Fred Bear ** Ben Pearson question

[sswv]

what year was the Bear bow available to the public?

AND

what year was the Pearson bow available to the public?

thanks in advance  

[trapperDave]

Pearson first sold bows in their catalogs in 1939( for the couple years prior they sold arrows n such).... I have a 1939 hickory recurve  

[VA Bowbender]

A Brief History of the Bear Archery Company

Begun in 1933 in a small shop in Detroit, the company was first known by the name Bear Products Company. Archery consumed only a small corner of this new business whose main line was silk-screening and other advertising work for the major automotive makers. Although Fred made bows for himself and friends, it wasn't until 1938 when Fred hired a very skilled woodworker from Detroit by the name of Nels Grumley that the Bear Products Company line expanded to include bows.

By 1940 the archery line had grown to the point where Fred decided to sell out his part of the advertising business to his partner and continue to pursue his hobby/business as the Bear Archery Company. Times were tough, but Fred was a very good business man, and the business continued to grow until the move from Detroit to a brand new plant which Fred had completed in Grayling in 1947.

Fred sold the company in 1968 to Victor Comptometer so that he could raise the needed capitol to grow the company even more. Even though he was not the owner any longer, Fred stayed on as President of Bear Archery Company under Victor. The Bear Archery Company thrived in Grayling until 1978 when a strike at the plant forced the owners to move operations to Gainesville, Florida where the company remains today. Fred stayed active with the company that bears his name until his death in 1988 at the age of 86.

Now that we know a little about the Companies roots, let's take a look at some of the more popular products which have been produced by Bear over the last 65 years.

[Van/TX]

A bit of Ben Pearson hisory.  I pulled this off the ArcheryArchive site...Van

Ben Pearson made his first bow after reading a book on making bows. He made his first bow and began practing . He entered the Arkansas State Archery Championship in 1926 and came out next to last. He went back and built better equipment and in 1927 he won the Arkansas State Championship. He begin making archery equipment for other archers in the area. He was successful. But realized that making archery equipment by hand was slow and expensive.He designed machinery to mass produce archery equipment, but the country was in a depression and funding was hard to find. When Ben Pearson met Carl Haun, a oil man with an interest in archery and a eye for business he got the backing he needed to begin Ben Pearson Inc. The first catalog in 1938 had only arrows in it. The logo was "ARROWS of EXCELLENCE". The machinery allowed the company was able to mass produce bows cheap enough for the average Person to afford archery equipment. The company was making several thousand a day. This production of archery equipment resulted is the spread of archery across the country. By the early 50's the company had an undeserved reputation making inexpensive archery equipment. Archery sets accounted for 80% of sales by Ben Pearson Inc. Only 1 1/2 % of sales were for custom bows. People viewed Ben Pearson equipment as good middle line bows, but not top of the line equipment. To change this perception a new line of bows was designed, there was a new advertising campaign,a new color catalog and a new "BRAND NAME" for each bow. Before this all bows had only a model number. In 1958 bow were given names. There were two take-down models were kept in the line and named the Bushmaster and the Cobra. Three new bows were developed: the Cougar, Javelina and Safari. The Cougar was the least expensive bow in the line, the Javelina was a middle priced bow and the Safari was the top of the line. Later that year a bow was added. It had long working limbs, instead of the semi-recurved limbs of earlier bows. The limbs were wide to resist twisting, yet still have cast. The window was high, six and 3/4 inches.. The machines that made the bow could work wood within 1/1000 of an inch. Thus the ad "Perfection by Pearson" The Palomino" was born. The success of the bow causes the factory to be six weeks behind on orders for the Palomino

In 1961 the Sovereign line of archery equipment came out. This was the "elite" line of bows sold by Ben Pearson.

The Locksley line was the lower line of bows sold by the Ben Pearson Company.

By 1963 the average daily output was 3,000 bows and 3,000 to 4,000 doz. arrows.

In 1967 The Leisure Group acquired Ben Pearson Inc. The Sovereign line was dropped. Several models were continued under the Pearson name. The company headquarters is moved to Los Angeles, California.

1972 The Brunswick Corporation bought Ben Pearson from the Leisure Group. The headquarters is moved to Tulsa Oklahoma.

In 1978 Ben Pearson is bought by an old partner of Ben Pearson and moved back to Pine Bluff, Ark.

1986 only traditional bow is OL' Ben longbow

1978 only traditional bows are solid fiberglass archery sets

1979 only traditional bow is a metal handel take down

1983 Pearson brought back four bows: the cougar Bronco Ben, all American, and the Mercury Hunter

The Ben Pearson bow that lasted the longest was the Cougar. It began in 1958 and lasted until 1977. The first Cougar was right and left handed. Over the years it was made in lenghts from 64 inches to 58 inches.

The javelina was the only bow from the orginal line that never changed lenghts. All models of the javelina were 66 inches.

The bushmaster was one of the original bows in 1958. The first model had a laminated

Handle. The others were solid brown wood. It only last three years

 

Logos.

Ben Pearson Inc has always had a logo on it's bows, arrow boxes and printed material.

The logo changed some times every year or two. The same logo was never used very long. It is the easiest way to date printed material or arrow boxes. The logos have small differences to complete changes. Sometimes only the font changed. Sometimes the broadhead changed. Phases were added and taken away. When looking at the Logos section check each the note after each logo for the changes.

While Ben Pearson was an avid archer and loved the sport, he was a busniness man with a genius for manufacturing. He also made sewing machine parts, boats, boat trailers, corn cribs, cotton pickers and automoblie pipe fitings. At the 50th anniversary party for Ben Pearson Archery, Governor Bill Clinton was presented with the six millionth manufactured bow and the 200 millionth manufactured arrow. Gonernor Clinton said the only thing he ever won was a archery contest in grade school with a Ben Pearson bow and arrows. By the time of the 50th anniversary Ben Pearson Inc. had 350 workers and a payroll of $100 million

[Double Tee]

Thanks guys,the first two bows I bought in 1969 were Ben pearson's Colt and a BP-52 which I still have and shoot from time to time.Still in good shape and shoot good too!

[wollelybugger]

I have one of his old Hickory self bow, called the Deerslayer, it is old recurve.