MAJOR ERNEST J. VANDE ZANDE
1975
Pan
American Games – Mexico City, Mexico (Gold team medal in 50m Free Rifle Prone
60 shots)
1975 United
States Distinguished International Shooter Badge
1976
NRA Distinguished Smallbore Rifle Badge – Position and Prone
1979
Pan
American Games – San Juan, Puerto Rico (Gold team medals in 50m Free Rifle
Prone 60 shots and Air Rifle and an individual
Silver in Air Rifle)
1979
World Air Gun
Championship – Seoul, Korea (Silver team medal in Men’s Air Rifle)
1980
National
Smallbore Rifle Prone Champion – Camp Perry, Ohio
1980 CISM Team – Cairo,
Egypt (Two silver team medals)
1981 Championship
of The Americas – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Gold team medals in 300m Free Rifle
3X40, 300m Free Rifle Prone 60 shots, 50m Free Rifle Prone 60 shots and Men’s
Air Rifle. Individual Gold in 50m Free Rifle Prone 60 shots, Bronze medals 300m
Free Rifle 3X40 and Men’s Air Rifle.
World Record - 50m Free Rifle Prone 60
shots (600)
World Record team - 300m Free Rifle Prone
60 shots
1981 National Champion
300m Free Rifle Prone 60 shots
1982 World
Shooting Championships – Caracas, Venezuela (Bronze individual medal in 300m
Free Rifle Prone 60 shots)
1985
Championship
of The Americas – Fort Benning, Georgia (Gold team medal in 50m Free Rifle
Prone 60 shots)
1989 National 50m Free
Rifle Prone Champion
1989
Championship
of The Americas – San Juan, Puerto Rico (Silver team medal in 50m Free Rifle
Prone 60 shots)
1996 Team
Leader, United States Olympic Shooting Team – XXVI Olympic Games, Atlanta,
Georgia
Born 23 April 1948 in McCook, Nebraska. Started
shooting as a challenge from a schoolmate at age 11. Initial training in NRA
Hunter Safety Course and then joined the Acorns Junior Rifle Club in Arlington,
Virginia. Was a member of the Acorns JRC team winning the 1967 National Junior
Indoor Rifle Team Championship.
Attended Murray State University in Murray,
Kentucky on a rifle scholarship
and helped win International and Conventional National Collegiate Team
Championships in 1968 and 1970. Placed
on academic probation in 1967. Named to Dean’s List in 1968. Graduated
in 1971 receiving a double major in Business Administration. Inducted into the
Murray State University Sports Hall of Fame in 1988.
Commissioned in August 1971 and graduated from
the Ordnance Officer Basic Course in 1971 and Missile Material Officer Course
in 1972 and assigned as Aide de Camp at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville,
Alabama. Assigned to USAMU International Rifle Section 1972-1976. Company and
Compound Commander, Camp To Bong Son, Korea 1976-1977. Graduated the Ordnance Officer Advanced
Course in 1978. Assigned USAMU 1978 until leaving active duty in 1981. Member
of the winning 1977 NRA Lord Earl Roberts Team, Bisley, England. Won
an individual Silver Medal in the 1979 World Beam Rifle Championship
conducted as a demonstration event in Seoul, Korea. Conducted numerous shooting clinics throughout the United States
and overseas. Inducted in USAMU International Rifle Hall of Fame in 1988.
Director of NRA National Junior Olympic Shooting
Program and shooting operations at US Olympic Training Center in Colorado
Springs, CO 1982-1988. Responsibilities included development and construction
oversight of indoor shooting complex and locating land donation for
construction of an outdoor shooting complex. Successfully completed Class B and
Class A coach qualification. Served as
Assistant National Rifle Team Coach 1986-1991.
Elected as the Athlete Advisory Council Representative
for Shooting to the United States Olympic Committee serving 1988-1996. Elected
as a member of the United States Olympic Committee Board of Directors
1988-1996. Appointed to the United States Shooting Team Foundation Board of
Directors in 1990. Served on the NRA International Competitions Committee
1988-1994. In 1990 filed complaint to the United States Olympic Committee
against the National Governing Body for shooting which ultimately led to the
formation of a new and independent National Governing Body (USA Shooting) for
the sport of Olympic Shooting in the United States. Member of the Board of
Directors of USA Shooting, 1994-1996.
Retired as an active shooting competitor in
1992. Member USAR Shooting Team 1982-1994.
Past member of the Board of Directors of The
Clark County Chapter of the American Red Cross and Powell Trust, 1995-1997.
Currently serve as Airport Manager for Pearson Field Airport in Vancouver,
Washington. Serves as President
of the Wyatt, Vande Zande Foundation, a private non-profit foundation.