In Memory

Jim Dougherty - Class Of 1954

Jim Dougherty

Jim Dougherty (September 27, 1936 - September 21, 2015) lived the tradition people refer to nowadays when they say they're into traditional archery. Jim, a Tulsa, Oklahoma resident and one of the most recognized names in the archery world, passed away September 21, 2015. He was 78 years old and as one of his best friends remarked this week, "he did everything he ever wanted to do."

A California native and friend of the legendary archery innovator Ben Pearson, Jim moved to Tulsa in the early 1970s and opened an archery shop that was for many years the largest of its kind in the Southwestern U.S. Raised in Southern California and using a lemonwood stick bow or an early model re-curve to hunt deer where homes and freeways now choke the land, Jim would eventually hunt the world over, Alaska to Africa. He authored hundreds of columns and feature stories and he continued to hunt and fish and write even after cancer hit him. He fought through it to the very end.

To list his honors and awards would fill this page but suffice to say he has been a hunter, communicator, and educator with untold influence over at least the last two or three, generations of bowhunters. He had an unrecognized hand in many areas of archery equipment development and innovation. Jim was a National Archery Hall of Fame inductee, former American Archery Council president, former Pope and Young Club president, Worlds Champion Varmint Caller, and writer for Petersen's Bowhunting, Inside Archery, and American Waterfowler, among others, and an Inaugural honoree, 2008, and Fred Bear Archery and Bowhunting Communicator Award from Professional Outdoor Media Association and Archery Trade Association. His Hall of Fame quote:  "I would like to be remembered as a guy who loved to bow-hunt, who did it rather well and who tried to represent the sport properly."

Jim is survived by Sue Dandridge Dougherty (SPHS '56), his wife of more than 50 years; five sons; 12 grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

Tulsa World, September 27, 2015



 
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07/24/20 04:03 PM #1    

Jack L Seal (1954)

I first knew Jim while we were in the 3rd grade at Marengo Grammar School in South Pasadena.  That was in 1944.  We remained close friends through 1956 at Pasadena City College.  Jim was always interested in fishing and hunting.  We spent many hours fishing together and one Easter Week in Crestline, CA.  We played "C" basketball together in high school.  On one occasion we went hiking for a few days in the Ducie Basin in the high sierras.  We hiked up above timberline and the elevation was about 12,000 ft.  We were very close to Mt. Whitney at that time and the only people we came in contact were all on horseback.  We slept out in the open without a tent and one night after we  had gone to sleep we were awakened by a heavy rain that soaked us.  We were at such a high elevation that we caught Golden Trout,  They only survive above 12,00 feet elevation.  I knew his mom and dad as well as his sister.  His father was the manager of a 5&10 cent store.  His mother was a den mother to us when we were Cub Scouts.  While in Junior college we formed a car club and called it ''the Block Crackers".  Later in life we recontacted each other and began e-mailing.  At that time Jim lived in Tulsa and he had become very famous in the world of bow hunting.  He sent me a copy of a book that he wrote. One one occasion when we were about 12 or 13 years old we got in trouble for shooting spit wads at Santa Claus.  That occurred after we had been to a malt shop and took straws with us when we left.  We went to a parking lot where Santa Claus was going to hand out candy canes to kids from the back of a flaltbed truck.  We foolishly started shooting spit wads and the next thing we knew the police arrived and took us to the police station.  I think they meant to scare us and they succeeded.  Jim was a good friend and I cherish the memories we made together.


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