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MINNESOTA HORSESHOE PITCHERS'
Ringer Digest
January/February/March 2023
A Charter of the NHPA
Official Publication of the Minnesota Gopher State Horseshoe Pitchers' Association
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Inaugaral winter tournament in Bertha is a success! | |
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By Josh Olson
There is a new indoor pitching facility in Bertha, MN that has been dubbed the "Bertha Winter Pitching Pavillion"
I would like to thank everyone for signing up for the Holiday Toss that was held on December 17th. It was great to see everyone that made the trip to Bertha. We had a full day of pitching going on starting at 9am with Class C followed by the B Class at Noon and ending with the A Class at around 3pm. We had some sandwiches and soup that was prepared by my mom, Sharyl along with some Christmas goodies galore that everyone got to enjoy. I am very thankful that my parents are always willing to help with everything and anything for the sport. We are very fortunate to have a great facility for the time being in Bertha during this winter so we are going to do our best to take advantage of every moment we can. I would like to take this moment to let everyone know that there will be a Tournament every month in Bertha this winter, and 2 tournaments in April.
Tournament Recap
Class C started out right on schedule with a good group of guys who are no stranger to each other, all of them had played against each other a couple weeks prior in Becker except for Lance who was supposed to be in their class but had got bumped up last minute. The top 3 winners for Class C, Robert Ciaciura and John Hustings both had a 3-2 win-loss record tie breaker was head-to-head and John was the winner in that head-to-head battle so he would take 2nd place, and Robert would take 3rd place. With the recent elder’s division age change taking effect on Oct 1st for the 2023 season, Lance Van Whye would see an opportunity to make the jump and he took off from there. Lance ended up going undefeated, 5-0 and would end up throwing 29.50% just about 5% over his entry average for his first tournament at 30ft.
Class B would have just as much fun and excitement along with some very good competition starting at the noon hour. Class B winners, 3rd place would go to Don Claseman who would share the honors of high game in the Tournament with Tom Prokop who also recently made the jump into the Elder’s division, Tom would tie with Steve Ziegler for 1st place, but Steve would edge out Tom in the head-to-head tie breaker by 1 point, Tom would take 2nd place, and Steve would take the Class B honors with a 5-1 record. Steve would finish the day just over 10% over his entry average and Tom would also finish just under 5% over his entry average as well for the day.
Class A would finish the day starting around 3pm. We had another group of 7 with 2 State Champions in attendance, Janet Larson, and me along with some of Minnesota’s toughest pitchers that would make the trip to Bertha to compete as well. High game for the class went to Pat Stumpf with a 72.5% game against Jerry Hokkala, nice game Pat! The last game was a crucial game for a couple people in the results, what could have ended in a possible 4-way tie for 1st place ended up being a 3-way tie for 1st place. The tie breaker for 1st place was head-to-head throughout the tournament so it stayed the same going into competition in Class A. Traditionally I would push for a play-off but decided to hold off this tournament for that excitement. Michelle Foard would have the final bye in the group and would sit out game #7 with a 4-2 record guaranteeing a top 3 finish for sure depending on how everything would unfold, Jerry Werk had a 3-2 record along as did I going into the final game and Brad Heth was sitting in first place with a 4-1 record going into the last game. Jerry Werk and Brad actually faced each other and Jerry would end up having his best game of the day against brad to make a 3-way tie for 1st place. Michelle would end up defeating both Jerry and Brad earlier in the day and would take the honors for 1st place after the head-to-head tie breaker. Brad Heth would take 3rd place honors because of the loss to Jerry Hokkala and Jerry Werk, who also made the jump to 30 ft at this tournament would take 2nd place after losing to Michelle earlier in the day and defeating Brad on the last game.
I do want to thank everyone again for coming and I hope to see everyone and hopefully more in the next couple months.
-Josh
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Class A (left to right)
Jerry Hokkala, Pat Stumpf, Jerry Werk, Michelle Foard, Brad Heth, Janet Larson and Josh Olson
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Class B (left to right)
Marshal Swenson, Gary Kirckof, Tom Prokop, Steve Ziegler, Don Claseman, Brian Wipper and Paul Anderson
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Class C (left to right)
John Hustings, Robert Ciaciura, Lance Van Whye, Rick Wright, Bruce Swenson and Wil Reed
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Class A
Jerry Werk, Michelle Foard, Brad Heth
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Class B
Tom Prokop, Steve Ziegler, Don Claseman
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Class C
John Hustings, Lance Van Whye, Robert Ciaciura
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From the President
By Ray Pierce Jr
I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday season with family and friends. Anna and I enjoyed spending time with our families as well as the time off from work. We are excited for a new year with new adventures.
Some clubs have been pitching winter leagues and if you have the itch this winter, keep your eyes on the newly designed website for upcoming winter tournaments. Josh Olson has started a winter league in Bertha and I’m sure he will be putting together some tournaments.
I have submitted a proposal for a Elders’ Womens trial period and we are waiting to hear from the by-laws committee on their decision. There was a proposal submitted that addresses the Womens Elders’ issue by another charter as well. We should know a decision soon.
I am always available to answer questions, take suggestions and move things on to the board or members. Please utilize your Regional Vice Presidents as well. They are knowledgeable and willing to help. We all have many good ideas to draw new members, or make horseshoes more available. Feel free to call me anytime, I will get back to you 218-969-7040. You can shoot me an e-mail or even stick a letter in the mailbox.
Please be safe this winter and keep an eye out for winter tournaments.
Ray Pierce Jr
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Incoming Secretary/Treasurer
By Janet Roubinek
Greetings from the frozen tundra we call home, Minnesota.
My name is Janet, and I am beginning my term as secretary/treasurer. With all the new things to learn, I’m sure we’ll get through all of it together.
I have been pitching horseshoes on and off since a teen in the junior division during the 1980s. My parents, John (Jack) and Margaret Roubinek, uncles, aunts, grandparents, and friends, have always been my best supporters and inspiration.
Let’s have a fabulous 2023 by smiling, encouraging, and laughing, one shoe at a time.
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Regional Director / Stats Guy
By Josh Olson
I hope everyone had a very safe and happy holiday season surrounded by your loved ones and friends. With the new year beginning it also brings us to a new year full of horseshoes! We have a full slate of tournaments this winter in Bertha and a couple in Becker. Bertha will have a tournament every month this winter concluding with 2 tournaments in April, and Becker will have a tournament in March and April. For those tournament details please check out eShoe, also this digest will have some tournament info and the MGSHPA will soon have tournament information as well. I would also like to take this time to encourage all Tournament directors to make sure you get me your tournament information as soon as possible. I might sound like a broken record, I apologize for that, but I still have not heard from some that usually run tournaments in the summer months and I would like to get that finalized soon. (Alexandria Open, Bud Nelson Open, WSP Open, North Mankato Fun Days and Santiago Open) If those tournament directors could please reach out to me to verify information I would really appreciate that.
With the new year of tournaments starting brings a new fresh look to the patches we are going to be awarding to the Tournament winners. Here are a couple examples of what the new patches look like. Barb Carson our NHPA 4th Vice President who over see’s the Regional Directors worked with the design team at Moritz embroidery came up with a very nice updated look that includes the new NHPA logo and a new color border for each different patch. This is also a court sanctioning renewal year, I will send out those forms starting in the Spring time when leagues are just beginning so League Directors, and Tournament Directors be on the look out for those to come for each different location you may be apart of.
World Tournament 2023
Soon we will be able to start signing up already for the 2023 World Tournament that will be held in Lansing Michigan this year. I know I am very excited, It is somewhere new and there are plenty of exciting things that can be done while at the World Tournament. If anyone is looking for any kind of information for the Tournament, I would encourage you to check out the NHPA website (www.horseshoepitching.com) for more information along with subscribing to the NHPA Newsline if you already haven’t, some great information does get put on that regarding the World Tournament so keep an eye on that as well every few months. I hope to see a great contingency of Minnesota pitchers, this world tournament I think will be a very well attended one with the geographical location and with it being close to the Canadian border we could see several Canadian’s competing in this years World Tournament. Make sure you have your 4 Tournaments of qualifying in if you recently made the jump from the men’s division to the elder’s division, there are plenty of tournaments this winter in Minnesota so don’t wait until the last minute to qualify! That is all I have for now, if you have any questions about the world tournament or anything else horseshoe related, feel free to reach out to me via email, text or phone call.
See you on the courts!
Josh
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South Vice President
by Jeff Washburn
Happy New Year to all our horseshoe friends and families. Most Minnesotans are enjoying lots of new snow as I write this today, December 15th, so I went outside and completed a front yard project. I hope I’m never too old to make a snowman. Our 4 grandkids are coming over this weekend so they might get a kick out of Grandpa’s handiwork. The Christmas season is always one of my favorites as a time to reflect on what is really important in our lives, and that is our family, friends, and hopefully good health. Hopefully, this season is the same for many of you, too!
2022 was another good year for horseshoes with the many regular club tournaments, some new tournaments, many active leagues, and our state tournament and banquet in Genola. Pitching horseshoes is a great way to enjoy some friendly competition, camaraderie with folks you know, the opportunity to meet some new horseshoe pitchers, and to help our local clubs by participating in leagues and tournaments.
I have already renewed my 2023 card, and this is a good time for others to do the same. This can be done by simply googling eshoe and selecting the NHPA eshoe tab or going on the MGSHPA website and clicking on the membership sign up tab to renew either electronically, or by mailing in the form to Janet Roubinek.
Our Webmaster, Lori York, continues to make our website easier to navigate while adding new information on a variety of items. If you have a chance, please check out our fabulous MGSHPA website.
For those wishing to toss some shoes this winter, please check out the upcoming winter tournaments in Becker and Bertha. The dates can be found on our MGSHPA website by selecting the Tournament Information tab on the left, then clicking on Full Tournament List on E-Shoe.
Here’s to wishing each of you and your families a safe, healthy, and Happy New Year, with of course lots of ringers. See you on the courts next spring. Cheers, Jeff
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Webmaster: Still Learning, Never stopping!
By Lori York
Happy New Year from the MGSHPA Webmaster. As I stated at our 2022 annual meeting, “Thank you all for the patience you have shown me this past year.” I am still learning – sometimes the hard way – and I am still not afraid to try new things to continue making our website better. May I take a moment to humbly brag? Our site www.minnesotahorseshoes.com is in great shape! Some of the projects I took on in 2022 included:
Rescuing tournament results dating back to 2003, reformatting them, and moving them to Hi-Drive, our cloud storage system
Launching a new e-form for State Tournament registration
Creating branded, updates version of mail-in forms: State Tournament registration, Membership Sign-up, and Junior Profile
My biggest lesson learned in 2022 is that tournament results in eShoe ‘disappear’ after one calendar year. To maintain these results for our long-term records, I have developed a system to download tournament statistics from eShoe and format them to into files stored in Hi-Drive. It’s quick and easy and takes the burden off tournaments directors to send results to me via e-mail.
Going into 2023, there is more work to be done. The start of the Tournament Schedule is available at https://www.minnesotahorseshoes.com/2023-tournaments/. Josh and I will continue to update details in eShoe and on the website respectively. Additionally, I have asked the officers to explore online payment options for the State Tournament and banquet tickets. We are aware that members experienced issues with the use of Paypal through our website. I want MGSHPA to continue to offer the convenience of online payments to our members while having a safe, reliable, and affordable way to do these transactions. Stay tuned!
As always, your feedback is welcome. Email me at webmaster@minnesotahorseshoes.com with your comments and suggestions to improve the website. As Webmaster, I’m still learning and never stopping. May we all bring that same spirit to the horseshoe courts in 2023.
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Mankato Club Wraps Up Another Successful Season !
By Brian & Linda Duenow
Merry Christmas & Happy New Years from the North Mankato Horseshoe Club. Our season started out with a managers meeting at the American Legion in North Mankato on March 14th. On April 13 we had our membership meeting at the Eagles in Mankato where we had 44 pitchers show up. Our clean up night was May 3rd where we had 42 pitchers showed up to get the courts ready for the up and coming season. This year we had 2 divisions and 11 teams with 77 pitchers that played on Wednesday and Thursday nights. Our North Mankato Fun Days 31st annual Celebrity Horseshoe Tournament was a big hit where the Mankato celebrity’s defeated North Mankato with a 13-3 record. We had 42 pitchers show up for our North Mankato Fun Days Tournament where Dan Seys from our very own club took 1st place in class A, Jim Bilderback 2nd & Jeff Washburn 3rd. It was fun to spend a beautiful July day with our horseshoe friends. We held a club doubles tournament on August 3rd & 10th where we had 28 pitchers take part in a 2 night tournament. The Team of Zen Albrecht & Roger Gersch beat out Richard Hunstad & Mona Shumski in a playoff to win 1st place in class A. It was something new so there was a little learning curve for everyone. We held 37 players pitch in our club singles tournament on August 13th. Richard Hunstad took 1st place in class A Mona Shumski 2nd & Bob Klein 3rd. We wrapped up the 2022 season with an end of the year banquet on September 19th at the Mankato Eagles Club. In attendance we had 75 pitchers, spouses, and team sponsors. Medallions were handed out to each pitcher in the top 3 teams in each division. In Division 1, Janesville Bowl placed 1st, Wayne’s World 2nd & North Mankato Legion 3rd. In Division 2, Hromadko Construction placed 1st, Frandsen Bank 2nd & B & M Trailer 3rd. We gave out Player of the Year plaques to one pitcher on each team and one Overall Player of the Year in each division. Michael Klein earned the Overall Player of the Year in Division 1 and Jeff Flowers in Division 2. The Achievement Award for the best win/lost record went to Dan Seys in Division 1 with a 32.5 & 4.5 record & Cecilia Elmore in Division 2 with a 21 & 3 record. The Rookie of the Year plaques went to Jeff Brooks in Division 2. Ben Van Ness was the Junior Rookie of the Year winner. This year’s Presidential Award was given to Marvin Akkerman & Don Landsteiner in recognition of their dedication to the North Mankato Horseshoe Club. We had 9 pitchers received plaques for recognition of 20 years of service to the North Mankato club, please see the picture below. The Club handed the following National Awards: High Game: Division 1: Dan Seys 34 ringers, Division 2: Cecilia Elmore 16 ringers. High Average: Division 1: Dan Seys 48.43%, Division 2: Cecilia 17.67%. High Game Over Average: Division 1: Richard Hunstad 21.50%, Division 2: Dave Wojciechow 22.18%. Most Improved: Division 1: Michael Klein +5.83%, Division 2: Jeff Flowers +2.52%. The 2022 season was a great success and looking forward to the 2023 season.
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Division 1: 1st Place Janesville Bowl, Dan Seys, Andy Haala, Clem Gilbertson, Lyndee Huper & Alex Huper & not pictured Mike Creech
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Division 2: 1st Place Hromadko Construction
Tom Thissen , Nick Lane, Mike Hromadko, Doug Nielsen, Randy Albrecht & not pictured Ronald Lane, Tyler Lewis & Trenton Thissen
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Division 1: Player of the Year
Dustin Nielsen, Mike Lawrence, Mona Shumski, Lyndee Huper, Michael Klein & not pictured Tom Maus
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Division 2: Player of the Year
Doug Nielsen, Olivia Elmore, Adam Blume & not pictured Matt Paap & Jeff Flowers
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Overall Player of the Year
Division 1 Michael Klein & not pictures Division 2 Jeff Flowers
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Achievement Awards
Division 1 Dan Seys & not pictured Division 2 Cecilia Elmore
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Presidential Award
Don Landsteiner & Marvin Akkerman
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Fun Days Tournament Class A
2nd Jim Bilderback, 1st Dan Seys 3rd, Jeff Washburn
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North Mankato Singles Tournament Class A
1st Richard Hunstad, 2nd Mona Shumski, 3rd Bob Klein
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North Mankato Celebrity Tournament
City of North Mankato & Mankato city officials
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20 Year Recognition Award
Front Row: Zen Albrecht & Randy Albrecht.
Back Row: Mike Hromadko, Clem Gilbertson, Ken Neidecker, Wyman Forbrook,
Roger Gersch & not pictured Tom Maus & Kevin Plath.
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Congratulations to Erwin Tischer for competing in his 42 nd Minnesota State Tournament !!
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Promotion / News Media
by Michelle Foard
Happy New Year All
I hope the New Year finds you happy and healthy. We are still in the heart of winter, but spring will be here soon. Don’t forget to talk to friends, relatives, neighbors and co-workers asking them to come join you in playing shoes. We are always looking for new members.
On the Tik Tok news Oct 8th I finally gained 10,000 followers. Currently I have 10,300. I am still working on videos from State. The one video of Class C and D Elders has 515.8k views. I have found doing lives I gain more followers. I did go live at the Becker tournament and at the Bertha tournament. I will go live during the next 2 Becker tournaments.
Speaking of Becker, with the fact of Isanti being no more I offered Russ Girtz help running tournaments. So I put on the Reindeer Ringers Tournament. The tournament filled up fast and we had 2 drop outs, but we were able to fill the spots. We had 3 8 man classes.
C Class had an early start at 8am. 3rd place went to Rick Wright. Rick had a slow start and finally picked up and was throwing close to his average his last 2 games. Rick ended with 5 wins and 2 losses. His last game he lost by 4 points to the 2nd place winner Wil Reed.
Wil Reed took 2nd place. He threw his average having 3 games below and 4 above. Wil ended up with a 5 and 2 record to take 2nd.
John Hustings was our 1st place winner with a 5.5 wins and 1.5 losses. John had 2 games below average the rest were at and above his average.
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Class A
Jerry Hokkala, Brad Heth, Russ Girtz
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Class B
Jerry Werk, Stan Bialek, Aaron Mead
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Class C
Wil Reed, John Hustings, Rick Wright
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In B Class we had Aaron Mead make his first tournament in about 7 years. Aaron threw his average and had a 4 and 3 record giving him 3rd place.
Jerry Werk came in 2nd place with a 6 and 1 record. The game against Stan he threw well below his average and lost.
Stan Bialek took 1st in B Class. Stan threw at or above his average this tournament. His one loss was the Aaron Mead. Stan finished with a 6 and 1 record.
A Class Russ Girtz came in 3rd place. Russ had a few good games and threw just under his average for the day. Russ ended the day with a 3.5 and 3.5 record.
2nd place went to Jerry Hokkala. Jerry had a 5.5 and 1.5 record. He tied with Tom Prokop only throwing 42.5%. His one loss was to Brad Heth. Brad threw above his average to beat Jerry. Jerry had a 75% game against Russ and an 80% game against Josh.
The 1st place winner in A Class went the Brad Heth. Brad’s loss was to Tom Prokop with an average of 37.5%. Brad finished with a record of 6 and 1.
It was my first time being a tournament director. I bought can koozies for the winners in each class. A big thanks to Russ for doing computers and Brian for doing concessions.
We will be doing 2 more tournaments this Spring. Pot of Gold Tournament March 4th and Tax Time Tourney April 15th. Hope to see many of you!
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UPCOMING WINTER TOURNAMENTS | |
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Bertha Winter #1
23-23-001
Tournament Date
1/14/2023
TD-Josh Olson
Contact info:
218-639-4641
scrunchy_8@Hotmail.com
504 SW Brown ST, Verndale, MN 56481
Cost: $40
Tournament Location: (Amish Building) 43368 County 23, Bertha, MN 56437
Tournament info: 3 shifts, 8:30-9am start
Bertha Winter #2
23-23-002
Tournament Date
2/11/2023
TD-Josh Olson
Contact info:
218-639-4641
scrunchy_8@Hotmail.com
504 SW Brown ST, Verndale, MN 56481
Cost: $40
Tournament Location: (Amish Building) 43368 County 23, Bertha, MN 56437
Tournament info: 3 shifts, 8:30-9am start
Pot of Gold
23-23-003
Tournament Date
3/4/2023
TD-Michelle Foard
Contact info:
612-388-3884
lynx3921@aol.com
9807 6th St NE, Blaine, MN 55434
Cost: $30
Tournament Location: 12155 Hancock Street, Becker, MN 55308
Bertha Winter #3
23-23-004
Tournament Date
3/11/2023
TD-Josh Olson
Contact info:
218-639-4641
scrunchy_8@Hotmail.com
504 SW Brown ST, Verndale, MN 56481
Cost: $40
Tournament Location: (Amish Building) 43368 County 23, Bertha, MN 56437
Tournament info: 3 shifts, 8:30-9am start
Bertha Spring #1
23-23-005
Tournament Date
4/1/2023
TD-Josh Olson
Contact info:
218-639-4641
scrunchy_8@Hotmail.com
504 SW Brown ST, Verndale, MN 56481
Cost: $40
Tournament Location: (Amish Building) 43368 County 23, Bertha, MN 56437
Tournament info: 3 shifts, 8:30-9am start
Tax Time
23-23-006
Tournament Date
3/4/2023
TD-Michelle Foard
Contact info:
612-388-3884
lynx3921@aol.com
9807 6th St NE, Blaine, MN 55434
Cost: $30
Tournament Location: 12155 Hancock Street, Becker, MN 55308
Bertha Spring #2
23-23-007
Tournament Date
4/29/2023
TD-Josh Olson
Contact info:
218-639-4641
scrunchy_8@Hotmail.com
504 SW Brown ST, Verndale, MN 56481
Cost: $40
Tournament Location: (Amish Building) 43368 County 23, Bertha, MN 56437
Tournament info: 3 shifts, 8:30-9am start
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MGSHPA RESOURCE CENTER
Click on any of the links below
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| MGSHPA BOARD MEMBERS | MGSHPA DIRECTORS | | President
Ray Pierce Jr
pierceray@msn.com | Ringer Digest Editor
Jerry LaBrosse
Jlabro6186@aol.com | | Secretary/Treasurer
Janet Roubinek
Sec.treas@minnesotahorseshoes.com | Statistician
Josh Olson
scrunchy_8@hotmail.com | | NHPA Regional Director
Josh Olson
scrunchy_8@hotmail.com, | Webmaster
Lori York
Webmaster@minnesotahorseshoes.com | | North VicePresident
Rory Pierce
PierceRory@gmail.com | Nominations Director
Joe Mueller
jmueller0822@msn.com | | South Vice President
Jeff Washburn
Jeff08@comcast.net | Constitution & ByLaws Director
Sue Pierce
s.pierce14@yahoo.com | |
| Promotion/News Media Director
Michelle Foard
lynx3921@aol.com | |
| Junior Promotions Director
April Lynch
Aprilhnybr@frontiernet.net | | | | | |
