Saying Bobby Worthington of Pikeville, Tenn., has added to his total of national and world archery championships in the past year would be an understatement.
He's massively multiplied them, with 10 in 2016. Plus he set state records in four classes, one by more than 150 points, at the Tennessee Indoor Championships in February.
That was after winning the National Field Archery Association indoor nationals and the International Bowhunters Organization traditional world meet in 2015. He competes in the Recurve Unaided (finger release, no sights) category for all ages.
The 62-year-old wildlife photographer, author and recently retired recreation director at the Bledsoe County Corrections Complex began this year with the IBO Indoor 3-D world title in January in Cleveland, Ohio.
After his dominance at the TAA state in February, Worthington won the National Indoor Championship in March in Louisville, Ky. He broke that event's old record by 19 points.
He added the IBO Spring Nationals title in April in Wilmore, Ky., and won IBO National Triple Crown legs in May in West Virginia and June in Indiana and lost leg three by only five points in July in Pennsylvania. Also in June, he won Archery Shooters Association pro/am nationals in London, Ky., and Metropolis, Ill.
On the weekend of July 15-17, he won both the Three Rivers Hunter Challenge national competition - with some international participants - and the IBO Traditional World Championship.
Another world title followed this month, the ASA's version at Fort Benning in Georgia, and he was second in the IBO worlds last weekend at Seven Springs in Pennsylvania.
After that one he officially was crowned the IBO shooter of the year. That goes to the archer with the organization's highest point total in four national shoots and the world event.
He led that competition by more than 80 points even before the calendar flipped to August, and he wound up winning by nearly 300.
Worthington has been recognized internationally for years for his success in bowhunting whitetail deer, and he returned to competitive archery only five years ago. He could be dominating even more in the senior class (60-older) but wants to compete at the highest level.
"I'm shooting against people half and a third my age," he said Wednesday. "You've got to be challenged; you've got to have something pushing you.
"I'm improving weekly, which is kind of amazing at my age," Worthington added. "I work out five days a week, I run a couple of miles three times a week, and I'm learning new skills.
"The only way to advance as an archer is to keep learning. Everybody you come in contact with knows something you don't, and if you can find out what that is you're adding knowledge. Then effort turns knowledge into skill - that's through correct practice - and without effort in your life something awful takes place: nothing. It's only through effort that we have power."
Worthington plans to start coaching professionally. Anyone interested in scheduling classes can call him at 423-637-9757.
Contact Ron Bush at rbush@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6291.