FRANK KETCHUM
July 17, 1939-

ARCHERY INVENTOR -CHAMPION

Frank Ketchum was born July 17, 1939 in Oakland, California. He's been married to Jewel Ketchum for the past 45 years and is the father (of three children, Rick, Cindy and Lisa. Frank was introduced to the sport of archery in 1966 while living in Citrus Heights, California. Frank has been a member of the NFAA sine that time and has been a member of numerous archery clubs, including the El Dorado Hills Bowmen, lshi Archers and Straight Arrow Bowhunters. In 1967,while affiliated with the El Dorado Hills Bowmen, Frank initiated the Junior Olympic Archery Development (JOAD) for the youth of the surrounding area

Frank began an interest, in the physics and construction of compound bows at a. time when the industry was in its infancy. In 1969 Frank established a working relationship with the Jennings Bow Company and worked for them building, developing, and refining their line of compound bows. During 1969 Frank and his wife opened an archery shop in Manton, CA. Frank was instrumental in developing the Jennings "4~wheeler" compound bow and even shot the bow himself at the 25th Annual NFAA National Field Championship Tournament, in Aurora, IL during July 1970.

Frank competed heavily in tournament competition during 1970 and 1971. In 1970 he won the CBH-SAA State Field Championship Tournament, the CBH-SAA State Target Championship Tournament, the Southwest Sectionals held in Sacramento and the NFAA National Field championship Tournament. He held the 1970 state aggregate record for the combined scores in field round, hunter round and animal round, with a combined score of 1641. During 1971 Frank won the CBH-SAA State Target Tournament, breaking seven previously held records in the process. He won the Men's Freestyle Division at the CBH-SAA field Tournament that year as well.

During 1972 Frank moved his family to Jacksonville, TX to become the production manager at Wing Archery. He remained in Texas working for Wing Archery developing their line of archery equipment. Wing Archery sustained an incredible success under Frank's manufacturing direction and bow development skills. He would often personally display his newly created bows during tournament competition and through magazine media. While associated with Wing Archery Frank was an inventor and has obtained patents for his archery inventions through the U.S. Patent office. Frank has patented ideas on the compound wheel; the Christmas Tree cable; the 2-step compound wheel; the 2 wheel compound bow and the "3 step wheel" compound bow. Frank remained with Wing Archery until the call of California grew too loud to ignore. In 1975 Frank packed up his family and returned to Manton, California, where he took a position with AMF/Voit. He continued to design and build compound bows for tile AMF/Voit Company at Santa Aria, CA. During which time he traveled extensively for the company, conducting archery demonstrations of both his talent and the most recent, innovations in archery equipment development.
Frank is best remembered for the contributions he made to archery through the development of the technologies in the production of the compound bow. While it is true that Frank was an outstanding archer with a keen eye and steady hand, his greatest archery achievements occurred on the drafting table and during the manufacturing process of the modern compound bow.

Frank Ketchum, Archer, Inventor, Champion,

Inducted 2002