in the same year.
Leatham quit working at the Arizona Republic newspaper in 1987 to start his firearms training business. With the business and the support of sponsors, he was able to further his career in shooting. In 1989, he was offered a major contract with Springfield Armory that enabled him to become a full-time, professional shooter. Since that time, Leatham has been practicing, competing, and conducting live-fire demonstrations for sponsors around the world.
[edit] Titles
- 20-Time USPSA National Champion: 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1994, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002 (Limited), 2002 (Limited-10), 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 (Single-Stack), 2006 (Production), 2007 (Single-Stack), 2007 (Limited)
- 5-Time IPSC World Champion as a member of 7-time winning "Team USA":
- 1983 - Virginia, USA
- 1986 - Florida, USA
- 1988 - Caracas, Venezuela,
- 2002 - Pietersburg, South Africa
- 2005 - Guayaquil, Ecuador
- 14-Time Single Stack Classic Champion: 1995–2008
- 6-Time Steel Challenge Champion: 1985, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002 (Limited), 2002 (Open)
- 6-Time IDPA Custom Defensive Pistol (CDP) National Champion: 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004
- 6-Time NRA Bianchi Cup Champion: 1985, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006
- 3-Time American Handgunner World Shootoff Champion: 1996, 2003, 2004
- Triple Crown Winner: 1985 (Bianchi Cup, Steel Challenge, and the IPSC/USPSA Nationals) - Leatham is the only person to ever achieve this
- Captain, Team Springfield: Since its inception in 1985
[edit] References
- robleatham.com - Personal biography
- robleatham.com - Shooting history
