Living and teaching the cowboy way at the Kane County Fair

Bob Hamm spent much of his childhood walking around with a pair of six-shooters hanging from his hips. Those were the days when every boy dreamed of being Roy Rogers and the toy guns were heavy and made of realistic metal.

"When I was a kid, everybody I knew had a double set of six-shooters," Hamm said. "That's how all this got started."

At the time, becoming a real champion cowboy was just a fantasy. But it was also the start of his path to becoming a champion cowboy.

When Hamm became old enough to wield a real weapon, it wasn't guns he turned to. It was an ax, and a Native American version at that. Hamm

didn't just wield it; he hurled it through the air with great precision, enough to become a champion at throwing a tomahawk.

But after winning three titles with his ax, the thrill of the chopping sound just wasn't quite as thrilling. Hamm began to think about his old six-shooters. He decided to trade in his Tonto skills for a more of a Lone Ranger theme.

"I started training, four or five hours a day, 365 days of the year," said Hamm, who's from Pana, Ill., southeast of Springfield.

What he was training in was gun-handling skills. It wasn't target shooting that he practiced as much an intense and more advanced version of actually handling the gun itself.

Everyone who's seen a cowboy movie has seen someone twirl a gun, but not like Hamm. Forward twirls; backward twirls, tossing the gun in the air, behind his back, over his shoulder, spinning it sideways and balancing his six-shooter, barrel up or down, are just a few of the tricks pulled off by his quick hands and fingers.

Hamm used those skills to win several gun-spinning championships.

"It's a real thrill to win a world championship," Hamm said. "When you practice your life away doing something, when you win, you really feel like you deserve it."

Wednesday at the Kane County Fair, Hamm put those cowboy skills on display as the opening stage act. The stubble on his face is a bit more gray, but his hands and guns are still quick. Even though he warned the crowd not to be scared if he dropped one of the stage prop guns he uses, the performance was flawless. Hamm fills his act with cowboy history backed with old Roy Rogers tunes and cowboy songs like "Ghostriders in the Sky." It's more than just backdrop to Hamm. He described Dusty Rogers, a son of Roy Rogers, as a friend.

"Every time I see Dusty Rogers he always wants me to do this one trick," Hamm said with a smile backstage. "It's really hard. I'm not even sure I can do it right now."

With a little talcum powder on his hands and his white cowboy hat still on his head, Hamm moved away to create a little space for himself. He took out his Colt .45, the gun that won the West, and held it in his right hand. In one fast motion, he spun the gun in towards himself, releasing it in the air and letting it drop. Before it hit the ground, Hamm snatched it out the air by the grip.

Hamm will perform his show once or twice a day on the Miller Lite stage every day of the fair except Saturday. When he's not on stage, he'll be moseying around the fairgrounds to pass out blue ribbons to kids willing to try their own gun-spinning and balancing skills. And of course, at then end of the fair, he'll head off into the sunset.