Alice Bull

1910 – Nov 26, 1998

• 1910 – Born in Cincinnati, grew up in Port Angeles
• 1917 she riddled a neighbor’s washtub with BBs and got a paddling
  – her father also gave her a .22-caliber rifle
• 1920 she contracted polio, permanently affected her vocal cords
• 1929 Captain of the women’s rifle team University of Washington
  – postal matches
• 1935 – 1937 competed in the National Rifle Matches at Camp Perry, Ohio
• 1936 placed 33rd out of 1,400 of the nation’s best competitors in the President’s Hundred-Rifle Match
  –  the only woman to place in to 100 until the mid-1960s
• 1949 -1998 first woman elected to the National Rifle Association’s board of directors
• 1961 first woman to earn the Army’s Distinguished Rifleman Badge
• 1972 first woman to serve on the federal government’s National Board for the Promotion of Rifle Practice
• 1983  Leland Bull Sr., died, her husband of 50 years,
• 1998 she went to a hockey game the night before she died
• a national rifle marksmanship trophy is awarded in her honor
  – The Alice Bull Trophy
  – awarded to the civilian having the highest aggregate score in the President’s Match and the National Trophy Individual Rifle Match
• First woman ever elected to Honorary Life Membership in the NRA

About Alice Bull

Alice H. Bull (1910-1998) was a pioneering rifle competitor and the first woman to help lead the National Rifle Association. Born in Cincinnati and raised in Port Angeles, Washington, she earned a business administration degree at the University of Washington, where she captained the women’s rifle team. She competed in the National Matches at Camp Perry, Ohio, in 1935, 1936 and 1937, earned a President’s Hundred tab before World War II, and won several national women’s high-power rifle championships.

Her list of firsts is remarkable. In 1949 she became the first woman elected to the NRA Board of Directors, where she served until 1998. In 1961 she became the first woman to earn the Army’s Distinguished Rifleman Badge, and in 1972 she became the first woman to serve on the National Board for the Promotion of Rifle Practice. She was also the first woman elected an NRA Honorary Life Member. The Alice Bull Trophy, awarded at the National Matches to the civilian with the highest aggregate in the President’s Match and the National Trophy Individual Rifle Match, keeps her name in front of high-power shooters today. She died on November 26, 1998.

Key Facts

• 1935-1937: Competed in the National Matches at Camp Perry, Ohio
• 1949: First woman elected to the NRA Board of Directors
• 1961: First woman to earn the Distinguished Rifleman Badge
• 1972: First woman on the National Board for the Promotion of Rifle Practice
• November 26, 1998: Died at age 88

Learn More

• National Rifle Association on Minuteman University.com

Sources

• Alice Bull, 88, Set Her Sights On Marksmanship – The Seattle Times
• Alice Bull: The First Lady of Competitive Shooting – Shooting Sports USA

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