From Deseret News archives:
Archery company aims for success, hits target
Bows and arrows seen in movies and at Olympic Games
Actor Patrick Swayze used one in "Red Dawn," the 1984 movie about Colorado high-schoolers fighting Soviet invaders.
They were also used in the target-shooting scene in last year's "Princess Diaries 2" and will show up once more in the still-in-production sequel to "The Scorpion King."
The local celebrities are bows made by Walla Walla-based Martin Archery Inc., a 54-year-old company that also has a manufacturing plant in Yakima.
Outside of archery circles, few people have heard of the company. But the products have been seen worldwide, operations manager Ryan Martin says.
Remember the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona when the archer arced a flaming arrow over the stadium torch to officially open the games? Yup, it was launched with a Martin Mamba, a laminated wood-and-Fiberglass recurve bow.
Ryan, grandson of company founders Gail and Eva Martin, remembers the moment. Like millions of people around the world, he held his breath in front of a television as the archer drew back for perhaps the most famous shot since William Tell's arrow split an apple atop his son's head in the 13th century.
"Whoa, was that ours?" Ryan recalls saying when he caught a glimpse of the black-and-brown bow in archer Antonio Rebollo's hand.
The company began with humble origins and continues as a family-run operation.
Gail and Eva, a couple in their 80s who met when they were schoolchildren in Walla Walla, remain active as president and corporate secretary, respectively.
Sons Terry and Dan, who started helping out when they were still "little guys" shooting in pee-wee archery tournaments, are now vice presidents overseeing product development and marketing.
Gail, who shot his first bow in 1937, started making his own archery gear while serving in Europe with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during World War II. Back in Walla Walla in 1946, he worked as a government poultry grader and soon joined a local archery club.
Club members liked the craftsmanship he used in affixing turkey feathers on arrow shafts to keep them flying true, says Eva, who at the time was working as a registered nurse at St. Mary Hospital. Soon they began paying Gail to fletch — affix feathers to — their arrows.
Gail also had designed a jig to make his own bow strings that didn't weaken despite being stretched repeatedly. Locals began buying those, too.
When they sent a sample of their strings to Bear Archery and received an order for 500 more, things began to take flight for the Martins.
