Archery competitor, hunter, spokesperson, collector, historian, and radiologist… These are a few of the many titles held by Dr. Charles E. “Bert” Grayson. On September 22, 2006 Dr. Grayson received the highest available in the world of archery, induction into the Archery Hall of Fame in Springfield, Missouri.

Dr. Grayson was born in Boone, Iowa in 1910 to a very large family, the eighth of nine children. In 1919 his family packed up and moved to California where he eventually attended college and held his practice.

“I got involved with archery at an early age through my scoutmaster,” said Dr. Grayson.

That scoutmaster was Dr. Paul Simonds who was also friends with archery greats Art Young, Saxton Pope, and “Chief ” Compton.

Dr. Grayson attended school at Pomona College in California, where he and some friends started archery as an official college sport. After Dr. Grayson graduated from Pomona he moved on to study physics at the University of California, Berkeley only to realize that his calling was in medicine. He graduated from the Stanford School of Medicine in 1942 as a practicing radiologist until his retirement in 1972.

Ann Clark, Dr. Grayson, and Ann Hoyt

At this point in his life is where his lust for archery became prevalent. “You like what you do best, and you do best what you like, and that for me was archery. I became very interested in flight shooting; it was a way for me to continue to test my own abilities, patience, and endurance time after time. I could develop my own new concepts and get the very best from my equipment,” said Dr. Grayson.

Dr. Grayson did just that, as a competitive flight shooter he held many national flight records in 50, 60, and 80 lb classes. He placed first 13 times, and second 8 times while in competition. He also developed the first “key-hole” flight bow used in flight shooting.

His love for archery didn’t end on a competitive level; Dr. Grayson was also a very avid hunter. He hunted all over the United States, Canada, Alaska, Africa, and Mexico. Some of these hunts were chronicled in diaries such as: a jaguar hunting expedition in Mexico and black bear hunting in California, to name a few.

“I’ve always been a loner and I liked hunting best when I’m alone. When my wife used to wish me luck before an expedition she’d tell me she hoped I didn’t bring anything back. That’s because I wasn’t interested in hunting for the kill, I was more interested in testing my ability, and watching the game,” said Grayson. On each of these hunts he always brought a bird book and binoculars to watch the birds and the wildlife. In addition to competition and hunting. Grayson is also responsible for keeping archery and its history alive and well. He said, “We need young people, or the sport is going to die.”

Dr. Grayson, Rollin Bohning’s daughter accepting on behalf of him, Len Cardinale, and Ed Rohde

Dr. Grayson personally funded many archery tournaments for youth on a National level, and spoke before the California Fish and Game Commission to combat anti-hunters. “They wanted to stop bowhunting, and when you stop hunting you mess up nature’s balance of things. Animals become overpopulated and eventually starve and our whole ecosystem is haywire,” said Grayson. Dr. Grayson is best known for his massive collection of archery antiques. Ann Clark, the 1984 inductee to the Archery Hall of Fame, said, “He built a place in his home in Oregon to keep his collection, but he kept collecting and eventually he couldn’t store all of his artifacts there, so he donated them to the University of Missouri Museum of Anthropology where everyone could enjoy them.”

Among the different types of memorabilia in the Grayson Collection at the University of Missouri are: thumb rings, developed by Asian cultures to protect the thumb while shooting, Egyptian archery artifacts from an old tomb, an assemblage of long bows, the world’s only complete collection of flight bows, jewelry, archery-related more.

Dr. Grayson, now 96, is still going strong hunting and competing occasionally, and enjoying the wildlife. On his trip back from the ceremony he whipped out his binoculars and gazed at the many elk, prairie dogs, and birds along the way, but something tells me that while watching he’s thinking of something else to contribute to what he does and likes best: archery.

Works Cited:
1) University of Missouri Museum of Anthropology Donor Profile
2) Archery Hall of Fame & Museum, Inc. Inductee Biography