USAMU & USA Shooting Media Release

ATLANTA, Ga. - USA Shooting formally inducted the late Lt. Col. Tommy Pool (U. S. Army, Ret.) into the U.S. International Shooting Hall of Fame at a special reception for invited guests and the media on June 18 in Atlanta. Pool won 17 international medals in rifle during a career that spanned from 1959 to 1973. His awards include a Bronze Medal that he won in the 50-meter prone event at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Pool began his international competition career as a member of the 1959 U. S. Pan-American Games Team when he fired on a gold medal winning U. S. 300-meter free rifle team that set a team world record. He also won individual silver medals in three-position free rifle, free rifle prone and free rifle kneeling, and a bronze medal in free rifle standing. He fired as a member of 1962 U.S. World Championship Team, winning an individual gold and two bronze medals, as well as a gold, two silver and a bronze medal in team events. A high point in Pool's career came as a member of 1964 U.S. Olympic Team when he won his bronze medal in prone rifle. In the 1966 World Shooting Championships, he was a member of U. S. teams that won two gold medals and one bronze medal and set one world record.

Lt. Col. Pool's last international competition came as a member of the 1973 U.S. Championship of the Americas Team, where he won a team gold medal in smallbore prone. He also won the National Smallbore Position Championship at Camp Perry in 1961 and 1962 and won the National Service Rifle Championship in 1978. He held the Distinguished International Shooters Badge, the Distinguished Rifleman Badge and the President’s 100 Tab.

After his retirement from the U.S. Army, Pool served as the Public Affairs Officer for the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit at Fort Benning, Ga. He died in 1990. Lt. Col. Pool’s widow Nancy Pool accepted the Hall of Fame award plaque in his memory. She works for the USAMU as the coordinator of the Army’s Excellence in Competition Program and Small Arms Firing Schools. "Tommy Pool enjoyed life and always had a smile on his face," said Robert Mitchell, chief executive officer of USA Shooting, as he presented the plaque to Mrs. Pool, who tearfully replied, "Tommy would be so honored and so pleased."

(Formed in 1956 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to raise the standards of marksmanship throughout the U.S. Army, the Army Marksmanship Unit has been a part of the U. S. Army Recruiting Command since October 1999. The Marksmanship Unit trains its soldiers to win competitions and enhances combat readiness through train-the-trainer clinics, research and development. The world-class soldier-athletes of the USAMU also promote the Army and assist recruiters in attracting young Americans to enlist in
the Army. For more information on the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit, contact the Public Affairs Office at (706) 545-5436, paula.pagan@usarec.army.mil or http://www.usarec.army.mil/hq/amu/.