Thought this may be of interest to my archery friends. Pete Kocefas was friends with Charlie Kroll, who recently passed away. Kroll was an avid outdoorsman and bowhunter in his own right, and also happened to have married Fred Bear's daughter Julia.
It seems that as those close to Fred pass away we lose another link to Papa Bear. However with books like Mr. Kroll left behind, Dick Lattimer's new book, and Ted Nugent's song, "Fred Bear" it seems that Papa Bear's legacy will be passed on to a new generation and not be forgotten. I know Fred would have loved the ARCHERY IN SCHOOLS program.
Anyway, I am sure Pete misses his buddy Charlie. I never got to meet Charlie but he sent me a signed arrow for my collection via Pete around 2003. I am thankful to Charlie & Pete for this fine addition to my collection. I'll put Charlie's signed arrow alongside the one Papa Bear sent me in 1985 and one Dick Lattimer signed for me around 1993.
Pete Kocefas sent the following email....I am forwarding it to you.
Shoot Straight & God Bless, Frank Addington, Jr. www.frankaddingtonjr.com Hi Frank, Could you please pass this on to the people on your email list...
On February 3, a friend of mine who works on an outdoor show called Rut n Strut outdoors videod Charlie Kroll sitting at his fireplace at home in grayling. Jim Sheldon wanted to have Charlie do the opening and closing for their segment on the 2005 ATA show. I had talked to Charlie a couple weeks before about doing that. I asked him about doing it that night and he said well I suppose we have to do it sometime and I am so glad that we got over there to do it. Little did I know that he would leave us just 11 short days later. So what a fitting tribute to Charlie and the ATA to have him host the show.
One funny thing was you should have seen the look on his face when Jim walked in carrying his compound bow. If I would have seen him before Charlie did I would have stopped him. First thing Charlie said was what are you doing with that in here. Last summer at the Compton shoot somebody asked him wether he had ever shot a compound or not and his reply was that he had never sullied his hands. The segment will begin airing on Monday the 21st on 2 different channels that are on cable and satellite. The Mens Channel and The Sportsman Channel.
So would you please pass this on to the people on your email list so they could see Charlie. They can also see more on Charlie at his website that was put together for him by Gene Masler at www.kroll.fredbear-online.com
