Ralph Weber
White Bear Township, MN
Elected: 2003
Supporting Member
 Ralph
Weber was born in 1930 and raised in Paynesville, Minnesota but
currently resides in White Bear Township, Minnesota. He served in
the armed forces during the Korean War in 1950 and 1951.When he
came home and married his present wife of 47 years, Mary.They
raised two daughters Brenda and Sandra and are now a grandfather
of three.
Ralph was always a hunter, but
found this type of activity of the once a year event to slow. So
he started going to some local gun clubs to watch other shooters
shoot trap. In 1970 he took the step; he joined the Amateur
Trapshooting Association (A.T.A.) and shot his first registered
targets at the St. Anthony Gun Club in Anoka, Minnesota. Several
weeks later he shot his 1st 100 straight at the same
club.
Through the years Ralph has won
many "Class" trophies at the Minnesota State
Trapshooting Championships. In 1985, Ralph was perfect, 200x200,
in the 16 yard Championship event and shot another 125x125 shoot
targets to capture the Minnesota State Singles Championship title.
Ralph has shot his way on to seven state teams in the Veterans and
Sr. Veterans category and he was captain five times. When the
Golden West Grand was being conducted at the Old Harold’s Club
in Reno, Nevada, Ralph had attended these shoots several times and
took home many class trophies.
On August 25, 1990, Ralph broke 500
targets in a 500 bird marathon, thus becoming the 13th shooter in
the AT A to accomplish this feat. He was also the first Minnesota
shooter to accomplish this feat having actually shot it in
Minnesota. He was now hooked as a marathon shooter. Ralph has also
shot the most 16yd targets in the Amateur Trap Shooting
Association for four consecutive years, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002.
During these four years, Ralph shot a total of 193,200 targets and
maintained an average of 97.285%. He has over 475,000 registered
16yd targets to date. As you can see he loves shooting marathon
shoots wherever he can' find one.
Ralph served on the Minnesota
Trapshooting Association Board of Directors during the years of
1978, 1979 and 1980. In 1981 he was elected Vice-President and
while serving in this capacity President Roger Bohm appointed
Ralph and Loren Hentges to establish a Youth Program in Minnesota.
Ralph worked with the Youth Program until 1993. He served as the
Minnesota Trap Shooters Association President in 1982, Vice
President in 1984 and again the President in 1985.
When the Waseca Sportsmen's Club
decided to enlarge its shooting facility Ralph worked with them.
He laid out a four trap club with new concrete trap houses with 16
to 27yd stations, and new automatic traps and voice activators
were installed. With his carpentry knowledge he then helped build
the new club house. Still not done Ralph also built a shelter on
the Rifle Range. He continues to add many luxury items, such as
benches and picnic tables, to add to the clubs growing use.
Several years ago Ralph circulated
a petition throughout the state and some adjoining states asking
the ATA to reduce the required 5 shooters per squad. Many times in
the past those required shooters could not be obtained, thus the
club hosting the shoot, The State Association and the ATA were the
losers. The petition was then turned over to the state delegate
who brought it before the full body of delegates and lobbied it
through to a very favorable conclusion by all in the trap shooting
fraternity. This has been a very successful rule change for all
the shooters and clubs in the ATA.
Ralph was also a great teacher in
trap shooting. Besides yelling at his daughter for pointing the
gun at her feet (by accident - safety first) she was on one of the
first College Level Youth Program shoots, in which the team won.
His wife also shot registered targets for several years with
Ralph. She continues to enjoy watching her husband at the many
different shoots they attend.
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