submitted by Jeanette Class, member of Quail Ridge Horseshoe Club

Springtime in Missouri is most beautiful. The dead of winter turns green and a few April showers bring on May flowers. So what do May flowers bring? Read on. No one paid much attention to the rain as the 32 horseshoe pitchers arrived for the 5th Annual Hall of Fame Invitational Tournament.

Among these pitchers were many World, National, State and Local Champions showcasing Alan Francis-OH current 20 X Men’s World Champion; Joan Elmore-TN 7 X Women’s former World Champion; Sue Snyder-IN 7 X Women’s former World Champion; Herschel Walters-IN 2 X Elders World Champion; and Michael Bowman-MO 2 X former World Junior Champion. Some have been inducted into the National Horseshoe Pitchers Hall of Fame and many of them have been inducted into their home state’s Horseshoe Hall of Fame.

We were honored to have the National Horseshoe Pitcher’s Foundation’s President Casey Sluys-CA, and the Board Directors Joe Faron-MO VP, Gary Buehler-MO Treasurer, Ron Deckard-FL, Jim Scully-FL, Phyllis Quist-WA Secretary. Also visiting were NHPA officers Dan Sanders-OH, Dave Sidles-NB and Historian Bob Dunn-MN. Visiting as a guest was 10 X Women’s World Champion Vicki Winston-MO.

The two-day event included a 40’ Men’s tournament and a 30’ Mixed tournament combining the talents of women and men (men over 70 years of age) competing at 30 feet. The format of each division consisted of a 16 person round-robin consisting of fifteen 40-point games – eight on Saturday concluding with 7 games on Sunday.

On Saturday morning introduction of each player was announced by Bob Diekamp. The National Anthem was led by Gregg and Audra Craven-MO. The sound of horseshoes was in the air as the competition began.

The 40’ Men’s Division was pitched on the Dave Loucks Courts in the North Pavilion under the direction of Joe Faron and Gary Buehler. At the end of 8 games pitched on Saturday Alan Francis-OH was undefeated. High games of the tournament included 92.6%, 90.5%, and 91.4% pitched by Alan Francis-OH. High games in the 80 percentiles were pitched by Bran Simmons-VT 87.5%; Gale Greene-VT 80.0%, Dan Watson-AL 82.4% and Gary Bearpaw-OK 85.3%.

Tournament Directors Bob & Rose Diekamp of the 30’ Division were Bob & Rose Diekamp knew this event held some tough competition with averages ranging from 84.61% – 68.5%. Their games were played on the Jack Freeman courts in the South Pavilion. By the end of Saturdays’ games Joan Elmore-TN and Roger Vogel-KS remained undefeated. High games in the tournament were pitched by Joan Elmore-TN 89.7%, Roger Vogel-KS 86.5%, Russ Phillips-WA 85.3%, Kathy Brazier-AL 89.3%, Sue Snyder-IN 80.9%, Ed Pashia-MO 80%, J.D. Drake-MI 84.6%, Mar Ray-TN 80.6%, Gregg Craven-MO 82%, Rich Altis-MO 86.6% and Larry Shaw-MI 85.5%.

After competition on Saturday, the Quail Ridge Horseshoe Club members served a delicious homemade meal which the horseshoe pitchers all enjoyed. At the banquet each pitcher received a certificate depicting how many years they pitched in this event that has been held for 23 years. It seems that Alan Francis held the most years of attendance – 20 years.

After two days of exciting horseshoes games in the Men’s Division Alan Francis-OH earned 1st place with 15 wins and no losses pitching an average of 85.75% marking his 17th title as Hall of Fame 40’ Champion. Second place was earned by Stan Griggs-MO with 12 wins and 3 losses, averaging 67.95%. In the 30’ Division Joan Elmore claimed her 6th title as the Hall of Fame 30’ Champion with 14 wins and one loss averaging 79.9%. Second place was won by Defending Champion Roger Vogel-KS 79.0%.

For the grand finale the two champions met together on the south courts competing for more prize money. The spectators were in awe as they enjoyed watching this game as two world champions battled it out. After pitching 98 shoes, the final score of this game was 42-25 with Alan Francis as the winner. Alan pitched 88 ringers and Joan pitched 82 ringers.

It was time now to award the prize money of $8000 to be divided among the pitchers according to their final standings. The pitchers were soon out the door and on their way home. Some say the competition in this event was harder than pitching in the World Horseshoe Tournament. I only heard one complaint and that was from Rich Altis-MO. “There were just too many good pitchers on the courts!” Hope to see you next year, same time, same place. Oh, by the way, Mayflowers bring Pilgrims.

Results of 40’ Division

Name Entry % Won Lost Pts Rgrs Ovr% Shoes R%

1.Alan Francis-OH 89.25% 15 0 623 638 3.50- 744 85.75%

2.Stan Griggs-MO 69.53% 12 3 577 549 1.59- 808 67.95%

3.Brian Simmons-VT 81.94% 11 4 561 579 7.52- 778 74.42%

4.Tom Williams-MI 75.22% 11 4 576 565 4.42- 798 70.80%

5.Gale Green-VT 74.12% 11 4 582 607 3.54- 860 70.58%

6.Dan Watson-AL 79.55% 11 4 533 553 10.26- 798 69.30%

7.Gary Bearpaw-OK 69.84% 9 6 508 605 0.62- 874 69.22%

8.Rick Howe-MA 70.90% 7 8 503 565 4.28- 848 66.63%

9.Austin Bailey-IL 72.17% 7 8 511 527 9.44- 840 62.74%

10.Steve Johnson-MO 68.41% 7 8 473 443 11.18- 774 57.24%

11.James Driver-MO 60.06% 4 11 413 492 1.21- 836 58.85%

12.Gary Roberts-OH 65.78% 4 11 390 432 7.41- 740 58.38%

13.Michael Bowman-MO 63.08% 4 11 432 431 5.15- 744 57.93%

14.Ray Bedard-MA 73.74% 4 11 354 416 17.22- 736 56.52%

15.Don Davis-WA 64.85% 3 12 386 440 6.34- 752 58.51%

16.Bret Vogel-KS 62.81% 0 15 265 299 16.81- 650 46.00%

Results of 30’ Division

Name Entry % Won Lost Pts Rgrs Ovr% Shoes R%

1.Joan Elmore-TN 84.61% 14 1 624 713 4.68- 892 79.93%

2. Roger Vogel-KS 80.93% 13 2 590 711 1.93- 900 79.00%

3.Russ Phillips-WA 82.31% 10 5 556 683 8.08- 920 74.24%

4.Kathy Brazier-AL 71.82% 10 5 540 684 0.02 952 71.85%

5.Sue Snyder-IN 77.74% 10 5 513 552 10.43- 820 67.32%

6.Ed Pashia-MO 72.10% 8 7 511 577 6.69- 882 65.42%

7.JD Drake-MI 72.96% 7 8 501 612 4.05- 888 68.92%

8.Marlene Ray-TN 75.07% 7 8 465 618 8.19- 924 66.88%

9.Gregg Craven-MO 73.89% 6 9 472 620 2.63- 870 71.26%

10.Rich Altis-MO 74.20% 6 9 452 618 3.98- 880 70.23%

11.Terry Beagle-MI 68.52% 6 9 473 622 0.02- 908 68.50%

12.Larry Shaw-OH 72.01% 6 9 419 554 4.45- 820 67.56%

13.Paul McGee-MD 74.31% 6 9 429 525 10.60- 824 63.71%

14.Herschel Walters-IN 73.47% 5 10 438 479 10.61- 762 62.86%

15.Ed Griffith-MO 73.91% 4 11 457 575 9.31- 890 64.61%

16.Ron LeGrand-MO 70.11% 2 13 262 341 14.94- 618 55.18%