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1959 |
1963 |
1965 1968 1972 1989 |
At age 23, Bob Lee forms Wing Archery in Houston, Texas, crafting his unique traditional bows |
Through dogged determination— and the donation of dozens of Red Wing Hunter model bows— Bob Lee successfully lobbies for Texas’ first archery-only hunting season Bob assists in forming the Pope & Young Club dedicated to developing records for quality game taken with bow and arrow— the archery counterpart to Boone & Crockett |
Bob produces the first 3-piece bow— the Presentation II. The P-II proves an overwhelming and immediate success, and serves as forerunner to the takedown bows on the market today |
Bob relocates his company to Jacksonville, Texas, and is quickly established as the city’ s largest employer, shipping in excess of 300 bows per day
Bob helps to form the national Archery Manufacturers Organization( AMO), an association that develops industry standards for bow weights, draw lengths, etc. After growing Wing Archery to the third largest archery manufacturing company in the world, Bob Lee sells to Head Ski and remains as CEO
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Bob Lee resigns from his position with Head Ski( now owned by AMF-Head) |
Bob and son Rob launch Bob Lee Archery with a newfound commitment to the preservation of American-made, handcrafted bows— at a rate of up to 4 bows per day, a stark contrast to the mass production of the Wing heyday |
12 of the leading recurve bows in the nation and in 2012, Lee Bows was in the top two spots. The top spot went to the company’ s bow called“ The Ultimate” and second place went to“ The Natural.”
In 2014, Bob was inducted into the National Archery Hall of Fame at the Bass Pro Headquarters in Springfield, Missouri during the grand opening ceremony of the NAHF Museum.
Bob passed at the age of 92 in February 2021. This was the same year Disney would call in an order for Bob Lee Bow Blackhawk recurve bows for its Marvel character Kate Bishop in the“ Hawkeye” series. Jenni said Disney purchased additional bows with the same specs from the company to be featured at Disneyland and on their cruise ships. The action figure for Kate Bishop carries its own miniature Bob Lee Bow.
Rob, with the help of his wife, Jenni and their son JJ, continues his father’ s legacy today, customizing every detail including type, length, handle design, draw weight, orientation, shooting style and materials to their customers’ liking. They also have pre-built bows that are ready to purchase off the shelf. Jenni said their bows range in price from $ 1,700 to $ 2,600.
“ These are not the same bows they were building 30 years ago and the price reflects it,” Jenni said.
The P3 sold for $ 150. Jenni said when Bob first put it on the market, his friends in the industry told him he was‘ crazy,’ that‘ Nobody’ s paying $ 150 for a bow,’ however it was an overnight success and he sold a lot of P3s.
“ Rob wants to build the best performing, most bullet proof bow he can,” Jenni said.“ This is an extremely expensive material, it’ s called Micarta. That’ s the brand name. It’ s a linen based phenolic. Rob compares it to bowling ball material. It’ s bomb proof.”
They also use carbon twill, which Jenni said is a“ close cousin to what they use in cavalier, bullet proof vest materials. Their bows are also extremely quiet on release.“ That’ s a big deal,” Jenni said.“ We use very expensive materials,” she said.“ It’ s all sourced in the United States and made in Texas. We stand by our product. We aren’ t trying to be the latest, greatest and the flashiest. We just build what we build and we want to stay in the traditional realm.” Their bows also have a long lifespan.“ They ought to last you forever,” she said.“ If you take care of it.”
Jenni said their customers range from professional athletes to individuals who have never used a bow but are excited to get started. She said they have quite a few non-archery athletes who purchase bows from their company, including a number of professional golfers. She shared they build an extra long, tournament style recurve bow and there are several archers representing their company on the world stage in Italy for several years running. Jenni said the company has five star Google reviews.“ We are known for our customer service,” she said.“ We take it very personally. We want everyone to be happy and we want to treat everyone the way that we want to be treated.”
10 Jacksonville Progress | Fall 2025