Bob Coyle was a sales rep for High
Standard in the mid 1970s.
He has agreed to share some of his memories of that era.
I started with High
Standard in Hamden, CT in 1974 as sales coordinator working for Don Zemke when
they were part of the Leisure Group. Don Mitchell was president. Bob Shea
was a good pal. I allocated product to the distributor’s orders and answered
customer service inquiries, followed up with consumer repairs. I was a
decent amateur photographer, which got me on trips to trade shows and
sales meetings. That group had a lot of fun on the road. I got the regional
sales job for the PA area in 1975. As the rookie, I followed Big Jim Dyson into
the territory. He was a hard drinking, hard selling pro who went into the rep
business. I moved to Allentown, PA with my dog. Target guns were
still pretty strong. Our police pump shotguns were strong. At some point
Mitchell did a deal with Harry Sanford from Auto Mag. He did a deal with
a Japanese shotgun factory to private label Shadow sporting shotguns, semiautos
and o/u’s. Eric Brooker who came from Colt with Mitchell was product manager.
He did a series of .36 caliber black power revolvers (Uberti) that honored
southern gun makers such as Griswold & Gunnison, Leech & Rigdon, etc.
They bombed. The factory had a bunch of work in process that was dead
inventory. In 1976, I suggested that my Philadelphia account, Sportsman’s
Emporium, do a Bicentennial Special Edition. The sales manager, Bob
Sheridan, said,” Coyle if you pull this sale off I’ll kiss you on the corner of
Church and Chapel (downtown New Haven)”. I think we made over 2000 of
them. I heard that Brooker made a deal with some Colt engraver (AE White ?) to
do a short engraved edition. I have an engraved one somewhere. I was involved
with raising money to produce the Crusader (big bore revolver). I
traveled to some major wholesalers and got money up front to make them. High
Standard didn’t have the funds to finance it themselves. It wasn’t the only
time we called on our customers for cash in advance. The company always had
trouble earning enough to cover their debts. The target guns stayed in
demand. I designed the Survival Pack ( Sharpshooter) for the
company. It was the start of special edition ideas that would eventually allow
me to make a living in the business. Money was always tight at High Standard
but they managed. The company was sold. Clem Confessore became president.
He was a spirited, volatile leader. Great guy, and still in
the business today as a lean mfg. consultant. I had sales for 1/2 the country
by then.
