When Barney Lawless of Fairfax, Virginia first competed at Camp Perry in 1960 he probably never imagined that one day he would be competing with both his son and grandson. That is exactly what he did this year at the 2005 National Matches.
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| Barney Lawless (top left) in 1961 with the 21st Corp Army Reserve. |
The history of the Lawless family at Camp Perry begins with Barney Lawless who first competed in the National Matches with the 21st Corp Army Reserve in 1960. He only competed with the Army Reserve team through 1962, but continued shooting at Camp Perry until the early 1980’s and earned a Distinguished Rifleman’s Badge.
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| Ed Lawless in the Whistler Boy Match in 1975. |
It was in 1975 that Barney got his son, Ed Lawless of Vienna, Virginia, involved in the National Matches for the first time. Ed’s first experience at the National Matches was in the Whistler Boy, a match that is designated for juniors. In 1978 Ed had the distinction of being on the Virginia Rifle and Revolver Association high junior team in the National Trophy Infantry Team Match. 1978 was the first year junior teams were allowed in the competition. Ed continued to shoot until the early 1990’s when he decided to take a break from shooting to spend more time with his family.
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| Three Generations at the 2005 National Matches. |
What Ed Lawless did not know then, was how much time he would one day be spending with his family on the range. He is finding that out now as his son, Peter Lawless, competes in his fourth year at the National Matches. Peter, who is only 14, first came to Camp Perry in 2002 to shoot the Garand Match, and started shooting the Whistler Boy Match in 2004. “Peter is doing really well. He achieved his Master class very quickly and I only achieved Master three years ago, which Peter likes to remind me of often,” jokes Ed Lawless.
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| Three Generations in the Whistler Boy Match. |
This year all three generations of Lawless’s, along with junior Kyle Thomas, teamed up in the Whistler Boy Match to form the Virginia Sport Shooting Association Lawless Team. Barney Lawless was the Team Captain and Ed Lawless was the Team Coach. The family ended the week shooting the John C. Garand Match together. “I was really excited to see all three generations on the range, and come through the matches this week together,” said Barney Lawless.
Hopefully next year the Lawless Three will be back on the range together at Camp Perry and for many National Matches to come. To see how the Lawless family did this week, or to look up any other competitors at the National Matches go the match results page at http://clubs.odcmp.com/cgi-bin/report_matchResult.cgi?matchID=827.
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