Lanny Robert Bassham (born January 2, 1947) is an American

sport shooter Shooting sports is a group of competitive and recreational sporting activities involving proficiency tests of accuracy, precision and speed in shooting — the art of using ranged weapons, mainly small arms (firearms and airguns, in forms such as ...

who won a gold medal in the

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 P ...

, and a silver medal in the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...

Early life

Bassham was born in

Comanche, Texas Comanche is a city located in Comanche County in the U.S. state of Texas. The population was 4,335 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Comanche County. History A military road known as the "Corn Trail" came through in 1850 to supply are ...

.Lanny Bassham
sports-reference.com He graduated from the

University of Texas at Arlington The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA or UT Arlington) is a public research university in Arlington, Texas. The university was founded in 1895 and was in the Texas A&M University System for several decades until joining the University of ...

in 1969, where he participated in the ROTC program.Lanny Bassham Hall of Honor
armyrotc.uta.edu

Sport career

At the

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

, Bassham won the silver medal in the mixed 50 m rifle three positions event.Profile: "Lanny Bassham"
. ''databaseOlympics.com''. Retrieved January 13, 2008. Between 1972 and 1978, Lanny Bassham won three gold medals at the Pan American Games, Three Individual World Titles at the World Shooting Championships in 1974, World Champion in 50m three-position in The 1978 World shooting Championships, and a total of 22 world individual and team titles, setting four world records. At the 1974 World Shooting Championships in Thun Switzerland Lanny won 15 medals, the most any individual athlete has ever won in a single World Shooting Championships. At the 1976 Olympics, he tied for the gold medal with Margaret Murdock in the mixed 50m rifle three position event. Bassham suggested that both should be awarded gold medals as there was a tie score, but the judges placed him first based on the current tie-breaking procedure. At the awards ceremony, he asked Murdock to share the first place podium with him. He ranks third in total medal count among all US International Shooters with 35 medals, and is in the USA Shooting Hall of Fame.

Founder of Mental Management Systems

After the 1972 Olympics silver finish, Bassham sought classes in mental discipline under pressure. After failing to find such a seminar, Bassham created a system of mental control after interviewing Olympic gold medalists to discover their winning strategies. Bassham began to write books and teach courses in his methods under the name "Mental Management". For the past 40 years, he has provided "Mental Management" training programs to clients including

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also ...

golfers, Miss America finalists, CEOs,

US Navy SEALs The United States Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the U.S. Navy's primary special operations force and a component of the Naval Special Warfare Command. Among the SEALs' main functions are conducting sm ...

, SWAT teams, and the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

. In addition, Bassham briefly headed the U.S. Olympic shooting team and has operated the company Mental Management Systems with his wife Helen in Flower Mound Texas since 1977.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bassham, Lanny 1947 births Living people American male sport shooters United States Distinguished Marksman ISSF rifle shooters Shooters at the 1972 Summer Olympics Shooters at the 1976 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in shooting Olympic silver medalists for the United States in shooting University of Texas at Arlington alumni Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics People from Comanche, Texas Pan American Games medalists in shooting Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States Shooters at the 1975 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1975 Pan American Games