Wayne Mayes
A Cleveland, Tn., man who was widely regarded as the “greatest skeet shooter of all time" has died of complications from burn injuries he sustained in an accident three months ago.
Wayne Mayes had been a machinist, and brick mason early in his working career, then became a garment cutter at Mayes Manufacturing Corporation in Cleveland.
He began his skeet career in the early 1970s in his hometown of Attalla, Ala.
His first world championship was at the Forest City Gun Club in Savannah in 1973, where he won the 28 gauge event. From that point, he amassed a long list of accomplishments and included 42 World Championship titles, 42 All-American Teams and six world records. His last record occurred in June, 2012 when he achieved what could be regarded as the most amazing feat in skeet history: 200 perfect, 100x100 straight scores in the .410 gauge.
As a National Skeet Shooting Association Hall of Fame inductee, he has a special glass cubicle of memorabilia that includes his favorite 12 gauge world record holder, a Winchester 1400 fondly named “Blondie”, at the Hall of Fame Museum at the NSSA headquarters in San Antonio.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be made to the “Wayne Mayes Memorial Fund” to provide scholarships and promote youth shooting sports, P.O Box 128471 Nashville, TN 37212.
A Remembrance of Life memorial service will be held in Cleveland at a later time.
The North Ocoee Chapel of the Jim Rush Funeral Homes has charge of local arrangements.