President's Message
Recapping the World Tournament

by Stu Sipma, NHPA President

The 2015 World Horseshoe Tournament was held indoors at the Expocentre in Topeka, Kansas from July 13-26. A total of 1,404 pitchers competed for cash and prizes worth over $160,000.

Congratulations to all the World Champions! And the NHPA Council recognizes and congratulates Alan Francis for winning his 20^th Men’s Title.

For those of you who could not attend, you missed a great tournament. I hope some of you were able to watch the tournament on the drop cam cameras. This year we were able to provide coverage of all the courts.

The NHPA Council and Staff thanks the City of Topeka, Shawnee County, Kansas Horseshoe Pitching Association, Topeka Horseshoe Association, Visit Topeka, and the Expocentre for bringing this event to their community.

The NHPA Council would also like to recognize this year’s World Tournament Director, our NHPA Secretary/Treasurer David Sidles for an outstanding job of directing this year’s world tournament. A job well done!

Sending another round of thanks from the NHPA Council to Bill Marvin, NHPA 5th Vice President, who took time from his busy schedule to come out early to assist the Topeka Horseshoe Association in the court setup.

For those of you who were not able to attend this year’s tournament, ESPN SportsCenter broadcast live on Saturday, July 18, with the Junior Cadets pitching in the background. Coverage of our sport was fantastic. They even had a clip of George Bush pitching at the White House. My highlight of the show was the airing of the Sports Science segment that featured Illinois pitcher Austin Bailey. The NHPA would like to thank Austin for taking his time to do this for the sport of horseshoes. I could not be more proud of him!

In closing, I also want to thank the NHPA Council, Directors, and NHPA staff for their many, long hours of working this World Tournament over the two and a half weeks. Not many people know what goes on behind the scenes, but I want to make sure their work does not go unnoticed. For the size of the tournament, I would have to say this is one of the smoothest tournaments I have been involved in. Thank you.