Inductees

Some folks are just unfair talents. Destined for greatness in their field. Successful from the start.

Among them is Allen Treadwell, who at age 10 begged to shoot in a sporting clays event on his dad’s team.

“I beat all the guys I was shooting with,” Treadwell said with a smile. “So it was pretty apparent I had a talent for it.”

He has since become one of the world’s most accomplished in skeet shooting, and it’s why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame is proud to induct Treadwell with the Class of 2020.

Put it this way, between the 2000 and 2004 Olympics, there were only four 100 straights in international skeet, and Treadwell had three of them. He also is versatile, running 100 straights in American skeet, American trap, wobble trap, 5-stand and sporting clays.

Which helps explain why he was a five-time USA World Cup medalist in seven seasons on the USA World Championship team and was an alternate on the 2004 USA Olympic International Skeet team. He also has been a seven-time USA national team member.

Additionally, Treadwell is a three-time national record holder, the champion of the Champions of the America’s, recipient of the 2002 International Distinguished Badge (highest honor bestowed on a civilian marksman), a two-time Missouri Shooting Athlete of the Year, Missouri Show-Me Games Athlete of the Year, an ACUI Collegiate national champion and four-time Missouri All-State selection in sporting clays. He is a three-time All-American on the national sporting clays team.

Overall, Treadwell has earned 17 golds, nine silvers and 11 bronzes in international skeet for the USA Shooting Team, in which he has competed on six continents. He also is a USA Junior Olympics champion.

Plus, Treadwell hosts a nationally syndicated television show. In 2003, he joined the prestigious Bass Pro Shops’ Redhead Pro Hunting Team. Since then, he has been co-host of the 100% Real Hunting show on Verses Network as well as a regular on the Bass Pro King of Bucks show on the Outdoor Channel.

What a career, which took off not long after helping his dad’s team when he was only 10.

Five years later, after competing only in sporting clays tournaments and winning several major events, he got a call from Lloyd Woodhouse, the USA Olympics coach. That led to a tryout on the Junior Olympics team, sending Treadwell on to his international skeet journey. And he made the team and kept climbing, earning one of the Olympic teams’ three spots.

“I made the Championships of America team as a junior and senior, but I elected to give my junior spot up and compete at the top level,” Treadwell said. “I won. By winning, I earned a quota spot for the USA to compete at the Olympics. This particular event let me know I could compete with anyone in the world at an early age.”

One of the most important wins came in 2000 in Los Angeles, as Treadwell realized that he could control nervous energy.

At the end of the 225-bird match, he was tied with a South American who had been an Olympic medalist. A sudden-death playoff would determine the winner. However, Treadwell’s hand was shaking.

“I looked at my hand and thought to myself, ‘Why are you nervous? This is what you love to do. This is what you do for fun,’” said Treadwell, who ultimately won. “From that moment on, I never got nervous again in a pressure situation.”

Throughout his career, Treadwell has used a different gun in every discipline. However, in intentional skeet, he shot a Perazzi his entire career.

Along the way, he found mentors in Woodhouse and Gerald White.

“(Woodhouse) saw a talented kid and provided me with a path to move up the ladder,” Treadwell said. “Gerald White was the only coach I ever really had, and he passed away in a hunting accident when I was 16. But he was a huge influence on my shooting.”

He also cannot help but thank his wife, Lexa, parents, David & Brenda Treadwell, and grandparents, Ernest and Ethel Fletcher, for supporting his thirst for competition. Bass Pro Shops founder Johnny Morris and Jerry Martin have been instrumental to his career as well.

“Without them taking a chance on a kid with a shotgun and a dream, my shooting career may have stopped before the potential was ever reached,” Treadwell said. “And their loyal support and trust for over 20 years now is the only reason any of these dreams have become a reality.”