Called the “Showman Shooter from Somerville,” Herb Parsons was an expert marksman with a shotgun and rifle. Hunters still tell “Herb Parsons” stories today, decades after his death. Parsons enjoyed trapshooting with Clark Gable and Roy Rogers and supplied the trick shooting for Jimmy Stewart in the movie “Winchester 73.”
When it came to marksmanship with a firearm, many would say that Herb Parsons was the best. In the 1950s, he performed more than 130 shows a year. Parsons combined his shooting abilities with a gift of gab and showmanship to become the nation’s most sought-after exhibition shooter. His shooting abilities were legendary. He could toss seven clay pigeons in the air and shatter the last while portions from the first were hitting the ground. He would “center” a handful of eggs between his legs, wheel around with a shotgun and scramble them one at a time. Using a mirror and two rifles, he would break two targets at the same instant, one in front, the other directly behind him.
To sportsmen today, Parsons is best known for Herb Parsons Lake, a Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency facility near Fisherville in Fayette County. Named in his memory in 1964, it is among the state’s most popular fishing destinations. Herb Parsons died in 1959, but left behind a legacy that includes induction into the American Trapshooting Hall of Fame in Vandalia, Ohio.