Shooter Spotlight: Brief look at Some of Hanzel's Top Guns
Carla Brundage was one of the top female shooters on Col. Tom Hanzel’s trap and skeet team over the year. Brundage was named Woman Rookie of the Year in 1978 and was also included in the ranks of Trinity’s All-Americans for her efforts in trap and skeet. In her first four years in competitive shooting she had been named to the All-America (AA) list each year. Brundage was named AA second team her first year, AA first team her second year, and then celebrated her third year as the AA Captain. Brundage and Hanzel went on to develop a very beneficial and positive relationship.
Looking deeper into Carla’s involvement with trap and skeet is quite impressive as it was a relatively new thing for her to take on. Coach Col. Tom Hanzel who gave her lessons before her freshman year of college introduced Carla to trap and skeet. That inevitably led to Carla changing her plans to attend TCU and she came to Trinity and went after the sport seriously. Hanzel taught her all the important points of shooting and “fine-tuned” her techniques and it worked out very well in the end. “Carla is as tough a any of them. I'm real proud of Carla. She’s put her act together and has the potential to be one of the greatest lady shooters ever,” Coach Hanzel had mentioned after Brundage captured the San Antonio Roadrunner Open Shoot in 1980.
Todd Bender, who was new to the team in 1978 as a transfer from California, fit right in with the well-rounded shooters of the Trinity trap and skeet team. Bender was named the outstanding junior shooter of 1977, which helped him win a scholarship from Remington Arms. Each year the award goes to the best all around junior shooter who combines high academic accomplishments with sportsmanship. Bender was a world champion, two time collegiate champion, and an All-American all while being ranked in the top ten shooters in the nation. Bender would go on to tie a world record in a shoot in Mobile, Alabama by shooting perfectly in 400 chances. Bender and his partner Preston Douglass would also go on to become the top collegiate two-man team in America. Todd Bender made his final efforts on the team count when bringing home three of the four individual titles in the Trinity Team’s last National Championship in 1980. Bender credited Hanzel with the team’s success as he said the team was like a close-knit family and Hanzel was their distinguished leader but more importantly a great friend.
Coach Col. Tom Hanzel impacted the lives of numerous students and athletes during his time at Trinity. His illustrious career, on top of the accomplishments of the teams under him, and the individual successes of the shooters on those teams, all reinforce the idea that Tom Hanzel is a legend in the Trap and Skeet world as well as the Trinity Athletics World.