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Click on any
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back button. In the late 1950's my father, an avid knife thrower and collector, visits his friend Carmen Corrado at the Corrado Cutlery in Chicago. He tells him of an individual making excellent throwing knifes in Grand Rapids Michigan. Little did he know that this was the start of a friendship that would soon change his life. Harry K. McEvoy was a young painter salesman and a designer and crafter of the Tru-Balance line of handcrafted cutlery.
His specialty was the Tru-Balance throwing knife, Bowie-Ax knife and the American Hunter. After corresponding with him for several months he decides to travel to Grand Rapids, Michigan to meet Harry. My father and Al Gramaila traveled many times to practice with Harry and share ideas. In the Spring of 1964 my father and Harry decided to collaborate on the very first book on the modern sport of knife throwing. The book is entitled Knife Throwing as a Modern Sport and is published by Charles C. Thomas and printed in 1965. In June of 1964 my father with the help of Hary McEvoy organized Tru-Flyte Knife Throwers of America. This was the first national organization founded to promote knife throwing as a modern sport. The board of consultants included Harry K. McEvoy, Robert Abels, William D. Randall Jr., Gary Randall, Robert Lee Wilson, Gil Hibben, Ralph H. Totsch, Paul LaCross, D.L. Garg, Norman C. Heilman Jr., Jim Ramsey, Kenneth Pierce and Yumio Nawa. All were true pioneers and craftsmen. My father to decides to publish a bi-monthly publication entitled The Knife Thrower. This publication was financed out of his own pocket and would eventually be its own demise. There were only seven issued publications and the last one was the Special Issue in 1966. I have a very limited Membership benefits for Tru-Flyte include a membership card,
Ojibwa Thunderbird Cloth Insignia,
Tru-Flyte Official Cloth Insignia,
Tru-Flyte Official Waterless Decal
The novice thrower would get a two page article on throwing the Tru-Balance knife.
Tru-Flyte also offered several small pamphlets on knife throwing and fighting such as How to Throw Knives by Elmer Putts, Knife Fighter by Frank D. Praytor and The Fighting Knife by his good friend and Tru-Flyte consultant W.D. Randall.
My father proposed competition rules for Tru-Flyte:
In 1969 Harry publishes a booklet entitled Knife Throwing In The Professional Style.
I believe I found another book or article written by Harry. It looks like an article in a magazine called American Bowman Review dated December 1, 1938. It was written by a Kirby Mack pseudo name of Harry McEvoy Jr. The article or book was entitled Crusader in the Wilderness. if you have a copy or scan please email me. In 1937 Harry McEvoy wrote a very rare handbook on Archery. This book describes the most efficient types of bows and arrows and the art of target shooting used in Archery. It was published by the Broadhead Publishing Company in Oak Park Illinois. Harry McEvoy on July 14, 1971 sends a letter to my father introducing a newsletter that he just wrote on July 11, 1971.
Entitled The Bullseye Buster he sends him the very first copy.
Unfortunately my father passed away several months later from lung cancer and he never had the opportunity to write any articles for Harry's newsletter. Here are some of Harry McEvoy's published books.
Above is a booklet is entitled Tale of the Tomahawk re-printed from the February 1980 issue of Knife World Publications.
Above booklet is the very first published work on knife throwing. This 25 page booklet is entitled The Art of Knife Throwing by Frank Dean and published in 1937.
Above booklet The Art of Knife Throwing by Frank Dean also had a second edition which was published in 1948.
In January 1948 (see cancelled envelope) Stark Manufacturing was selling a balanced throwing knife called the Bullseye. They sold the knife along with a pamphlet and letter on knife throwing. On October 11, 2003 my father was posthumously inducted in the International Knife Throwers Hall of Fame and received a Knife Throwing Pioneer Award.
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