Today’s feature is from Jay Hohenhaus, a friend of Elden R. Carl Jr. If you’re a serious student of what Dave Spaulding calls “combative use of the handgun,” you know who Elden Carl is – or you will know who he is. The information – and images – come from Mr. Hohenhaus. Passing September 24, 2021, he was 86 years old. Here is some of his history.
Elden was born December 28th, 1934, to Elden Ruggles Carl and Elberta Evans in Washington D.C. His early life foreshadowed his adventures to come as he fondly recalled stories of paddling around Coronado Island on a 2”x6” board at the age of five and letting himself get “caught” by the police because they would give him an ice cream cone while he waited for his parents to arrive.
Elden’s athletic prowess surfaced at an early age, and he excelled in high school sports. He also began to display his uncanny ability to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of himself and his equipment and find ways to improve both. While competing in high school football before the advent of weight conditioning, Elden would walk on his hands the length of the football field to condition his arms and shoulders.
As the nation turned toward conflict in Korea, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1951. His first assignment was as an aircraft mechanic at Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego CA. Elden soon volunteered to become a hospital corpsman. The war ended before Elden was deployed. He found himself in Guam, and among other things distinguished himself as the Armed Forces heavyweight boxing champion there, defeating a former Golden Gloves champ despite no prior training. Elden’s assessment of his training requirements and subsequent conditioning plan baffled and frustrated his coaches, but the results could not be argued.
After receiving an honorable discharge in 1955, he joined the El Cajon Police Department and served as a Patrolman from 1959 to 1963, when he transferred to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department. He served as a jailer, patrol deputy, rangemaster, and shift sergeant until 1980, when a line-of-duty injury received during a motorcycle pursuit forced his retirement. He received a Certificate of Commendation in 1974 for his bravery and judgment during a shooting incident the previous year.
Elden was swept up in the quick draw pistol competition craze of the late 1950s. He competed in local quick draw and bullseye matches and sought out the instruction of soon to be quick draw national champion Gary Freymiller. Elden won the 1960 Big Bear Leather Slapping Contest, the richest and most prestigious live ammunition quick-draw competition of the day, repeating wins in 1961 and 1962.
A quick draw pistol club, the Bear Valley Gunslingers, and a quick draw league, the Southwest Pistol League spun off from the annual Big Bear event. Elden won the League Championship in 1962.
In September 1961, in competition at Onyx Summit, California, using a Smith and Wesson .44 magnum revolver, Elden shot a five-shot group of three inches in diameter at 100 yards. This was considered a world’s record. His mastery with a .44 magnum, his use of it as a duty weapon as a police officer, and the resulting publicity, led many to consider him the inspiration for Clint Eastwood’s “Dirty Harry” Callahan.
Elden also took time to mentor new competitors including Al Nichols of San Diego, who won the Southwest Pistol League Championship six times between 1965 and 1975.
Elden’s prowess with a pistol was to have far reaching effect. The competitions he was involved in were free style, allowing any handgun and any shooting technique. Much experimentation led to the predominance of semi-automatic pistols over revolvers and sighted fire rather than point shooting. Elden debuted his two-handed pistol hold in June 1961. Elden’s hold was not a copy of Jack Weaver’s “Weaver Stance”, but one that closely resembles the “Modern Isosceles” stance used by most shooters today. The third shooter to adopt a two-hand hold was noted author and firearms trainer Jeff Cooper, who, through his writing and teaching, spread the story of the shooting advancements pioneered by the first generation of combat masters, including Elden. This began the transition of police departments in the United States moving from revolvers to semi-automatics, and police, as well as the military, to begin using sighted fire and two hands to shoot their handguns, a trend that spread worldwide.
Elden was also a popular exhibition shooter on both sides of the Rio Grande. With his movie star good looks, All American boy personality, and fast guns, he was an ambassador for law enforcement and the shooting sports. Beginning as a community relations effort for the El Cajon Police Department and later San Diego Sheriff’s Department, Elden began making firearms safety presentations featuring quick and fancy revolver handling and trick shots. He made appearances at schools, shopping malls, police departments, shooting matches, theatres, and even for the Mexican Army. The high point of his exhibition career was shooting a cigarillo from the mouth of television personality Regis Philbin on live television.
His retirement from competitive shooting in 1963 opened time for another interest – motorcycles. His love affair with two wheels would last to the end of his life. Elden was a consummate rider, competing in conventional paved track racing as well as off-road competitions in Mexico. Elden was a skilled rider on the street and knew every turn of every twisty road in San Diego County. Not content with the status quo, Elden would seek out the knowledge and advice of experts of every source, and his innate ability to understand and improve mechanical devices was recognized by many.
Elden raced the Tecate 500, at the time the premier desert race in Mexico, from 1974 to 1986 twice winning trophies. Elden’s love for the country and people of Mexico was always evident through the many lifetime friends he developed south of the border.
Elden is probably best known in the motorcycling world for the work he did developing the Honda Hawk, and later the Kawasaki KLR-650 and Suzuki DR-650, developing many improvements for each and contributing greatly to those riding communities with dozens of published articles. He was always available to answer questions on the phone or in person and gave generously of his time and knowledge to help other riders. His acumen in the saddle was possibly only surpassed by his skill with a wrench.
Logging over a million total motorcycle miles and tens of thousands of miles off-road, Elden could be seen daily on one of the many back roads near his home. He and his incredible wife and riding partner, Pauline Read, had many adventures across the western United States and Baja Mexico. The combination of the distances they rode, the type of motorcycle used, and their ability to ride well in twisty mountains or on dirt roads and trails – are unlikely to be equaled by anyone their age. To see them disappearing into the distance on a rough dirt road in Mexico, both well beyond their 80th birthdays, with Pauline perched in perfect balance behind Elden with hands on her thighs was a sight to behold. Elden would never fail to attribute their riding success to Pauline’s expert balance and intuition as a passenger.
Elden is survived by the love of his life Pauline Read, by his brother Robert Carl and sister Elaine Martin, by his sons Elden Ruggles Carl III and Brandon Carl, by his grandchildren Elden Matthew, Justin, and Brandia, by his great grandchildren Danica, Justin Anthony, Hannah, Tyler, Alexa, Angelo, Gavin, Bradley, and Brittney and by his great, great grandchildren Tanner, Delaney, Adalynn, and Colton. He was preceded in death by his parents and son Landren Carl.
For those who knew Elden, he will be greatly missed. He achieved success in every endeavor. He adored and cherished his wife, and the loyalty he exhibited to his friends is rarely found in this world.
More information appears in Elden’s website, found here.
-- Jay Hohenhaus, Historian