Fred Bear

Bear was born in a farmhouse in Franklin County, Pennsylvania on March 5, 1902, the second of three children. His heritage was English, Dutch, Swiss and German.

Early on, Bear worked as a glue maker for the Chrysler Company in Detroit. In an interview, he mentioned operating a plant from 1929-1933, during the Great Depression, that caught fire, thus rendering him unemployed. With a partner named Chuck who had worked at the same plant, they put together $1,200 to open his bow business in a garage. Bear Archery Company was thus founded in 1933.

Bear's interest in bowhunting was stimulated by another legend, Art Young of the Pope & Young Club, whom Bear met in Michigan in the late 1920s and often called his hero. Bear's first bowhunting trophy was a Michigan whitetail taken in 1935. In the ensuing years, he traveled the world with his bow and appeared before thousands of bowhunters promoting and teaching the sport. His television debut was made on Arthur Godfrey and His Friends, with later appearances on The American Sportsman and The Tonight Show. He also produced several films of bowhunting around the world.

In 1947, Bear and his wife moved to Grayling, Michigan, where they lived in a tent along a river to keep their personal expenses down while trying to make a go of their bow business. Even as late as 1961, it was difficult making ends meet for Bear. The following years proved prosperous however, as more states permitted bow hunting and the sport's growth steadily increased.

F.B. Bear applied for a Patent on April 21, 1950. On January 12, 1954, Patent 2,665,678 was issued for the Composite Archery Bow. (USPTO Patent Full-Text and Image Database: US002665678).

The Fred Bear Museum originated in Grayling, Michigan in 1967. Eventually the museum's collection represented the largest privately held collection of archery artifacts in the world. At first the museum remained behind in Grayling, but in 1985 it too was moved to Gainesville, where it found a home in the Bear Archery plant between Archer Road and Williston Road, just off of I-75. That museum closed in 2003, and the collections were sold to the Bass Pro Shops chain.

Bear sold controlling interest in his company in 1968, but continued on with the title of chairman. In 1978, following a strike and continuing labor problems, the Bear Archery manufacturing operation was relocated to Gainesville, Florida.

Bear struggled with chronic emphysema later on in life, and suffered a heart attack while living in Florida and was admitted to a hospital in Gainesville. He remained in the hospital for a month, and died after another heart attack on April 27, 1988. His body was cremated, and his ashes spread near the AuSable River in Northern Lower Michigan, where Fred had liked to flyfish.

Fred Bear was also the first president of Michigan's oldest archery club, Detroit Archers. A small collection of his memorabilia is located in the club house. The most prized piece is that of one of his polar bear skins, shot with an arrow. In 2006, Detroit Archers was broken into and the skin was stolen. The case is still open and no suspects or evidence has been found as to the skin's whereabouts.