Seven Springs hosts Mandrell shooting competition
Irlene, Barbara and Louise Mandrell, best known to country music fans as the Mandrell Sisters, grew up in rural parts of Texas, California and Tennessee, where their father taught his girls to be comfortable firing a weapon.
"Daddy was a policeman," Irlene Mandrell said Friday, taking a break from the 2009 Irlene Mandrell Celebrity Shoot at Seven Springs Mountain Resort's new sporting clay course.
"I always felt like it is your right to carry," she said. "With Daddy being a policeman, he kind of taught us that was our responsibility."
Mandrell has hosted her competition, sanctioned by the National Sporting Clays Association, at various venues, including in Florida and Nevada. She hopes to make the Seven Springs event an annual one, she said yesterday.
Her sister, Louise, started a sporting clays shoot years ago, raising money for the Boy Scouts of America.
Irlene Mandrell started her own event about a dozen years ago. Her beneficiaries include Wish Upon A Star Inc., an Indiana charity that grants wishes to children ages 3-18 who have a terminal or life-threatening illness, and the Boy Scouts.
After meeting some of the parents of children whose wishes had been granted, Mandrell said, she realized that as much as the wishes meant to the children, they also provided good memories for their families.
"When you have healthy kids, you know how much it means to see them have fun," she said.
Shotgun sports, Mandrell said, are also fun.
"It's more fun when you break them (sporting clays)," she said, laughing and admitting sister Louise had beaten her in yesterday's first round.
"I thought it was great when she did her (tournament) and I fell in love with it," Mandrell said.
Although invisible from the newly constructed lodge, shooters targeting the bright orange, biodegradable sporting clays made their presence known, as shots reverberated from the three outdoor courses.
More than 140 amateur and professional shooters from around the country, along with numerous celebrity shooters, are participating in the event, which runs through Sunday.
The shoot marked the grand opening of the resort's year-round clay course.
Tricia Sturgeon and her daughter, Kathi, 9, of Jackson, Ohio, were spending several days at the event.
Sturgeon said she got to know a member of the Mandrell family through MySpace, and decided to attend.
She participated in the side events, shooting a 9 mm pistol, while her daughter participated in Kids' Day, trying her hand yesterday at paintball, crossbow, pistol and rifle shooting.
"I used to target shoot a lot before my daughter was born," Sturgeon said. "I wanted to give my daughter a chance to learn about firearms and firearm safety. She got that (yesterday).
"I'm hoping this will be a way Kathi and I will form a thing where we will go out and shoot together," she said.
As she spoke, actor Steve Kanaly stopped to shake her hand.
A celebrity shooter, Kanaly played the role of Ray Krebbs on the television series "Dallas."
"I met (baseball Hall of Famer) Wade Boggs, too, " Sturgeon said.
In addition to the Mandrell Sisters, other celebrities spotted in recent days included comedian T Bubba and actor Lyle Omori.
Several expected celebrities, including actor David Caruso, actress Leslie Easterbrook and country singer Tracy Lawrence, were unable to attend.
"People can't commit in this business," Mandrell said, explaining their schedules often change.
"I think the people who were here this year will tell about it, and then we will be really bombarded," she said.
