"We weren't prepared for that," says Eva, who recalls many late nights at the dining table with her husband making strings and fletching arrows while both worked their day jobs.

In 1951 they incorporated as Martin Archery, dealing mostly in archery accessories. They got into the bow-making business in the early 1970s when compound bows started becoming popular with hunters and target shooters.

The bows, made with aluminum risers and fiberglass limbs, employ a system of cams, pulleys and cables to fire arrows at higher speeds and with greater accuracy.

In 1976, the Martins expanded their local business to Yakima with the purchase of the Howatt Archery manufacturing facility. At the Yakima site, under manager Larry Hatfield, they continue to make their classic wood longbows and recurves — essentially a longbow but with an additional curve on each end pointing away from the shooter.

Today the company has about 100 employees and sells about 50,000 bows a year along with a full line of accessories, from quivers to arrows to targets — enough products to fill a 97-page catalog, Ryan says. Prices range from $250 for a basic longbow to up to $900 for a top-of-the line compound bow.

The domestic market for bows totals about $192 million a year, with accessories adding another $535 million in retail sales, according to Denise Parker, vice president of the U.S.-based Archery Trade Association.

Gail Martin likens the industry to automobile makers, with each company having to "build something new each year" and tweak the performance of existing products to remain competitive.

To him, that means doing what he's always done since starting the company.

"Regardless of what it cost to build, we try to build the best quality bow possible and then we stand behind it," he says.

He wouldn't get an argument from Rod Menzer, an archer for 17 years and currently on the three-member U.S. World Indoor Archery Team. In a March tournament in Denmark, the team set a world record by scoring 269 out of a possible 270 points during a single round.

"I've used Martin products for the past three years," says Menzer, 38, of Sheboygan, Wis. "When I needed to have a bow to get me to the top, I tried a Martin and that was all it took."

"They have outstanding styling to their bows," he adds, "but it seems to me Martin has always first made bows that shoot really well."

Ryan, 29, the third-generation Martin to join the company, says that isn't going to change.

"One of the reasons we've been able to stay on top of the market is, when you pick up our equipment next to someone else's, it's easy to see who hasn't taken shortcuts," he says.