JAMES D. "DOUG" EASTON - MARY EASTON
1907-1972 1907-

"Doug" Easton married Mary Simonich in 1931, starting a partnership that was to last 41 years. During these years it was Mary's role to: Raise a family, be a helper, bookkeeper and whatever else was necessary at the time to support Doug in his activities. Through the years as a result of Doug's technical and business ability and Mary's all important role as wife and confidante, the name Easton rose to become known as a pioneer and leader in aluminum arrows.

1922- Doug Easton started making custom yew wood bows and cedar arrows in Watsonville, California. He developed a special "footed " shaft that became a favorite among tournament archers.

1939- In Los Angeles, the work was started on manufacturing arrows from aluminum tubing.

1940- One of the first sets of aluminum arrows, #1820, was used to win the national championship.

1946 Doug began his own research into producing aluminum tubing suitable for arrow shafts and later produced the first shafts on a drawbench he designed and built. "Granny" was still in use in 1977.

During the next 10 years more testing and experimenting took place until a special thermal and work-hardening process was developed to produce the Easton 24SRT-X arrow.

1958- The XX75 arrow was introduced. The first of the arrows to be produced from new higher strength aluminum alloys.

1966- The X7 arrow became available.

In addition to aluminum arrows, the name of Easton can be found on: ski poles, aluminum golf shafts, baseball bats, a thermal shroud for use on the first lunar landing, and many precision tubing items, for the aircraft and aerospace industry.



Through the combined efforts of the Easton family, James D. Easton, Inc. has grown from a small one -man operation to a world leader in its field, employing over 300 employees.

While Easton arrows were scoring points on the archery ranges, Doug was pursuing his hobby, archery.
He:
-was an officer and member of numerous clubs in Southern California.

-was one of the founders of the Professional Archery Association.

-was an officer in the National Archery Association for 18 years.

-worked with Howard Hill in getting the city of Los Angeles to create
the Marian Sparrow Archery Range. (Now Balboa Sports Center.)

-Spent countless hours and efforts working to re-instate archery into the Olympic Games.

-received the Maurice Thomson Medal of Honor.

-was installed into the Archery Hall of Fame in 1974.

"Doug" and Mary Easton, life-long friends of archery.

Inducted 1977