International Knife Throwers Hall of Fame Inductees 2007

Guinness Book of World Records

Outstanding Male Competitor of the Year

Promotion of the Alamo Throw

Mike "Alamo" Bainton, Ph.D-in 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2007, Dr. Bainton was the uncontested Overall Knife Throwing World Champion and missed the 2006 World Championship by one point, won by 2006 World Champion, Bob "Old Dog" Pyle. Michael J. Bainton, Ph.D. of Austin, Texas, founder of the International Knife Throwers Hall of Fame, started throwing knives late in life. Since 2003, he has won first place in 44 national and World Championship competitions, making him the most prolific knife thrower in the history of knife throwing. He is also the only thrower to ever make a perfect score in the Impalement contest at the World Championships in Claremore, Oklahoma in 2005, and won seven of the World Championship events at the 2004 World Championships in Las Vegas. He is thought to be the number one thrower in the world today with World Championships in Conventional throwing, Impalement, Fast Draw, Obstacle Course, and three World Championships in Tomahawk throwing and two national titles Mountain Man throwing. His accomplishments are recorded in the International Knife Throwers Hall of Fame website, www.ikthof.com, and the Guiness Book of World Records for 2008.

However, Dr. Bainton's greatest pride comes from the 130 + children that attend his award winning after school martial arts program. Now in its 17th year of successful operation, South Austin Karate has become a touchstone by which other martial art schools and after school programs are judged. By teaching the students lifelong values like respect for family and responsibility for education, he is creating a reward for himself and the community that will outlive any other honor he has or may achieve in his lifetime.

Wild West Performers Family of the Year

Rhinestone Ropers-Dan, Kim, and Cody Mink are from Jerome, Idaho. The Minks have thrilled audiences from coast to coast with their award winning trick roping, bullwhip cracking, knife throwing, gun spinning, and quick draw shooting. The show also includes amazing tricks by Lucky Joe the Trick Horse. Some of the Minks' notable achievements include Kimberly's three-time World Championship and current Guinness World Record in the Women's Big Loop and featured appearance on Ripley's Believe It or Not! spinning a big loop around 15 steers at one time. Nine year old Cody was named Most Promising Young Roper at the 2003 International Wild West Arts Competition in Las Vegas. Dan was chosen by the Fox Network to appear on the TV show 30 Seconds to Fame in Hollywood, CA.

Lifetime Achievement-Wild West Performer

Thomas "Thomi Hawk" Hickey-was born October 6, 1962, in Mt. Vernon, N.Y. As a child, Thomi played army and cowboys and Indians with his buddies, mimicking the knife throwers they saw in movies. This would all be nothing but play until Thomi turned 13, when he joined a reenactment group where he learned to throw real knives and tomahawks. Thomi spent many years honing his tomahawk throwing skills. He constantly entertained his friends, family, and spectators who attended the many reenactments. After winning most every contest he entered, Thomi decided to take a break from competitions. Thomi spent ten years expanding his interests in raising wolves, riding Harleys and trying his hand at cowboy action shooting. One day the phone rang with yet another opportunity to showcase his many talents. Thomi then found himself performing with a Wild West production company, the Frontier Riders. It proved to be a very busy year in 1996 with his new career and the birth of his first daughter. In the last nine years, Thomi has performed all over the US and upon the high seas. During this time, he has had the opportunity to meet and befriend some of the best performers in the Wild West and Knife Throwing world. Constantly traveling and doing shows, Thomi cherishes his time at home with his wife Geryl and their two daughters, Jessie and Lacey. It seems grass does not grow under Thomi's feet; he is always practicing and adding new skills to his already perfected spikes, hatchets, axes, and steel cards and is skilled in trick shooting and fancy gun spinning, bull whipping, fast and fancy Hollywood draws and trick shooting. As if that is not enough to take up his time, his girls want to learn all of these skills. Thomi is very proud to teach them and strongly feels that these skills must be passed on to the next generation so none of the old Western skills become a dying art. Che Che Whitecloud has been quoted as saying, "Thomi Hawk is the best tomahawk thrower I have ever seen."

National Instructor of the Year

Ed Imperatore has been throwing knives since he was a kid growing up in South Jersey. At a young age, he - like many other throwers and would be throwers - had gotten into trouble by taking Mom's kitchen knives out and destroying them by throwing them at any piece of wood that wasn't nailed down and some that were! Mr. Imperatore also spent alot of time as a team member in both Pool leagues and Dart teams, excelling in his inimitable style as his exceptional eye-hand coordination set him apart from the average player. Ed has been throwing competitively now for the last few years and has distinguished himself as an excellent thrower and an integral part of the knife throwing community as well as a very active member of the Board of Directors of the International Knife Throwers Hall of Fame as well as the Director of the NJ SATE IKTHOF Knife Throw held in Netcong, NJ. More recently, Ed turned his talents towards design and manufacture of some really fine designs in throwing knives. His Jersey Bowie is a true state of the art Mountain Man style thrower worthy of the name Bowie. He is also working on some other designs and is going to be an influential part of the IKTHOF moving well into the 21st century!

Knife Maker of the Year

Master Bill Page-was born in 1964. He actively trained, competed, and taught lessons in traditional Judo and Kuk Sool Won Martial Arts for over 30 years. He has been throwing knives for more than 10 years, mostly military blade throwing due to his martial arts background. He started in conventional knife and tomahawk throwing in 2004 and joined the International Knife Throwers Hall of Fame that same year. He then organized the first Southern US Knife and Tomahawk Throwing tournament in February 2005. Master Page placed 4th in the Men's Intermediate Knife Throwing, 2nd in Men's Intermediate Tomahawk Throwing, and 1st in the Men's Overall Division at the First Southern US Knife and Tomahawk Tournament.

Regional Knife Throwing Champion/NEUSKTC

Cliff "AWOL" Hill

2005 Third Place Knife, Annie Oakley Days, Greenville, Ohio

Second Place-Novice Knife, Central US

Second Place-Novice Tomahawk, Central US

2006 Third Place-Expert Knife, Annie Oakley Days, Greenville, OH

Fourth Place-Tomahawk, Annie Oakley Days, Greenville, OH

Third Place-Expert Knife, Che Che Whitecloud World

Championship

Second Place-Tomahawk, Che Che Whitecloud World

Championship

2007 Third Place Knife, Vick Russell Mountain Man Throw

Third Place Tomahawk, Vick Russell Mountain Man Throw

Second Place Intermediate Knife, Southern US Championship

Third Place Expert Tomahawk, Southern US Championship

First Place Expert Knife, Northeastern US Championship

Second Place Expert Knife, Annie Oakley Days, Greenville, OH

Second Place Knife, Fredericksburg Thanksgiving Throw

2008 Second Place Expert Knife, Northeastern US Championship

First Place Frontiersman, Northeastern US Championship

Fourth Place, Frontiersman at the Alamo

Regional Thrower of the Year

Bob Pyle started throwing in 1995. He first competed in the Rocky Mountain National Championship held in Alpine, WY., placing second.

1997 Rocky Mountain Overall Champion

2001 Texas Champion-Hawk

Rocky Mountain Champion-Knife

2002 Texas Champion-Hawk

Rocky Mountain Champion-Knife

2003 Fort Scott, Texas Champion-Overall

Rocky Mountain Champion

2004 Rocky Mountain Champion-Knife

Special Recognition-Alamo Throw

Joseph "Brokenfeather" Darrah was born in 1957 in Bryn Mawr, PA. and was introduced to knife throwing at the age of 5 by his father, who as an ex Airborne ranger with 101st Airborne, was pretty good with his M-4 trench knife. "At the age of 7, my brother-in-law gave me a set of 3 throwing knives and I was off to the races with throwing. I took the knives with me everywhere and when sleeping they weren't very far away," said Mr. Darrah. He has been throwing knives ever since. At the age of 19, he was hired as a Knife Thrower and Bullwhip artist with a small traveling circus. "This was also about the time I contacted and stayed in touch with Harry McEvoy, who helped me design the first knife I ever marketed," related Darrah. "I also became the area director of the AKTA with a charter for my knife throwing club (True Flite Knife Throwing Team) granted by Harry McEvoy. I had never competed in a knife throwing tournament until visiting with John Bailey and David Adamovich, both of them said I was a good thrower and that I should compete. I went to my first tournament up in Maine in September of 2002 where I took several first places in different events and since then I have traveled all over the country competing in tournaments and doing pretty well with mostly 1st and 2nd places," according to Mr. Darrah. "Brokenfeather" started making his own line of knives and has enjoyed the opportunity to have made some lifelong friends and met some of the nicest folks in the world. "I am honored by being nominated for the Knife Throwers Hall of Fame and I would like to thank everyone who I've ever thrown with and all of the people present for this historic occasion!"

Special Recognition/Alamo Throw
International Thrower of the Year

John Taylor left school at 16 years and joined the West Riding Constabulary as a Police Cadet. At 19 years, he joined as a Police Constable and served the West Yorkshire community until he retired, after 30 years service, in 2001. In 2005 he started to dabble in one of his childhoods interests-knife throwing. This dabbling became a passion and, as he had no one else in England to throw against, he travelled to the International Knife Throwers Hall of Fame (IKTHOF), Austin, Texas, in October 2006. There he learned from the masters of this sport who have the most challenging competitions in the world. He progressed so much in the short time he was there that, before he left, he was given a Thrown Weapons instructors certificate. Because of the expertise he gained in Austin, he was offered a part in the TV program, Hearbeat, as a Turkish knife thrower, in a pantomime style episode, which was broadcast in May 2007. In June 2007, he placed third in both Knife and Tomahawk Intermediate Division in the IKTHOF tournament held in New Jersey. In September 2007, he placed first in Intermediate Knife at the IKTHOF tournament in Austin, Texas.

In June 2008, he placed third in Expert Tomahawk in New Jersey. In October 2008, John placed 2nd at the Frontiersman throw at the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas. During this tournament, John also entered the Expert division for knives. He was then interviewed for a TV program "Extreme Marksman" for the History Channel. In November 2008, John was asked to be the technical advisor for a History Channel production called "Ancient Discoveries" which involved the throwing of an African throwing knife, called a shongo, which is a multibladed knife. This program will be seen in 90 countries, in early 2009. Since returning from Austin in 2006, he has appeared in various newspapers including the Yorkshire Evening Post and the Guardian, plus he was interviewed by the Mens magazine, Maxim. He has established the UK's first ever throwing club which is flourishing and expanding. John has a talent for teaching others to throw and has taught about 150 people including Scout Instructors, sword fighters from the Royal Armouries, Leeds, and disabled people some of whom are wheelchair bound. He has thrown the following items: axes, knives, tomahawks, chopsticks, 6 and 12 inch nails, circular saw discs, screwdrivers and chisels. If it can be thrown, John will try to but with safety as the first consideration.

Art Avalos Thrower of the Year

Melody Emel Female Western Arts Performer of the Year

Amante Marinas Platinum Life Achievement (50 Years)

William Leighton Wild West Performer of the Year

Bob Patrick International Knife Maker of the Year

Richard Wesson Regional Knife Throwing Champion/SUSKTC

Tim Bass Knife Throwing Promoter of the Year

Rudd Pickett Outstanding Youth Competitor of the Year

Michael Pearl National Thrower of the Year

Gery Deer Wild West Performer of the Year

Robert Greenlee Special Recognition

Bass Family Knife Throwing Family of the Year

Vicki Prestridge Special Recognition/Knife Throwing Promotion

Victoria McCourt Special Recognition/Support of IKTHOF

Marlin Sims Instructor of the Year

Richard Hammond Special Recognition/Knife Throwing Promotion

Ken & Nancy Pierce Special Recognition/Alamo Throw

Jim Day Outstanding Mountain Man Thrower of the Year