I received this Email from Wilson Co., with rememberence of Chip McCormick by his good freind Bill Wilson:
"The passing of an icon: remembering Chip McCormick Chip McCormick has passed away. Bill Wilson remembers his long-time friend."
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Michael "Chip" McCormick and I met at a match back in 1981 and quickly became friends. At that point, neither of us had two cents to rub together, but we both had an intense desire to shoot matches and excel. While we began as competitors on the range, we eventually became competitors in business, all the while remaining good friends with mutual respect.
Years later from the time we met, Chip told me something I hadn't realized at the time, his comment was something like this; "Remember back in the early 80s when you bought me dinner at the XYZ match? Well I want to tell you I had NO money then and was not going to even eat that day, I just want to thank you again."
Looking back, we were so poor we didn't even realize it - staying at Motel 6 and eating at McDonald's in order to be able to attend matches. From this humble beginning, Chip went on to become one of the top shooters of the era and a very successful businessman that was revered within the firearms industry. He did this with hard work, business risk-taking, and honesty. If Chip told you something, you knew it was true and you could take it to the bank so to speak.
When Chip decided to retire and sell Chip McCormick Custom LLC, he called me first, I took this as an indicator of how strong our friendship was through all the years and we quickly made a deal for the sale. In some ways, Chip was a maverick, but to those of us who knew him well, he was just a down-to-earth good ole Texas boy that will be deeply missed by all who knew him.
RIP my old friend.
Bill Wilson |
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| Pictured left to right: Michael "Chip" McCormick, Bill Laughridge from Cylinder & Slide, Bill Wilson |
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