Thomas Irvin Garrigus (November 9, 1946 – December 29, 2006) was an American

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

athlete who competed in shooting sports. A native of

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

, he competed at the 1968 Summer Games where he won a silver medal, and later served as a coach.

Early life

Garrigus was born in Hillsboro, OregonThomas Garrigus.
databaseSports.com. Retrieved on May 15, 2008. to Donald and Wanda (née Williams) Garrigus.BoiseGunClub.com - The Last Post.
Boise Gun Club. Reprint from the ''

Idaho Statesman The ''Idaho Statesman'' is the daily newspaper of Boise, Idaho, in the western United States. It is owned by The McClatchy Company. History The paper was first published as the ''Idaho Tri-Weekly Statesman'' on July 26, 1864, by James S. Reynolds ...

'', January 31, 2007. Retrieved on May 15, 2008. He was raised in Hillsboro, a western suburb of

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

, and began skeet shooting at the age of three.Garrigus wins silver in shooting at Olympics. ''

The Hillsboro Argus ''The Hillsboro Argus'' was a twice-weekly newspaper in the city of Hillsboro, Oregon, from 1894 to 2017, known as the ''Washington County Argus'' for its final year. The ''Argus'' was distributed in Washington County, Oregon, United States. First ...

'', October 19, 1976. There he graduated from Hillsboro High School before joining the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...

, serving from 1965 to 1969.

Olympics

In 1968, Garrigus won a spot on the United States Olympic Team to compete at the Summer Games held in

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, and was still a member of the U.S. Air Force Shooting Team.Summer Olympics Medals.
ESPN Internet Ventures. Retrieved on May 15, 2008. He was the youngest member of the U.S. shooting team at the Games. Competing in

shooting Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missiles ...

for Men's Trap, he won the silver medal for this shotgun event. Garrigus tied for second place in the event, with John Braithwaite of the

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winning the gold medal with a world record score of 198.Olympic Games Medallists - Shooting.
Athletics Weekly. Retrieved on May 15, 2008. Held on October 19, the event had a three-way tie for second place between Garrigus, Kurt Czekalla of

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, and Pavel Senichev of the

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all with a score of 196.Shooting: Trap: Men: Olympic Games 1968 at Mexico City.
Sports 123. Retrieved on May 15, 2008. In the first shoot-off between the three competitors, Czekalla and Garrigus had scores of 25 in this event where clay pigeons are shot, while Senichev was eliminated with a score of 22. Garrigus then defeated the East German in the second shoot-off with a score of 25 to 23. This was the highest finish for an American in the event since Mark Arie won the gold medal in 1920.

Later life and family

After leaving the Air Force, Garrigus returned to Oregon and enrolled at Western Business College (now

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) and went on to work primarily as a salesperson. He also served as a coach with the U.S. Shooting Team from 1992 to 2002. Garrigus lived in Oregon, where he served as the director for the Hillsboro Trap & Skeet Club before moving to

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...

where he was the director of the Boise Gun Club. In 1993 he married his wife Jackie, and they moved to

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

in 2006 to retire. From two previous marriages, he had two sons, Thomas Bradley and Robert. Son Robert Garrigus is a professional

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

er.Tokito, Mike. At a Glance. ''

The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 18 ...

'', December 5, 2003. In 1996, he worked as a referee for the shooting events at the Summer Games in Atlanta and was a torch bearer on the route through Salem, Oregon. Garrigus died in

Plains, Montana Plains ( Salish: ncc̓kʷi) is a town in Sanders County, Montana, United States. The population was 1,106 at the 2020 census. It was founded as ''Horse Plains'' and sometimes called ''Wild Horse Plains'', as the local Native Americans would win ...

at the age of 60.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Garrigus, Thomas 1946 births 2006 deaths United States Distinguished Marksman Olympic silver medalists for the United States in shooting Shooters at the 1968 Summer Olympics United States Air Force airmen Sportspeople from Hillsboro, Oregon Trap and double trap shooters Hillsboro High School (Oregon) alumni Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics American male sport shooters American military Olympians 20th-century American people 21st-century American people