Who owns jennings archery

By the early s, Jennings could barely keep up with orders for the bows. He also fought for their acceptance into hunting seasons and for their use in target archery competitions. Before long, tournament shooters were winning with compounds and prominent bowhunters Chuck Adams was a Jennings guy were taking trophies.

Thanks largely to Jennings, modern archers had adopted the compound and would never look back. Tom Jennings led a fascinating life.

He went to high school with Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell. The move was just on time to produce the Model T. Our business had really picked up by then with the four wheeled bows, but the two wheeled Model T was a bonanza. We sold 60, in the first year and half it was offered. The bow hunting world was ready for an economical, good shooting, relaxation bow with good velocity. The handle design, the ease of tuning, the simple maintenance, and the cost were all in place to inspire a market.

I think the Model T grip design was the best ever developed. But the riser had to be made out of aluminum to stand the stress. We were then working double shifts, and many were working 7 days a week. Rapid growth is very hard to keep up with and all of management was working untold hours, always 7 days a week.

I was always an avid shooter and I always shot weekends and twice a week in evening until then. I had to cut that back to keep up with the work load. Going to the plant at 6 a. We hired inside promotional and advertising help to do catalogs and ads. We also had to put together a national sales force, train them and educate them, but Sherwood took care of most all of that for us.

Ron Carlson from Minnesota was a very loyal supportive dealer during that time, and he came on board to do sales in the Midwest.

By then we had all the big bow hunting states covered and sales continued to grow. Yes I did. I had a customer and friend by the name of John Williamson. He caught other dancers during flying moves.

It was so damaged he could no longer dance. He had performers insurance and a check from the insurance company. He became my partner in JCB, Inc. John also worked in the shop helping develop the bow. John was a very good competitive shooter as well. He remained a partner until we closed shop in We added a partner in Gary Booker had been doing our machine work on contract and we decided amongst us he would be a good addition to the company. He then became an equal partner.

Gary was a machinist and a clever one too. He designed the tuner we used to tune the 4-wheel bows. We had a fourth person that was never a stock holding partner but spent many hours being part of the company developing sales plans, marketing strategy, customer education, advertising and gathering sales for our bows.

Sherwood also came on board in With that team things took off. We were equal share owners when the doors were shut down and all assets were turned over to the bank in Then Bear Archery Company bought the assets from the bank. Contrary to public opinion, Jennings compound bow never did file bankruptcy. There was no reason to. FA: How about patents? Seems every company wants them to protect their designs.

All together I had 7 compound bow related patents but failed to patent the biggest item of them all?. At the time some guy said he already applied for the patent, which we found out later to not be true, but we failed to patent it.

The biggest things we did patent was the tri draw eccentric. We had patents on a quiver, narrow eccentric which was permitted along with a cable guard , arrow rest, tuning box, and cable attachments. I always thought the best patent in the world was to stay out in front of the competition, and we worked that way to some extent. By the time our competition got to use our patent, we were already past that idea and on to a new one. FA: What was the first clue that Jennings compound Bows were going to take off and be so successful?

I always had confidence the bow would eventually control the industry. Anything new takes lots of time to introduce. Between and , we built and delivered 1, bows. Then with our new team, and the education program that Sherwood conducted throughout the east, we began gathering orders rapidly. Soon we were taking bow orders a month. Most of them were hunting bows, contrary to some reports. We had successful tournament shooters, but bow sales have always been controlled by bow hunters, not tournament shooters.

Within the first 18 months after the new team formed, we sold 8, bows. We were well on our way. The Model T, a two wheeler at an economy price followed in and we took orders for 60, within the first year they were on the market. We were the first, others followed, they had to catch us. FA: The Model T was huge.

Can you tell us about the development, how you got the handles cast and where the funding came from for this model? Very soon we left that design and went to a pocket where the limb attached for easier limb installation. We were a fledgling company and finances were often tight. We presold bow lots to loyal and trusted customers at a discounted price for upfront order money. That expedited our market launch and it was very successful. Note: the very first sand cast handle was of the original T design.

There was only one. It was used as a sales sample, the only one in existence at the time. FA: The Jennings line has been impressive but if you had to pick your favorite, which bow would it be? The Unistar is my favorite bow of all those I ever designed. It required no cable guard and had no recoil. Unfortunately it was heavy, which bow hunters did not seem to want. I still think the concept should have been developed further. Its still might be, because it has potential. FA: Who are some of the standouts that you recall shooting your bows?

There were dozens of them. We pretty much controlled the tournaments. We had great performing bows. The best shooters quickly realized that and came to our product. I want to say this. We never, ever gave any shooter a bow until after he won a national event with a Jennings bow he bought. We had very loyal shooters. They had to prove themselves.

FA: What about big game bow hunters? Again, there were dozens of them. We constantly received photos of trophy animals taken with our bows, by hunters we had never heard of before the photo arrived. We did have one very loyal customer, who was a serious bow hunter and has since become well known. He began using our bows when we began building them. Chuck Adams at one time bought and owned 12 Jennings Compound Bows. I have known Chuck for 35 years and he is the most serious, dedicated, hardworking bow hunter I have ever known.

People like Sherwood Schoch for example. Of course reps can be a valuable asset to any manufacturer if they do their job. In the case of Sherwood, all the stars seemed to line up for our association. He was an integral part of our company from forward. He was our sales manager at large, as he had a company in Pennsylvania at the same time.

We had others too. Ron Carlson from Minnesota was very valuable. Both these guys had considerable back ground and experience in all facets of archery retailing, both having owned shops, and they had a grasp of tournament organization.

Both formed sales groups and trained other persons to the needs and use of this new product. They were bow hunters too. They had the tools, we teamed up very well. Bow repair and maintenance was a big issue and we needed field reps that could and would handle the bows in the field, making field repairs when necessary. It was a package deal, and we were all lucky enough to put together a solid package.

I was only 12 years of age, but was pretty much running the guest speakers, company donations, door prizes, etc. I had it all lined up with your people and you were scheduled to attend. Two days before the event I called you personally for any last minute details and that was the first you had heard of this. Amazingly, for a 12 year old, you said you would be there. I have no idea how much that must have cost but true to your word, the next day you stepped off the plane.

With it he shot the required score to earn a Boy Scout Merit Badge, and he honed his shooting skills hunting small game in California. Jennings was the driving force in the equipment revolution that brought the compound bow into virtually every facet of competitive archery and bowhunting, The high performance of Jennings compound bows was to create a greater impact than that achieved with the recurves a decade earlier.

Tom clearly states his love of bowhunting, but his real passion, in his own words, was to build the "ultimate bow. Master Bowyer and Partner with M. Purchased the First License Under H. Tom Jennings - Class of Influence on the Sport Tom Jennings career as a master bowyer began in , making his first bow at the age of