Brownsboro knife thrower returns from injury, wins throwing championship
By Nathan Straus News Reporter

Bob Pyle steadies his aim and his concentration before throwing for the target.

Bob Pyle, knife and hawk throwing enthusiast and instructor, won the Gold Cup in Austin for champion level knife throwing in October. Pyle, now in his 70s, went under the knife in June for shoulder surgery after hurting his shoulder some time ago.

"I have no idea how many tournaments I have been to over the years," Pyle said.

During his surgery period, Pyle lost 17 pounds and missed out on nearly all of the 2007 knife throwing competitions. Pyle then came back in a big way and won the Austin World Gold Cup.

Pyle claims to have never even picked up a throwing knife until he was 60 years old.

"It all started after my 27 years of teaching in Oklahoma," Pyle said. "I then moved to Colorado because I wanted to learn how the mountain men could survive, and that's how I got into knife throwing."

Now Pyle has been to more throwing tournaments than he can readily count.

Pyle said he learned to throw steel from the mountain men rendezvous. The rendezvous, a remnant of a period in American history from 1825 to 1840, were basically a trade meeting. During those times one of the feature trade items was beaver fur.

Now, the meetings feature a number of events, and one is the knife throwing event. Pyle caught on like a natural and won at rendezvous from 1995 to 2002, at which point he moved to Brownsboro.

Pyle got into tournaments in a big way, and competed in the Rocky Mountain National Knife and Hawk Contest. The contest, centered on accuracy in throwing knives and tomahawks, came naturally to Pyle and he won the knife throwing segment five years in a row, and the overall portion in '97, 2001, 2003 and 2005.

"I like the competition most," Pyle said of knife throwing. "The awards were never that important to me, but the competition is fun."

Scoring in the games is simple. The contestants take their knives and throw at targets set in a similar pattern to the "five" side on a dice. Pyle said the knives must be thrown at the center in a "W" pattern (top left, bottom left, center, bottom right, top right) for the highest score.

Pyle has won a plethora of trophies, and is in the International Knife Throwing Hall of Fame, one of around 114 members.

"I'm proud to represent Brownsboro," Pyle said.