Montgomery Community College (MCC) in Troy, NC will be offering a first-of-its-kind program in shooting and hunting sports management for persons interested in getting into the business side of shooting and hunting sports. The two-year associate degree program can be taken almost entirely online with one gunsmithing lab course to be held on MCC’s campus. The program was the brainchild of Larry Potterfield, President and CEO of Midway USA, distributor of one of the world’s largest selection of shooting, reloading, gunsmithing and optics products. Potterfield’s vision was to train potential employees with the business acumen and technical knowledge to work in the retail shooting and hunting sports sales and service industry. “There’s a lack of training and education [in the field],” Potterfield says. “The only way we learn is to get behind the counter and do our thing.” Because of this shortcoming in the industry, Potterfield and his wife Brenda, established the Keystone Endowment with the NRA Foundation which, when fully funded in 2008, will be used to fund educational endeavors such as the program at MCC. While attending an NRA Short-Term Gunsmithing course at MCC, Potterfield approached lead gunsmithing instructor, Wayne Bernauer, and MCC President, Dr. Mary Kirk, about his idea for a shooting sports management program. “Dr. Kirk said she wanted MCC to be the first one to offer the program,” Potterfield explained. “I didn’t think much more about it until I received a packet in the mail, mapping out how she was going to go about getting it started.” At that point, Potterfield said there was no money available from his endowment, so he approached the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) who said they had the money and funded an initial $25,000 feasibility study grant. During the development stage, outdoor retailers such as Bass Pro Shops and Gander Mountain, as well as local outfitters, gun repair shops and firearms retailers supported the concept and were instrumental creating the program. “It was a good example of the collaboration between business and industry working with the community college to meet an identified special need,” said Mary Chesson, MCC Vice President of Instruction. As a result, the new Shooting and Hunting Sports Management curriculum will be a concentration in the Associate Degree in Business Administration program. Given its unique nature and potentially national appeal, the program is designed to be primarily online, although one course will require gunsmithing lab work on campus. The idea of offering the program nationally is nothing new to gunsmithing instructor Bernauer, whose gunsmithing program is one of only four like it in the country, and draws students from across the globe. Bernauer, his students and Kirk attend the NSSF-sponsored Shot Show each year to help students network with people in the industry and find prospective employers. It was at the 2006 Shot Show where Kirk, Bernauer and the gunsmithing students collected surveys to see if there was interest in a shooting sports management program. The results were positive. The North Carolina Community College System State Board approved the program last month, and Randy Clark, NSSF Managing Director, Program Development and Doug Painter, NSSF President, lost no time in working to provide the implementation grant for the program. Kirk says once the groundwork was laid, a proposal was written for a $100,000 implementation grant. The first $50,000 for the current grant cycle was awarded last month and MCC will submit a follow-up report and proposal in November for the second $50,000. “Without the assistance of Larry Potterfield, Doug Painter and Randy Clark, none of this would have been possible,” says Kirk. Potterfield puts it this way: “It takes a lot of different skill sets to get something like this started. The most important thing is the people who do the work and implement the idea.” Potential students interested in the program can find out more about it by visiting the college’s web site at www.montgomery.edu/acbusshoot.htm, or by calling 800-839-6222.