John Basemore Obituary, Death – John Basemore, a life member of WCA, passed away yesterday at the age of 96, and the organization is inconsolably sorry to learn of his departure. Without him there, the bar will have a significantly different vibe due to the absence of his cheeky sense of humor and grin. During this trying time, the WCA committee and all of its members would like to extend their heartfelt condolences to John’s family.
Those who are interested in attending John’s funeral are informed that his family has graciously permitted the sharing of his funeral information on this website. These will be uploaded as soon as they are accessible to be seen. The following is something that Leigh Allison wrote about our acquaintance. What else can we say about John, and what are the greatest ways to characterize John? My imagination immediately conjures up an image of a snarky and grouchy tiny garden gnome.
He obviously had a passion for archery, and he derived a lot of enjoyment out of writing and rewriting his manuals to the sport of archery. Every time he learned anything new, he would go back to his previous notes and rework them. He would always make sure to share the updated version with select individuals, and he would make additional copies for the coaches to give to any kid who was interested.
His manuals covered a wide variety of topics, including archery fundamentals such as form, sighting, and tuning, as well as more advanced topics such as advanced techniques. There are still copies of his notes at the clubhouse, and I have no doubt that I have a few of them here at home as well. John was a very competitive person at heart. It was a source of frustration for him that, as he aged and lost both his strength and his vision, he was no longer able to shoot as accurately as he once did.
In the end, he did come to grips with the situation and acknowledged the fact that he was not going to achieve any new personal best scores. Archery Victoria, on the other hand, has just added a new age group called Veteran 70+. I had the pleasure of summoning John up at a WCA conference to present him with his TWO state records for Recurve Veteran 70+ male for Clout, and the expression on his face when I did so was one of the best I’ve ever seen.
Who among us expects to break a STATE record when we’re far into our 80s? As a matter of public record, John Basemore continues to retain the state record for both single clout (225) and double clout (383), both of which were set on May 25, 2014. Well done John.