NRA National Rifle Manager HQ Moody Retires

Above: Howard "HQ" Moody (right) receiving a plaque at his retirement ceremony from NRA Competitive Shooting Director Dennis Willing.

Long-time employee HQ Moody (pictured above, holding the plaque) retired in November after 22 years of dedicated service to the National Rifle Association. Moody shot competitively for 46 years (accumulating numerous national records) during college and his career in the U.S. Air Force—all prior to joining the NRA in 1994 as National Coach Trainer. In 1994, the NRA ran a total of 18 coaching programs. By 2002, under Moody's guidance there were 141.  

About his coaching work, Moody said, "In 1994, basically what we did was to sit behind a desk and ship out training materials to the field for coach schools ... [I went] out in the field ... As a coach, I’m not necessarily teaching shooting. I’m teaching discipline, I’m teaching integrity."

After making his mark on the coaching side of things, Moody was promoted to national manager of the NRA rifle department—in charge of all smallbore rifle and air gun activities, including the role of National Smallbore Championship Match Director. Additionally, for many years he served as the Statistical Director at the NRA National Police Shooting Championship.

Moody said about promoting the competitive shooting sports for youth, "Our rewards are not in the medals. They come in the form of graduations, accomplishment, of students coming back 15 years later to thank us for how we shaped their lives."

SSUSA wishes HQ the best of luck for his retirement, he will be missed here at NRA!