Red got interested in the sport of Western Fast Draw in the mid 1950's while watching all of the old TV westerns that were on at that time. In 1958 Red drove all the way from Macon, GA to Hollywood, CA to meet with the legendary Hollywood gun coach Arvo Ojala, who taught him the sport of Western Fast Draw. Red drove back home to Macon, taking fast draw with him and introducing it to the Southeastern United States. Red was an avid shooter and supporter of the OFDA as well as other Fast Draw Associations and clubs throughout the years. He held annual Memorial Day weekend contests in Macon right up until he passed away in 2005.
Fast Draw was his life and his fellow OFDA members were his family. Jim "Pop" Frysinger was a very good friend of Red's. They were both very dedicated to the sport they loved so much!
Fast Draw was his life and his fellow OFDA members were his family. Jim "Pop" Frysinger was a very good friend of Red's. They were both very dedicated to the sport they loved so much!
Over the years, the fiery red hair of his youth that earned him his nickname gave way to a
pearly-white mane.
But he never lost the desire to shoot. Jan. 2, he traveled to Evansville, Tenn., for what would
be his last competition.
That day, Larry Atcheson, 40, of Powder Springs, snapped a picture of the man he considers a
second father.
“I told him to give me his meanest gunfighter pose,” Atcheson said of the photo of Jordan flashing
a wide smile. “For an 85-year-old gunfighter, I guess that’s pretty mean.”
Despite his visual impairment, Jordan was a straight shooter.
He would balance a paper cup on the back of his gun hand, drop the cup while drawing his gun,
fire and hit the cup before it hit the ground, his daughter said.
Or he could throw a dart at a balloon, draw his gun and fire to break the balloon before the dart
could get there, they said
Sometimes he’d put tape over a washer, throw it in the air and blow the tape off of it, they said.
After Jordan learned from the master out West, he trained others and founded the Macon
Gunfighter Club. He also was the oldest member of the Cherokee Gunfighter Club.
“Everybody shooting in the fast draw it going to miss him,” said Jim Hall, who hosted this
month’s competition in Evansville.
A couple of years ago after the death of another fast draw legend, Pop Frysinger of Alabama,
the men loaded bullets with Frysinger’s ashes and fired a tribute.
Hall took one of those ash-filled bullets and capped it off with the thousands of wax bullets
Jordan crafted over the years.
Hall placed it in the chest pocket of Jordan’s western-wear shirt.
They’re together again,” Hall, said of his two fast-draw friends.
Smitty Polhill of the Labelle Lightning Fast Draw Club in Florida place a red-handled pistol
in Jordan’s coffin.
Two crossed pistols over the word “Red” were inscribed in the casket, a fitting tribute for a man
whose life was a blast.
“He was full of what I call spit and vinegar until the day he died,” Gregory said.
“He was a pistol,” Carpenter said.
pearly-white mane.
But he never lost the desire to shoot. Jan. 2, he traveled to Evansville, Tenn., for what would
be his last competition.
That day, Larry Atcheson, 40, of Powder Springs, snapped a picture of the man he considers a
second father.
“I told him to give me his meanest gunfighter pose,” Atcheson said of the photo of Jordan flashing
a wide smile. “For an 85-year-old gunfighter, I guess that’s pretty mean.”
Despite his visual impairment, Jordan was a straight shooter.
He would balance a paper cup on the back of his gun hand, drop the cup while drawing his gun,
fire and hit the cup before it hit the ground, his daughter said.
Or he could throw a dart at a balloon, draw his gun and fire to break the balloon before the dart
could get there, they said
Sometimes he’d put tape over a washer, throw it in the air and blow the tape off of it, they said.
After Jordan learned from the master out West, he trained others and founded the Macon
Gunfighter Club. He also was the oldest member of the Cherokee Gunfighter Club.
“Everybody shooting in the fast draw it going to miss him,” said Jim Hall, who hosted this
month’s competition in Evansville.
A couple of years ago after the death of another fast draw legend, Pop Frysinger of Alabama,
the men loaded bullets with Frysinger’s ashes and fired a tribute.
Hall took one of those ash-filled bullets and capped it off with the thousands of wax bullets
Jordan crafted over the years.
Hall placed it in the chest pocket of Jordan’s western-wear shirt.
They’re together again,” Hall, said of his two fast-draw friends.
Smitty Polhill of the Labelle Lightning Fast Draw Club in Florida place a red-handled pistol
in Jordan’s coffin.
Two crossed pistols over the word “Red” were inscribed in the casket, a fitting tribute for a man
whose life was a blast.
“He was full of what I call spit and vinegar until the day he died,” Gregory said.
“He was a pistol,” Carpenter said.
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