Greetings to all of our fellow MGSHPA pitchers, families, and friends. We are coming into one of my favorite times of the year, SPRING. Winter is just about gone, birds are chirping, golf courses are getting close to opening, and activities surrounding our great sport of horseshoes are starting to ramp up. I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge how surreal the past year has been for everyone. Who would have anticipated what the world has experienced with the pandemic, and let me offer my sincere condolences to everyone who lost a family member or friend to the virus. Hopefully in the next few months, most of this will be behind us as more and more people receive their vaccinations and we get back to doing what we were all doing before this pandemic started.

I have talked to several league directors recently so thanks to each of you for your updates. The tournament schedule has been out for some time now, and it looks as if most tournaments will be back in action in 2021. Most leagues across the Southern region appear to be going forward as well. Please help out your MGSHPA by renewing your dues as this is the primary source of income for our organization. Eshoe is available and an easy way to take care of this. Just access the MGSHPA website and click on Membership sign up and follow the prompts. You can also print a copy and mail your check to Ann Hagman.

As the days get longer and the temps keep warming up, please take a look at the tournament roster and see which ones might fit into your schedule. Perhaps you have a neighbor or friend that has been thinking of joining a club, so lets all keep our ambassador hats on and encourage new prospective pitchers. I look forward to seeing many of you on the courts this summer.

Here's a little something I thought you'd enjoy:

One day, Hots brought out a pair of Diamond Tournament horseshoes and asked me if I wanted to learn how to pitch. Of course, I said sure. I was 18 years old at that time and didn't mind a break from shoveling clay. That is how I got started in horseshoes 46 years ago. Hots became a good mentor, horseshoe instructor, and lifelong friend to the whole Washburn family. A short while later, my brother Scott was hired by Parks and Rec and he took over the horseshoe duties and I was tasked with taking care of the 5 baseball and softball fields at Wheeler Field. That was fun, and after a few weeks I became pretty good at dragging a baseball diamond and chalking the lines. My personal record was dragging and chalking 5 fields in 45 minutes, and the City paid me for 8 hours. That is how I earned the nickname of "Slider" and not because I played baseball.
In mid-July that year, Hots asked me if I would like to accompany him and his good friend Jim Newland to the World Horseshoe Tournament, which was taking place in Lafayette, Indiana. What an opportunity, I thought to myself, so I agreed. The tournament was scheduled from July 13th to August 3rd, however Hots and Jim wanted to go see the Class A pitchers on the last 5 days of the tourney. It is about 600 miles from Duluth to Lafayette, and I did most of the driving. It didn't take me too long to figure out maybe that was part of the reason Hots and Jim asked me to join them. Driving a manual 3 speed 6-cylinder Plymouth Valiant through the Chicago freeway system was probably better for an 18 year old "no fear" young punk kid rather than 2 older guys who might have frozen up on the Dan Ryan Expressway.
We arrived in Lafayette with no issues and proceeded to the tournament site. I was amazed at how many spectators there were. The grandstands, extending the entire length of what was at least 24 courts and perhaps more, were absolutely full of people.

Since it was the middle of the summer, it was hot, and I mean hot with high humidity. 90's every day, with the warmest temp hitting 95 degrees. I remember the wind being fairly steady except for rain and higher wind on one of the days. The pitchers seemed to pitch all day and into the evening, as the courts were lit by overhead lights similar to a hockey rink. I also vividly recall the big scoreboard that kept track of all the wins and losses for each player.
Men's Class A had 36 players, which means each person would play 35 games, 7 games a day for 5 straight days. The games were to 50 points and some of them went a lot longer than others and then the rest of the pitchers would have to wait. In checking the 1975 statistics, the average number of shoes pitched was approximately 80-85 shoes per game, in the heat and wind. 25 Class A pitchers averaged over 70%, 13 averaged over 75%, and 4 pitchers averaged over 80% for the entire 35 games. After one of the day's pitching was over, I mustered up the courage to go and try and say hello to Elmer Hohl. He was very cordial, and I asked if I could have my picture taken with him. He was more than happy to oblige and walked back with me to where Jim and Hots were sitting. At the time, we were in a group of other pitchers from Minnesota, including Andy Paglarini from Hibbing, who had just WON the Men's Class A Intermediate World Championship earlier that week. I vividly recall Elmer Hohl saying to our group, "I guess it must be pretty nice sitting here in the stands while we are out there pitching in the heat". Well, I thought Andy Paglarini was going to come out of his shoes and punch Elmer, as Andy certainly wasn't a spectator, but Elmer didn't know that. Elmer Hohl went on to win Class A that year with a 33-2 record and averaging 84.53% ringers. Perhaps this personal experience with Elmer might be a small reason why I pitch Elmer Hohl shoes today.
Hots, Jim, and I thoroughly enjoyed the competition over those 5 days, and today I'm very happy to be able to say I got to watch all of these legends of the game in their prime. Us 3 stooges made it back to MN safely, dropping Jim off at his home in Fridley and then Hots and I making our way back to Duluth. What an experience, and this event is still THE reason why I still thoroughly enjoy going to World Tournaments as a spectator. Perhaps one of these years I will go as both a pitcher and a spectator, we will have to see.
This brings me to my final thoughts. In the January-February 2021 edition of the NHPA's Horseshoe Pitching Newsline, 3rd Vice President Jerry Smith wrote what I consider a very interesting and thought-provoking article on the Greatest of All Time pitchers. After my 1975 World Tournament experience with 36 pitchers playing a 35-game round robin tournament, 7 games a day for 5 days, 50-point games, in the daylight, nighttime, heat, humidity, wind, and some rain, it does beg the question: How would today's best have done in the 1975 conditions, and how would the best of 1975 have done in the climate-controlled, air-conditioned, windless arenas of today. I invite each of you to give this your personal thoughts.
Jeff Washburn South Vice President