Hewitt takes aim, becomes fastest duelist in the world

Local resident Tom Hewitt proves the saying that age is just a number. Hewitt is the fastest duelist in the world for people ages 65-69.

He gained this title by participating in the Huntsman World Senior Games in October of 2012 in St. George, Utah. The Hunstman Senior Games began in 1987 as the World Senior Games and was founded by Daisy and John H. Morgan, Jr. with the idea that the golden years were better when good health and physical fitness became an way of life instead of an occasional hobby, according to the organization’s website.

“It is the Olympic championship for seniors. There’s people that come from all over the world. St. George, Utah is a good size town, 50,000 or something, but there must be 50,000 people there when this thing takes place.”Hewitt said.

For his part, Hewitt competed in the cowboy action shooting category of the games as a duelist which, as Hewitt points out, is different from traditional shooting.

“You have two guns, two pistols. I shoot .38’s, and they’re cowboy action where you have to cock it to shoot it. Duelist means that you shoot one handed with the pistols. Traditional, everybody uses two hands. It’s a little bit slower, but I can shoot ten shots with a pistol in about 10 seconds. However, I can shoot ten shots with an 1873 Winchester rifle in about five seconds,” Hewitt said.

Hewitt was up against Virgil Earl from Australia and Big D. J. Zent from Yuma, AZ the day that he took home the gold.

“The first day I was behind 14 seconds. 14 seconds doesn’t sound like much, but it is. That’s two seconds a stage that you have to pick up. I thought, ‘I’ll never beat that guy’, but I went up to him and introduced myself and told him that if I lost to him, I couldn’t lose to a better guy,” Hewitt said of Virgil Earl.

Hewitt had no idea that he had won the day of the awards ceremony. It came as a complete surprise.

“We didn’t know the results when we went to the awards ceremony. They didn’t post the second day. I knew I did better the second day, but I didn’t really think that I could pick up that much. But I ended up beating him by 10 seconds,”Hewitt said.

The accomplishment of taking home the gold for the competition has given Hewitt immense satisfaction.

“Older people need to find a niche in life. This is kind of a niche for me. I don’t care if I ever win another match. This was important to me,” Hewitt said. “When you’re an older person you kind of think, ‘Hmm, I can’t do that anymore.’ But you never give up. That’s the attitude of the people [ at the games]. They’re like me.”

However, there is one thing that is far more important to Hewitt than his gold medal: his faith.

“I’m a strong Christian, and I love the Lord. He runs my life. I don’t have to anymore, because he takes care of that, good things and bad things. My purpose in life now is to quite simply try to be the best human being I can and share my thoughts and feelings with people. It’s just that simple,” Hewitt said.

Hewitt has also expressed that he’d like to start a shooting club here in town in the future.

“There are young kids that shoot in this town. I’d love to start a cowboy club here in Kimball some day. I don’t know if we could get enough people, but even if we had a half dozen of us that’d be enough to go out and practice and have fun. Kids pick this up instantly, by the way. I’ve seen kids 11 and 12 years old make me look silly,” Hewitt said.

Currently, Hewitt runs Redwing Trading Post, which he started soon after quitting his job working as the vice president of Maverick Media in 1991, with his wife Karen where he sells wood sculptures that he has personally hand carved and an assortment of knives. His top selling knife is what he calls a “screw knife”.

“I’ve sold thousands of these. They are for cowboy shooting. They sell for 109 bucks, and you can unjam a rifle in cowboy shooting with it instantaneously. I patented it so that’s been a blessing,” Hewitt said.

The name “Redwing Trading Company” stems from an interesting experience that Hewitt had had while driving. Hewitt will openly admit that he was not always the man he is today, and that he had struggled with alcoholism for many years before getting sober. On a day of being particularly depressed driving down the road and thinking about drinking again, he saw a semi approaching and decided that he would end his life.

However, something intervened.

“The second that I thought that, a redwing blackbird flew in front of me. I swear, to me it was just dead slow. Everything just seemed to slow down. It went by, and I pulled on the side of the rode, and I cried,” Hewitt said.

Though at the time he didn’t understand what had made him cry, it finally clicked in his mind later on when he went fishing and saw redwing blackbirds in the trees.

“My dad had died six weeks after I got sober. I saw these redwings, and it reminded me of my dad, because we fished together all the time. I would see these redwings, and they didn’t mean much to me. Now, when I see one, I can’t wait to get out and get as close as I can to them. I just have this joy in my heart when I see them,” Hewitt said.

After holding his first show with eagles he had carved under the name “Eagle Trading Company”, Hewitt realized that he needed a different name for the business.

“I came home the next day, and I told my wife, ‘I’m not going to call it Eagle Trading. That just doesn’t seem right. I think I’ll call it Redwing Trading.’” Hewitt said.

Through everything and his successes and trials and tribulation, Hewitt, who has been sober now for 31 years, gives all the credit to God.

“I wouldn’t be sober without God. I would have never done any of this without God. I don’t have anything that I’ve ever done in my whole life that God didn’t do for me,” Hewitt said.

Anyone interested in seeing Hewitt’s handiwork can visit the Redwing Trading Company website at http://www.redwingtradingcompany.com.