Larry Baggett has left the range...

H

hayscott

Active member
I have some very sad news for our community and sport. This morning Larry Baggett left the range after a several year battle with cancer. As of this time, no arrangements have been announced and I'll post as soon as available.

As many of you know, Larry was a true competitor in Benchrest shooting from the early 70's, won many a match at all levels of the sport, but this is over shadowed by how great a person and friend he was to anyone he met. Larry was renowned for taking new shooters under his wing and mentoring them into competitive members of our sport. I'm just one of many that he spent hours and hours with instilling his knowledge and skills to compete along with the very best.

In the past week, I have heard so many great stories about Larry, there has to be hundreds of them out there, if you have a "Baggett" story, I would love to see as many of them posted here as we can get. If you can recall some of the bigger matches he won, the family would be grateful to know more about those as well. One memory that I would like to share is; The very last match that Larry competed in was this past September, he won the Two-Gun at his home range in Lubbock against a very strong field. Its just so much like Larry, battling to the very end and going out at the peak of his game!

Rest in Pease my friend, you made a difference.
 
Thankful he is now at rest

Because I'm new to Benchrest, I only met Larry in the past couple of years. He was always kind and generous to me. Early on, I was at a match in Midland that was scheduled just before a match in Raton. I had never been to Raton and was totally in the dark about range details like where do you park or is there lunch available at the range. Even posted my questions/concerns on this forum. Larry must have seen the post because at the Midland range, on his own initiative, he sought me out and filled me in on what's what. That made a big impression with me.

In New Braunfels this past May, I won my first yardage. Larry, who was not even at the match, sent a text congratulating me on the win. To me, that was no less than having Tony Boyer say good shooting.

My favorite, albeit secondhand, Larry Baggett story? Larry was shooting a match on a windy day and noticed that the adjacent bench was birddogging him and firing their shot right after he did. Larry intentionally started holding off at random points during the string. As you probably guessed, that didn't hurt his group but the wheels came off for the other guy.

Great shooter and great guy.
 
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Larry Baggett

Retired Healthcare professional/business owner(Pharmacist}. I met Larry in 1999 at a Benchrest Match. he loved the sport and the people. I describe him as an ambassador, pioneer, extraodinaire ,benchrest shooter.

I had intended to sit down with Larry and dig into his 50 plus years of experience as an active Competitor, in hopes of sharing his benchrest story with those who never met him.

Sadly I missed that oportunity.

Theres not much Larry didn’t know about Benchrest Competition. When I asked him to give me some pointers back in 1999, his answer was, “The best way to learn this game is to figure it out yourself that’s what I did." Now that may seem like a terse answer for a new shooter to digest, but in reality, its absolutely true.

My Condolences to the Family.May the memories of Larry and the love of family surround you.

This Picture says it all. RIP Larry.

Up4Rg5j.jpg
 
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Larry

I was introduced to Benchrest in the fall of 2014 in Midland TX, my first match was a club match in Lubbock, Larry introduced himself to me, I was wound tight and didn't have any idea of what to expect. I just had one Sporter that was put together from parts that various guys in Midland had available to help me get going. At the end of the match, Larry asked me to come over to his shop and visit. He pulled out a very early Bat 3L in an Edge stock and told me that a guy needs more than one rifle if your going to be serious about this sport. As you can imagine, I was reluctant wondering if he was trying to off load some problem gun on an unsuspecting new shooter. But the price was very good and I left with a second gun and a couple extra barrels. Well turns out that the gun is a shooter... My very first registered match is in 2015 at the Cactus, again I'm wound up tight and in awe of all the big name shooters in attendance. On Friday morning I proudly show Larry my first practice groups and was crushed when he turned to me with a look of disappointment, "Lets go look at your load" he says and sits down with me and changes almost everything I had going on from sizing to seating.

Long story short. I finished my first Cactus 16th in the Two Gun with Larry's old 3 lug. Larry was 22nd but forever a hero to me.

Lubbock.jpg
 
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I've got so many stories about him but this one will kind of tell what kind of a person Larry was to me. 3 or 4 years ago I called Larry and asked him if he would chamber a .22-.100 barrel for me. He said sure, I used to shoot one so I have a reamer the only reason I don't shoot it anymore is because my good .22 bullet die cracked. Well I couldn't find a barrel anywhere in stock. I called Larry and told him to just forget the .22 project. But of course Larry said he had a brand new shilen .22 barrel he had since like the 80s and had never been chambered. Imagine that! So I had to be in Lubbock on business and I dropped my Bat off at Larry's. A couple of weeks later I was in Lubbock and my son and I went by Larrys to pick up my gun. We walked out to his shop and he had my rifle with the new .22 barrel on it, another .22 barrel chambered up, a sizing die, a seating die, about 50 cases, and a new 6mm barrel. We loaded it in my pick up and I'm thinking how am I going to afford this? I asked him how much I owed him and he said give me 100 bucks. I laughed and said no really how much do I owe you? He repeated himself and this went on for a few minutes until he finally said VERY loud "do you ever think that I do this just because I like you?" I gave him $100 and drove away. I'm sure going to miss him. He meant a lot to my family.
 
I'm saddened to hear this. I didn't know Larry, but from what I've read I probably would have enjoyed knowing him.
 
I am really sad for LARRY BAGGETT who I have personally known for years, I met him in 1977. Just had a E-Mail from Gary Hayes, who is down in Mexico. Gary set the 100yd for LV I think, but Larry won the agg and the 2 Gun. Just sent an E-Mail to Gary.
 
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A Sad Day...

God the first match I shot with a borrowed rifle ended not too well for me, but the BBQ Larry had at his place made up for it. The Benchrest world is much diminished by his passing. He was at many a Blue Bonnet matches I called.

Virgil Howarth
Austin
 
My History with BAG EARS as we use to call him. We were at SS and that was when won the spot JOE KRUPA on the team, (SS) and I was wearing a T-SHIRT that said "I BEAT BAGETTE LIKE RENTED MULE" but I had the thing on back wards, so you couldn't see it. I spent about an hour convincing LARRY that I did not have the thing on. Until I walk away from him. He hit me in a private spot!!!!!!!. I WILL MISS HIM!!!!!!! I still have that shirt.
 
Larry and the infamous T=shirt scandal.....

…. Scott Smallwood has been collecting some stories through email to celebrate Larry's shooting career. The "T-shirt incident" is one of those stories. Scott supplied the graphic for those T-shirts and Chuck Bogardus had them printed up. Scott will most likely post a compendium of Larry stories (and hopefully a picture of that T-shirt).

I miss Larry mostly because he was both a gentleman/competitor and he willingly participated in my reciprocal practical joke program. I separate all shooters (and all people) into two groups: those who ADD to sport and those that TAKE from the sport. Larry undoubtedly added to the sport of Benchrest.

He worked in retail pharmacy and was a business owner. No doubt he would have easily shot his way into the Hall of Fame if he could have participated in both the IBS and NBRSA Nationals.

But, more importantly, Larry welcomed all new shooters that came to the range to try and shoot this game. Most of Scott's stories so far are from those shooters who met Larry at their first match and he helped them.

And the biggest compliment he paid another competitor was that he came to the match and try and beat them. But, he was also the first to congratulate you if you won. He had great one-liners and enjoyed both sides of a good practical joke. He didn't sweat the small stuff.

I once heard a line that in my mind defines Larry's input to our sport. "It's more important to leave them laughing than to leave them thinking." People remember how you make others feel, not how you made people think.
 
Larry Baggett

So very sorry to hear of the passing of Larry. I only knew him from the Super Shoot and a couple other ranges. He was nice guy and a good gunsmith for accurate rifles.. RIP Mr. Baggett
 
The T-shirt incident

I asked around about the infamous T-shirt incident and Joe was kind enough to fill in the details. From his account:

It was actually at the Super Shoot in 2007. The reason I did the T-shirts was because at the year before during the 2006 NBRSA at Raton, NM the morning of the third day after I was fortunate enough to win unlimited the day before, Larry taped a piece of target paper to his hat that proudly stated “beat Krupa”. I still have that piece of paper taped to the inside lid of my loading box.

I pushed Larry hard to come up to Kelblys for the Super Shoot in 2007. And he showed up. Larry won a number of Super Shoots and was an icon in the sport long before I knew what a 6PPC was.

So, I had the T-shirts printed up and handed one to every person loading near Larry. And asked them to wear them the next day under a jacket. It was great to see Walt Berger, George Kelby and several of the other old-timers/icons jump on the bandwagon to get old Larry.

In the morning I walked up to Larry in the loading barn and told him “when you put the Beat Krupa sign on your hat, it really psyched me up to shoot better. And I told him I was thinking of putting a Beat Baggett sign on my hat. He turned to me and said “if you like it so much why don’t you put it on a d-mn T-shirt.” I said “good idea. I think I will”. And everyone around him opened up their jackets.

Larry was uncharacteristically speechless. And Bukys told me I could have sold 200 of those T-shirts that week. Hmmmm we have one last Super Shoot coming up!

As I said, highlight of my shooting career.

And from the Kenny H collection:

BeatBaggettTshirt.jpg
 
Larry's bullet request

Another Joe story regarding a request for bullets from Larry:

He called me one Winter evening. My wife answers the phone and said “some guy named Larry from Texas is on the phone”. It was Larry and he said “ I always believed that bullets are the most important variable in shooting”. He then asked me how could he get some of those magnificent Hottenstein bullets.

I told him to call Lowell and he will take care of him. But Larry said he did, but was still just on Lowell’s list. Larry was insistent that he needed to try some before Lowell was able to get to his order. I acquiesced and told him I’d send some to try.

Larry gave me his address and I mailed him one bullet, with a note that read “try this and let me know how it shot”.

About two weeks later I got an envelope in the mail with a Texas return address.

I opened it up and Larry sent a piece of target paper with one bullet hole in it. He also wrote:

“Dear Joe. Thank you for sending the bullet to try. It shot very well. Could you please send me four more so I can finish the group”.

What I love about this sport and almost all of the people in it is we make good lifelong friends. And the Texans seem to occupy a special place in that they do their very best to pull a fast-one on their closest friends. But, when the chips are down, those guys are always the first to help a fellow shooter out.

--------------------------------------------------

Thanks Joe, these stories certainly capture the essence of Larry (and you). From shooting with him a bunch at Raton and elsewhere, he was the best trash talker around. But man, did I laugh at him. It was fun to be at a match a couple of days beforehand and just play around with things with him. Shoot in conditions, talk bullets, whatever. There have been, and still are, some real characters in the sport and he was at the top of the list. RIP Larry - Scott
 
Tuners

Years ago when my dad was still alive and the tuner thing was just getting started he won a yardage or a grand agg or something at Raton. Well in true Baggett fashion Larry was the first to come over and congratulate my dad for winning. My dad told Larry he would have never won without a tuner. Larry was really suprised because he never saw my dad use a tuner. He wanted to know what kind of tuner my dad used so my dad told him to come look at it. My dad had used electrical tape and taped a Wilson die base to his barrel to show Larry. If you know Larry then you know the profanity laced tirade that ensued. Lots of people got a laugh out of that and I still do because my dad could pull Larrys chain about as good as anyone I ever saw.
 
I just am not sure

At Larry's funeral yesterday the service was packed with benchrest shooters. This is a well deserved tribute showing how well he was loved by members of the sport. In private conversations after the service several members expressed concern that perhaps Larry just wandered off to start another pharmacy somewhere and that the coffin only contained a beat Baggett like a rented mule t-shirt. I suspect he is probably up in heaven starting a Baggett pharmacy and benchrest range telling God how to improve his aggs.
 
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