Phil "FireBall" McNaughton ; Born February 24, 1945, in Painesville, Ohio died April 29, 2006. He lived his entire life in Chardon Ohio.
-- Phil was a well traveled veteran shooter and true Fast Draw zealot. During his gun fighting career he actively promoted the sport to the public and served in leadership roles for the Ohio Fast Draw Association and the Old Frontiers Thumbers Conference. Phil was quick to offer novice shooters friendly advice, words of encouragement and support. His exuberance and passion for Fast Draw showed on his face and earned him many friends. Sporting his trademark sterling silver with turquoise embellishments and his pair of .45 Colt SA's holstered in his similarly adorned gunfighter double rig it was plain to see he was in his element. Phil along with Ron Paul Duning and William Sajovic was a founding member of the Buckeye Rangers Fast Draw Club and Show Team. The annual North coast Nationals Gunslinger Contest Thumbing event was named "FireBall Phil Classic" in his honor.
PHIL “FIREBALL” MCNAUGHTON
In this issue I am profiling our own Phil “Fireball” McNaughton. I decided on Phil, to honor him for his work in the OFTC. And now that the OFTC is history, Phil will go down as the last chairman.
Phil has been in fast draw for over twenty years. Phil met Ron Paul Duning, when Ron moved up to Cleveland from Greenville. Phil video taped a few of the contests Ron was involved in, and decided that it looked like to much fun, not to give it a try. And he fell in love with the sport. Phil has traveled all over the US and Canada to compete in contests. Truth be told, he has never won a sanctioned contest, but did set an OFTC series record for 5’ –15’ step back @ 14” square in 1982. He won Tom Crawford’s 15’ Blindfold Championship. Phil’s most treasured plaque comes from Gunrunner’s Ranch in 2002, for his work in bringing Eastern and Western Shooters together.
Phil tries to practice at least twice a week, and says there is nothing about the sport he does not like. If he didn’t enjoy himself, he would not be doing it. And as for his inspirations, Phil says, there are just far too many to mention. But feels that the courage of many shooters who have come back from a tragedy or serious injury has truly inspired him. The love and caring from the entire Fast Draw Family, helped encourage him to come back from a serious surgery of his own many years ago.
When Phil was asked if he has ever started a new shooter, his response was, a bunch over the years. Phil would tell a new shooter to “have fun! ……You’re going to meet the nicest bunch of people in the world, as well as the fiercest competitors in the world.” “Always shoot for the personal best, don’t worry about that first place trophy – it will come.”
When I asked Phil how he got his nickname of “Fireball”, he would not tell me, because he said, new shooters may read this. But in the end, I got him to tell me, in his own words, what the story is: and here goes:
Once upon a time, many years ago, I used to draw from a single Blasgen rig – pretty much straight up and down. Well, it seemed that my trigger finger was a tad faster then the rest of my hand, and the result was rather painful, to say the least. After knee surgery (nothing to do with shooting myself in the leg) I designed a pad made up of Kevlar body armor & foam rubber. My then fiancé decided to make it look presentable by covering it in black cloth. At a competition, we were shooting 8’ balloons and I pulled one of my “fast finger” stunts dropping a full load down my holster and into that leg shield. You can imagine the result of burning gunpowder impacting cotton fabric. Denny Tibbens (PA shooter) was hand judging me and when he saw the smoke, he did everything he could to get the pad off my leg, but the Velcro straps held. All I did was brush off the sparks, try to regain my composure and get ready for the next shot. Well, I’ll give you one guess what I did on my very next shot…..YEP. Boom – right down the holster and all those charred edges of cloth went up in smoke to the point where Frank Panarella (Jim Yurasek’s brother in law, another PA shooter) grabbed a fire extinguisher and chased me all over the shooting area. When all the laughter died down, I sheepishly addressed the crowd saying,” Just call me Fireball”. Now, that winter I took a course in silversmithing and my project was a solid silver fireball, which adorned my holster until I switched to my double rig. I sold the single rig, but still have that silver fireball!
Phil has just recently started a new job, at Invisible Fencing, doing after market contact sales, before that he tried his hand at the “repo business”, but being in the wrong neighborhoods, and midnight surveillances got to him. Phil was employed previously by American Society for Metals, in membership sales and marketing for many years.
Phil will tell you that mostly everyone he knows supports his interest and commitment to Fast Draw. He has always been drawn to the Western and Native American culture. He has been taking horse back riding lessons for many years, Mostly Western Pleasure, Trail, Horsemanship.
To Phil, I say Hats Off to you!
-- Phil was a well traveled veteran shooter and true Fast Draw zealot. During his gun fighting career he actively promoted the sport to the public and served in leadership roles for the Ohio Fast Draw Association and the Old Frontiers Thumbers Conference. Phil was quick to offer novice shooters friendly advice, words of encouragement and support. His exuberance and passion for Fast Draw showed on his face and earned him many friends. Sporting his trademark sterling silver with turquoise embellishments and his pair of .45 Colt SA's holstered in his similarly adorned gunfighter double rig it was plain to see he was in his element. Phil along with Ron Paul Duning and William Sajovic was a founding member of the Buckeye Rangers Fast Draw Club and Show Team. The annual North coast Nationals Gunslinger Contest Thumbing event was named "FireBall Phil Classic" in his honor.
PHIL “FIREBALL” MCNAUGHTON
In this issue I am profiling our own Phil “Fireball” McNaughton. I decided on Phil, to honor him for his work in the OFTC. And now that the OFTC is history, Phil will go down as the last chairman.
Phil has been in fast draw for over twenty years. Phil met Ron Paul Duning, when Ron moved up to Cleveland from Greenville. Phil video taped a few of the contests Ron was involved in, and decided that it looked like to much fun, not to give it a try. And he fell in love with the sport. Phil has traveled all over the US and Canada to compete in contests. Truth be told, he has never won a sanctioned contest, but did set an OFTC series record for 5’ –15’ step back @ 14” square in 1982. He won Tom Crawford’s 15’ Blindfold Championship. Phil’s most treasured plaque comes from Gunrunner’s Ranch in 2002, for his work in bringing Eastern and Western Shooters together.
Phil tries to practice at least twice a week, and says there is nothing about the sport he does not like. If he didn’t enjoy himself, he would not be doing it. And as for his inspirations, Phil says, there are just far too many to mention. But feels that the courage of many shooters who have come back from a tragedy or serious injury has truly inspired him. The love and caring from the entire Fast Draw Family, helped encourage him to come back from a serious surgery of his own many years ago.
When Phil was asked if he has ever started a new shooter, his response was, a bunch over the years. Phil would tell a new shooter to “have fun! ……You’re going to meet the nicest bunch of people in the world, as well as the fiercest competitors in the world.” “Always shoot for the personal best, don’t worry about that first place trophy – it will come.”
When I asked Phil how he got his nickname of “Fireball”, he would not tell me, because he said, new shooters may read this. But in the end, I got him to tell me, in his own words, what the story is: and here goes:
Once upon a time, many years ago, I used to draw from a single Blasgen rig – pretty much straight up and down. Well, it seemed that my trigger finger was a tad faster then the rest of my hand, and the result was rather painful, to say the least. After knee surgery (nothing to do with shooting myself in the leg) I designed a pad made up of Kevlar body armor & foam rubber. My then fiancé decided to make it look presentable by covering it in black cloth. At a competition, we were shooting 8’ balloons and I pulled one of my “fast finger” stunts dropping a full load down my holster and into that leg shield. You can imagine the result of burning gunpowder impacting cotton fabric. Denny Tibbens (PA shooter) was hand judging me and when he saw the smoke, he did everything he could to get the pad off my leg, but the Velcro straps held. All I did was brush off the sparks, try to regain my composure and get ready for the next shot. Well, I’ll give you one guess what I did on my very next shot…..YEP. Boom – right down the holster and all those charred edges of cloth went up in smoke to the point where Frank Panarella (Jim Yurasek’s brother in law, another PA shooter) grabbed a fire extinguisher and chased me all over the shooting area. When all the laughter died down, I sheepishly addressed the crowd saying,” Just call me Fireball”. Now, that winter I took a course in silversmithing and my project was a solid silver fireball, which adorned my holster until I switched to my double rig. I sold the single rig, but still have that silver fireball!
Phil has just recently started a new job, at Invisible Fencing, doing after market contact sales, before that he tried his hand at the “repo business”, but being in the wrong neighborhoods, and midnight surveillances got to him. Phil was employed previously by American Society for Metals, in membership sales and marketing for many years.
Phil will tell you that mostly everyone he knows supports his interest and commitment to Fast Draw. He has always been drawn to the Western and Native American culture. He has been taking horse back riding lessons for many years, Mostly Western Pleasure, Trail, Horsemanship.
To Phil, I say Hats Off to you!
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