Our beloved dog, Stuart Little, died a short while ago. And while he certainly made a large impact on our family, he perhaps made an even bigger impact on archery in our area. What? A dog impacts archery? It sure seems improbable but yes, without Stu, a local archery club very likely might not have been created.

As a Border Collie puppy with boundless energy, Stuart needed a place to run, play, chase balls and Frisbees. Our local park district has a dog park and we took Stu there often. As happens, other dogs and owners congregated at the dog park and while the dogs did what dogs do, we owners chatted about all sorts of things. Mike, an owner of a Rhodesian Ridgeback, was one of the owners I often talked with about our dogs and lives. One day he mentioned he belonged to a rifle club. The next thing you know we started talking about shooting sports and of course archery.

Our dogs often went to the park and as the days went by, we continued to speak about his club, Wheaton Rifle Club and archery. One of my really close archery friends and fellow coach, Tom and I spoke at practice one day and I casually mentioned Wheaton Rifle Club and their want of an archery program. Well that, as they say, was the beginning of a beautiful relationship. Tom met with the club and single handedly created what exists today. Tom worked tirelessly to create a JOAD program and foster archery at the club.

As every dog owner knows, the love given by mans best friend is bottomless. Stu was excited to see me whether I had a bad day, or a good day. His presence always elicited a smile and he always kept me grounded to what was important in life. All things are temporary, including grief of loss. The nuzzles and licks will always be remembered, but Stu’s lasting legacy will be the connections he enabled. WRC Archery will forever be the club Tom built, but also the club Stu helped come into being.