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January 13, 2002The museum that is no longer in GraylingBy MIKE NORTONRecord-Eagle staff writer GRAYLING - The craggy face still stares at you as you drive into town on M-72, just after crossing the Au Sable River. That wide mouth, those leathery jowls and basset hound eyes, the battered Borsalino hat - heck, you don't even have to know much about bows and arrows to realize that you're looking at Fred Bear. It's a strange thing, how that man still draws people to Grayling year after year, and how almost everyone in town still has an opinion about him. To this day, visitors still come here looking for the famed Fred Bear Museum, unaware that it was moved to Florida - along with the groundbreaking archery company he founded - almost 20 years ago. "You'd be amazed how many people stop and ask the way to the museum," says Ilene Geiss-Wilson, director of the Grayling Area Visitors Council. "They're people who still remember it from when they were kids and now they want their own kids to see it." The building that once housed the museum (now dubbed the Fred Bear Memorial Center) is now home to an indoor skating rink and meeting space at the Hanson Hills Recreation Center west of town, and the nearby archery range is still home to Bear's Bowmen, the club he founded. There's even a Fred Bear Drive, and an extensive display about Bear's life and work in the Grayling Historical Museum. But there are few visible signs today that this is the place where the modern sport of bowhunting was developed. The peeling industrial building by the railroad tracks where Bear Archery was once located has never been able to find a permanent tenant - though there is once again talk of doing something with the property - and there are no plaques or signs to mark the location. Just that friendly, enigmatic face at the side of the road. "It really is kind of strange, how there's so little trace of him left," said Jessica McClain, activities director at Hanson Hills. "But if you talk to almost anybody in town, they've all got a story of one kind or another about Fred Bear." A Detroit native, Bear was first captivated by archery and bowhunting in 1927, when he saw a film about the Alaska adventures of pioneer bowman Art Young. It was Young who taught him how to make bows, arrows and bowstrings, and in a few years he was selling them as a sideline in his Detroit printing shop. Then, in 1938, Bear hired a woodworking genius named Nels Grumley and the two of them did so well that in 1940 they decided to go into the archery business full-time. Bear Archery grew by leaps and bounds, and in 1947, Bear moved it all to Grayling - where it stayed for the next 30 years. The company's designs were exciting and revolutionary, but it was Bear's tireless work as a sort of "goodwill ambassador" for wildlife management and the sport of bowhunting that really made the difference. He encouraged the establishment of separate bowhunting seasons, wrote books made numerous films, and traveled the world on hunting expeditions. After an article about his exploits appeared in Life Magazine. he became an international superstar. His reputation was enhanced by the Fred Bear Museum, which featured mounts of various animals brought down with Bear's bow and arrow over the years - from elephant, caribou and moose to lion, Cape buffalo and wolf - as well as the world's largest private collection of archery artifacts. Bear's collection not only included prehistoric tools and weapons, but even bronze arrowpoints taken from the remains of Persian warriors killed in the Battle of Marathon in 490 B.C. Bear loved Grayling, especially fly fishing on the nearby Au Sable River, and he enjoyed being just one of the local residents. He enjoyed helping people, and they say he often found jobs in the factory for unemployed neighbors who needed to support their families. More than anything else, he loved to share his knowledge and passion for bowhuntng, especially with youngsters. But success brings its own dangers. In 1968, Bear sold his controlling interest in the company, and although he agreed to stay on as president a series of increasingly bitter labor disputes wore away much of the goodwill between owners and workers. In 1978, after a long strike, Bear Archery pulled up stakes and moved to Gainesville, Fla., where it remains to this day. An estimated 400 area residents who decided to stay in Grayling lost their jobs as a result. For a few years, the Fred Bear Museum remained behind with them, but in 1985 it, too, was moved south. Bear stayed active with the company in spite of deteriorating health - he was on portable oxygen for the last years of his life - but finally died in 1988 at the age of 86. With his death, a bittersweet chapter in the history of Grayling seemed to close. Bear still has a number of old friends and new followers in the area. One is Pete Kocefas of nearby Frederic, who's turned the back of his snowmobile shop into a sort of shrine to the great bowman's memory and who hopes to see a new Fred Bear Museum started here someday. One of Bear's disciples is rock musician Ted Nugent, who considers him one of the most profound influences in his life. After Bear's death, in fact, Nugent immortalized him in the words of a popular rock anthem: Fred Bear walks with me down those trails again. He takes me back, back where I belong. Fred Bear, I'm glad to have you at my side, my friend, And I'll join you in the big hunt before too long. |
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