Inductees

Sometimes, taking a chance on a struggling business can turn to gold – and can become one of the most amazing stories.

In 1969, Dale & Peggy Siler purchased a Springfield gun store called Ozark Shooters Inc., knowing it was deep in debt. Peggy had worked there part-time for only six months. Dale? He had been laid off at Royal Typewriter. And they had been married for nine years, with two young daughters.

“We always wondered if we’d been better off to start on our own,” Peggy said with a smile. “But the owner offered us a deal (a hardware in St. Joseph owned most of it), and said we’d take it. From there, it just built itself.”

Did it ever. The Silers have been feeding southwest Missourians’ love for shotgun sports and other shooting competitions ever since – and, in 1989, ratcheted up their efforts by opening the Ozark Shooters Sports Complex in Walnut Shade.

In fact, their enormous success is why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame proudly inducted the Silers and the Ozark Shooters Complex with the Class of 2025.

The gun store had two locations in Springfield on College Street, and the Ozark Shooters Sports Complex became the reality of a sweet dream. You might have seen it, as it sits to the east of Highway 65 about halfway between Springfield and Branson.

The site of an old dirt race track, it’s a 65-acre facility perfect for skeet, trap shooting and sporting clays. As of 2025, the complex counts 450 members and is open every day of the year except for Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. It opened on April Fool’s Day 1989, and counted 25 charter members (and three are still alive).

Since then, the Silers have proudly served local schools, businesses, charities, national organizations, professional competitions and shooters from all over the world. The Missouri Sports Hall of Fame hosts its annual Sporting Clays Classic there in September, and the Price Cutter Charity Championship presented by Hiland Dairy has used the facility the past three years as part of its Platinum Clubs and Clays Classic.

Even better, members volunteer to keep score and handle the shooters, often competing for who gets which time to work an event.

“They’re all like family anymore,” Peggy said, noting that members threw a big 80^th birthday party for her and a 50^th wedding anniversary party for her and Dale.

Based on tradition and values, Ozark Shooters also teaches safety and responsibility.

This for a facility with regular employees and numerous part-time employees. The regular employees include Jordan Ellingsworth, Jeremy Ellingsworth, Melinda and Dale Cline, Cynthia Emery, Mike Cooper, Marshall McClure and Mike Schultz.

“Hunting and shooting was something I was always involved in as a kid,” Dale said.

Dale graduated from Parkview High School, and Peggy graduated from Central High and has a degree from Draughn Business College. She would hunt with cousins but didn’t really grow up around guns. She and Dale, however, found a hobby at the Springfield Benchrest Gun Club, and that kind of planted the seed to what would become their livelihood.

The gun store enjoyed success over the years and then closed in 1992, as Peggy ran it while Dale ran the shooters complex. Locating everything at the Walnut Shade facility just made sense.

However, the sports complex almost never happened. The story goes that, unknown to the Silers, it was slated to be a landfill until they approached a banker. The race track’s concrete barrier and snack bar have since been eliminated, but half the track is still visible.

“It took a lot of work,” Peggy said. “We had to have a loan. So it took awhile.”

Jordan joined them 22 years ago, and his brother and their dad have been part of Ozark Shooters, too.

“Jordan has been a lifesaver for us,” Peggy said.

Fortunately for the Silers, their workers and members have helped ease the stress of running a successful operation. They’ve also allowed them to devote some time to another hobby – old-time cars.

“We’ve have been fortunate to have had a lot of really good members,” Peggy said.

In other words, it’s easy to leave the house every morning and head to a job that doesn’t feel like work.

“Folks ask us, ‘What would we do if we didn’t have this?’” Peggy said. “We do have a hobby and do that as much as we can. But this keeps us going.”