At the 1968 Olympics, Tom Garrigus had the dubious distinction of being the first shooter to miss a bird. He missed a second shortly thereafter, but overcame this poor start to take the silver medal. Garrigus was used to winning medals – between 1962 and 1982 he won 27 various national titles and 53 various state championships in Oregon, Idaho and Montana. In 1980 he was given the second highest handicap ever awarded in the history of the American Trapshooting Association – 9,515. Garrigus later served as a referee for trap and skeet at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. A salesman most of his life, he also served as a coach of the USA Shooting Team from 1992-2002, and he was a director of the Hillsboro Trap & Skeet Club and the Boise Gun Club for many years. Garrigus was an avid bird and big game hunter and fisherman. His son, Robert Garrigus, later became a professional golfer and began playing on the US PGA Tour in 2005.
United States