Longest National Match Competitor: Larry Hayner
January 27, 2021
Almost 40 Years!!
The annual National Matches has welcomed rifle and pistol competitors of all ages from around the country and the world since 1903. Moving to its current home at the Camp Perry National Guard Training Facility in Ohio in 1907, thousands of guests travel to the event each July and August to take part in the several competitive, educational and purchasing opportunities offered on the grounds.
Attending the National Matches has become a tradition that has moved through the generations, with some returning year after year, without fail. The Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP), the entity that has helped facilitate the National Matches since 1996, has compiled a list of recognition of those who have attended the event for 20, 30 or even 50 years. These individuals have spent decades of their lives devoted to marksmanship, celebrating its legacy each summer on the shores of Lake Erie, and we at the CMP thank them for their unwavering support.
Larry Hayner – Almost 40 Years!!
Larry L. Hayner, 83, of Saginaw, Michigan, has been a regular to the National Matches for 39 years.
“If the pandemic had not shut down 2020, I would have had 40 years,” he said.
His first National Matches was in 1962. He attended again in 1963 as a member of the Michigan National Guard Shooting Team, where he earned leg points toward his Distinguished Rifleman Badge.
After taking a small break from highpower competition, he got back into the sport around 1980, where he fired in the prestigious President’s Rifle Match. He eventually earned a spot on the honorary President’s 100 as one of the Top 100 highest scoring competitors of the match.
In 1982, he doubled his marksmanship role by becoming the Michigan Junior High Power Team coach/coordinator.
“I have attended as a competitor every year since,” he said.
Over the years, he has competed in both CMP and National Rifle Association events, such as Long Range and the recreational CMP Games competitions.
“The Games are great,” Hayner said. “This keeps the competitors coming back.”
He went on. “I have experienced the changes that have taken place through the years, in particular from DCM to CMP. From Gary Anderson to the current staff, the leadership has been outstanding. I appreciate the response to shooters concerns.”
He plans on returning to the National Matches in 2021.
“Going for the 40,” he said.
CMP looks forward to welcoming our competitors to the firing line at Camp Perry in 2021! To download a schedule of events, please visit https://thecmp.org/competitions/matches/cmp-national-matches/.
It’s time to determine some bragging rights! We’d like to recognize those individuals who have attended the most National Matches at Camp Perry. Tell us – when was your first year? How many years have you attended? Do you know of anyone else who you think could qualify? Those who we find have earned the “Most/Longest Attended” title will be highlighted in an upcoming CMP article. Let us show you off! You’ve earned it – comment below or email [email protected]. (And we love old photos too!)
Larry Hayner exemplifies the shooting sports, he is as dedicated to the sport as he is modest about his success, and knowledge. I was likely the cause of the “break” he took from the sport starting as it was the year I was born. It was a break from Highpower but not from being a great father, or from shooting, and in the interim he helped develop a new generation of shooting sport enthusiasts in his work with the Boy Scouts and the Saginaw Gun Club junior Smallbore teams. A few years after he started coaching Highpower again in the 80’s he coached my team to a Junior Infantry Team Trophy win in the NTIT at Camp Perry, among other successes. A few years later I was fortunate to be part of a league champions University of Michigan Smallbore team. The lessons I learned as a participant in team shooting sports and the experiences I had will always stay with me.
Larry was my coach on the Michigan Rifle and Pistol Association (MRPA) Junior Team from 1989 to 1990. Larry was so helpful in getting me acclimated to my first National matches at Camp Perry. Over the years since, Larry has always been someone to go to for advice and guidance when it comes to the technical aspects of shooting, team administration and providing great thought leadership in the sport! Thank you Larry for many contributions over the last 40+ years!
Larry and were high school buddies in Saginaw Michigan and married our high school sweat hearts. We lost track of each other when I went off to school in Indiana and a job at White Sands Missile range in New Mexico in the mid nineteen fifties. Neither of us were into shooting at the time. About 1963 on trip back to Michigan Larry and I got together and his shooting with the Guard came up and it revived my memory about shooting 22’s with the Boy Scouts. Larry sold me a 1903 mark 1 that started me on a high power journey. Again we lost track of each other as my company moved me and the growing family about the west coast a couple of times. A move to Texas made trips to Camp Perry posable. One day coming off the line at Camp Perry many years later I almost tripped over Larry. What a great reunion. It was also a great year as I legged out at Perry and my youngest son was a member of the Texas team that won the JR. Champion ship. All of this because Larry got me into High Power Rifle. THANKS Larry !!!
I competed in the National Rifle Matches for the first time in 1972. I competed in 1973, 1975 and 1977 through 2018. If I count right, that is 45 years. I made the Presidents 100 in 1981 shooting a Navy 7.62mm M1 and 1987, 1989, 1993 and 1994 shooting Navy M14 rifles. I was the Team Captain and Officer in Charge of the US Naval Reserve Rifle Team for 20 years, 1977 through 1996. I have helped lead the teams from the Garand Collectors Association shooting their M1 rifles since 2004. One most memorable time was when Colonel Johnson, the CO of the Army MTU at Fort Benning hosted a meeting of the Team Captains and Sponsors of all the Military Teams at Camp Perry. He said that the Army had learned how to make the M16/AR15 rifles accurate but they had to violate the current CMP rifle rules. He wanted our agreement to request the necessary changes to the rules. I remember that the Marine Corps Rifle Team Colonel agreed if the Army made public all their data so that everyone could benefit. Colonel Johnson agreed!
I worked with Larry after taking over Michigan Junior Highpower Team coach coordinator duties 2001 or 2. What a great guy and resource. Good luck Larry!