As long as they had been having them, Rob Leatham had won the US Single Stack Nationals. Founded in 1994 as a way to keep the spirit of the classic, single stack 1911 pistol alive in competition, Leatham won the first 16 matches they held.
Then came last Saturday, as Dave Sevigny bested Rob and over 350 other top shooters, in Barry, Iliinois. You can read a complete report of the match here.
One of the nice things about pistol competition is that the sport is very accessible. I have had a chance to meet and talk with a lot of the major champions in the sport, including Dave. He is a regular at GSSF's Annual Shoot at the South River Gun Club in Conyers, Georgia, every September, and I've spoken with him quite a few times, and shot quite a lot of video of him, Randi Rogers, and former team member Jessie Abbate, as they demonstrated their skills. (Should I scan and post my autographed photos?)
When I first read about it on Twitter, my first thought was "Wow, Dave won." Then "A Glock won." Then "Wait. Glock doesn't make a 1911 . . ."
In fact, Sevigny has won almost all of his national championships using a Glock. But this time his gun was different. As he says on his Facebook page,
The pistol is a custom Springfield 1911-A1, .45 ACP. Square trigger guard w light-rail dustcover, short/flat trigger, ambi-safety, Schuemann barrel, TGO Tech Well, Mil-Tac G10 diamond grips, Warren Tactical Series-Sevigny Competition sight, over size mag release and Ion Bond DLC finish.
Nice rig.
I haven't gotten to meet Rob Leatham, but I want to. After all, he may have lost this one, but he's far from done. If anything, this just proves he's human.