NEWSLINE STORY
published November-December 2015
Checkin’ Shoes and Reporting on Them
by Bill Marvin, 5th Vice President and Regional Director and Court Sanctioning Director
During the first-day check-in process for each class at the 2015 World Tournament, we attempted to capture the shoe brand and pitching style of each pitcher. As 5th Vice President, one of my assignments is shoe check at the World Tournament. With the help of several regional directors, as well as other volunteers, this process went very smooth.
Anyone who has been at check-in on the first day of competition knows about the organized chaos – first-time entrants are beyond excited; there are first-day logistical glitches, and the all-too-early 6 a.m. check-in times. With that chaos, there were most likely a few errors made collecting this data. Surprisingly, there were some pitchers who didn’t know which of the 119 brands sanctioned by the NHPA they were pitching, or if they threw a flip or turn.
Nevertheless, we can draw several conclusions about what shoes were pitched in Topeka, as well as the most popular pitching style, and complete results can be found on the NHPA website. Shoes_Used_Topeka
Ted Allen was the most popular brand at 14.24 percent, followed closely by Snyder at 13.87 percent. By far, the most prevalent pitching style was the flip at 55.93 percent. In second place was the one and one-quarter at 22.67 percent. By the way, the term “flop” refers to a shoe that both turns and flips. Some refer to this as a “flurn.”
Below is a chart of what types of shoes and style the World Champion for each class pitched in Topeka. Again the Flip was the most common style, with three of the eight champions using this delivery, and two pitching one and one-quarter. Francis Signature was used by two of the eight, and the remaining six each used a different brand.
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2015 World Championship Divisions |
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Division |
Name |
State |
World Titles |
W-L |
Average |
High Game |
Shoe Brand |
Style |
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Men’s |
Alan Francis |
Ohio |
20 |
15-0 |
88.41 |
97.50 |
Francis - Signature |
3/4 Reverse |
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Women’s |
Debra Brown |
Vermont |
1 |
13-2 |
77.87 |
85.93 |
Allen |
1 3/4 |
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Elders’ |
David Holmes |
West Virginia |
2 |
12-3 |
78.47 |
87.03 |
Imperial |
Flip |
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Senior Men’s |
Ron Deckard |
Florida |
6 |
10-1 |
58.66 |
68.96 |
M & M |
1 1/4 |
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Senior Women’s |
Ruth Rife |
Ohio |
2 |
6-1 |
68.89 |
79.16 |
Elmer Hohl |
Flip |
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Boys’ |
Tyler Howard |
Kentucky |
1 |
8-1 |
72.96 |
89.28 |
Francis - Signature |
1 1/4 |
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Girls’ |
Denise Daly |
Illinois |
1 |
5-0 |
64.20 |
71.42 |
6 - Pak |
Flop |
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Cadets’ |
Malcolm Clark |
Iowa |
1 |
6.5-.05 |
67.27 |
83.33 |
Glory |
Flip |
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