July/August/September/October 2023 Ringer Digest

MINNESOTA HORSESHOE PITCHERS'

Ringer Digest

July/August/September/October 2023

A Charter of the NHPA

Official Publication of the Minnesota Gopher State Horseshoe Pitchers' Association

MGSHPA RESOURCES

Explore any of these links

GOOD LUCK

WORLD TOURNAMENT PITCHERS !!!

Follow all the action on and off the courts and watch live streaming of your favorite pitchers. Results will be updated constantly. Join the fun at

www.horseshoepitching.com

From the Editor

By Jerry LaBrosse

I want to wish all the MN pitchers safe travels to Lansing, and good pitching. For those of you who are first time WT pitchers, you are in for the horseshoe experience like no other. Take the time to explore everything the NHPA and Lansing has to offer. You will find the worlds largest selection of displayed horseshoes and accessories, along with clothing and shirt printing services. Pitch well and represent our MN charter proudly.

I have been the RD Editor for a long time, and I would love to find someone with a love for the game and some talent to work with me for a annual cycle of Digests and take the position over. Our Digest is produced and distributed by Constant Contact. The position keeps you well connected with the officers and directors. If you have any interest in being our Editor, contact me and we can discuss it further.

I had the honor to participate in another Team World Tournament in Beloit Wisconsin. MN sent 3 teams and we all had a great time. We also witnessed some world class pitching with Alan Francis and Sarah Chaffee, which was live streamed by Michelle Foard. Here are the 3 MN teams courtesy of Michelle.

2023 MN Team World Pitchers

L/R Back Row - Tom Prokop, Nathan Dehkes, Pat Stumpf, Jerry LaBrosse,

Al Larson, Michelle Foard, Eric Dehkes,

Andy Olson, Joe Mueller, Janet Larson, Jeff Washburn Front Row - Patti Oakes, Helen Hawkinson, Josh Olson, Cody Olson

Team One - Nathan, Pat, Janet, Al, Josh

Team Two - Helen, Eric, Patti, Jeff

Team Three - Tom, Jerry, Michelle, Joe

From the President

By Ray Pierce Jr

Hello pitchers, hope your season is going well. Mine has hit the crapper but it’s picking up. It has been a pretty good summer to pitch shoes. The dryer conditions around the state have made the real hot days seem bearable and the sunshine makes for good pitching.

I want to remind everyone that the State tournament requirements are back to normal. You need 3 tournaments with 1 played in Minnesota to qualify, or 1 tournament in Minnesota and 200 shoes pitched in a league. Make sure you get qualified and signed up. Lori York has been working hard to update the website with State tournament sign up and online pay pal available for your convenience. You are still able to print off the sign up sheet and mail it with your payment as well.

Speaking of the State Tournament, we have yet to lock down clubs willing to host this year. I will give clubs until the 1 week of August to contact me or I will have to look at vendors and other options. This is a good way to pick up some extra funds for your clubs with concessions, split the pot, etc..

As per our spring meeting, I am designating Jerry LaBrosse as delegate chairman for the NHPA meeting along with Sue Pierce, Ray Pierce, Joe Mueller and Patti Oakes as delegates. They have been instructed to vote aye on all the upcoming rules and changes that are presented. Of course they have the latitude if things change to make decisions on behalf of the association, but I trust them fully to have our best interest in mind.

As always, please contact me with any issues and use our Vice Presidents with any thing you need. They really do a good job at taking care of your needs.

Kelli Pierce will be taking over the Cadet/Junior director position for this year’s state tournament, but anyone interested in this position please let me know. April Lynch is stepping down after many excellent years as director.

Good Luck everyone, have a great rest of summer and Anna and I will see you on the courts.

Ray Pierce

Regional Director / Stats Guy

By Josh Olson

It is crazy to think that the World Tournament is only a few short weeks away. Minnesota has a good contingency of pitchers participating in Lansing Michigan, 44 players to be exact. The best way to keep an eye on all the action will be at the Horseshoepitching.com (NHPA Official Website). The World Tournament coverage page will have daily results posted, as well links to the onsite cameras that will be in full force throughout the entire tournament. Another cool thing to watch for will be the Featured Court. If you recall the live coverage that I created over the winter months at the Bertha Indoor Pitching Pavilion, we will have a very similar setup at the World Tournament this year throughout the Tournament as well. So, keep an eye on social media, and the NHPA website for more information and details.

We do have a few Rules and bylaw changes that will be voted on at the annual Delegate Meeting that will be held Sunday July 23rd, there are 3 NHPA Officer positions up for election, the 2nd and 4th Vice President, and the Sec/Treas Position. Keep an eye on social media and the NHPA website for results on all the rules and bylaws that are going to get voted on along with the election races.

I do want to wish everyone going to Lansing the best of luck and safe Travels! Don’t forget to sign up for the Minnesota State Tournament over Labor Day weekend. The online signup is now available.

Pitcher of the Year standings and Tournament Attendance Race as of 6/11/23

Name Points Attendance

1 Jerry Werk 72 16

2 Pat Stumpf 58 10

3 Josh Olson 47 13

4 Rick Wright 42 8

5 Tim Brigner 39 5

6 Lance Van Whye 36 9

7 Janet Larson 29 11

8 John Hustings 29 8

9 Jeff Washburn 27 5

10 Carolyn Brigner 27 5

11 Tom Prokop 25 10

12 Eric Dehkes 23 5

13 Don Claseman 22 9

14 Brian Wipper 21 10

15 Nathan Dehkes 21 4

Bertha Tournament Recaps

Bertha Spring #1

Mother Nature sure wasn’t being nice to us, although the Bertha area and most of central Minnesota didn’t get hit with the snow storm, south of Sauk Centre and majority of the twin cities area got hit really hard for a April snow storm it was no April fools joke that is for sure.

I do want to thank everyone who still made it to Bertha safely for the Tournament, we did delay the starting time by 2 hours so it made for a little longer evening.

Class C winners

Dan Belden 2nd place after throwing over his average, and Al Nicholson pitched well and went undefeated.

Class B winners

Bertha League member Lance Van Whye had a great day, going 5-0, lance made the jump up to 30ft and has had some success with it all winter long! Jerry Werk another competitor who moved up was making his mark known as well, I expect to see Jerry make some waves in our Elders State Tournament class this year. Paul Anderson a faithful and a “usual” from Fargo made the trip and took 3rd place in Class B, congrats to all of you guys.

Class A Winners

What a day, we started at about 5ish that evening and we had one of our toughest Class A groups for the winter in Bertha for this Tournament, Janet Larson pitched very consistent for the day, all 6 games she pitched 52-54%, Janet ended up in 3rd place after a tie with Nathan Dehkes, tie breaker was overall ringer percentage, 2nd place went to Josh Olson, and Pat Stumpf came alive and didn’t look back she had a very impressive 71% average for the day, congrats Pat on the excellent performance! Must be the pitching environment

Bertha Spring #2

April 29th was the last Winter/Spring Tournament that we had the pleasure of hosting in the Bertha Winter Pitching Pavilion, we are keeping our fingers crossed that we will be able to host some more fall/winter/spring tournament again this coming year, time will tell. We had another full day worth of competition from 8:30am to 6pm.

Class C started off the morning with a 3-way tie to end the day for the top spot, Cyndi Stepka, Brian Wipper and Jerry LaBrosse all went 5-1 for the day and even pitched over their averages, the tie breaker was H2H then overall Ringer%, Cyndi would take 3rd, Brian 2nd and Jerry LaBrosse would finish in 1st. Congrats!

Class B was heavily favored for some of the Bertha league members who have pitched there all winter long, we had 3 club members all in the same class which was almost half of the group, But only 2 of them saw the winner circle, Lance Van Whye would take 3rd, Larry Brabec would pitch his average and take 2nd, and Jeff Thompson from Alexandria would go undefeated for the day and Win Class B.

Class A finished the day with some more tough competition, Class C was close all evening, Al Larson would take 1st place Honors going 4-1, Jerry Werk would end up in 2nd, and Jerry Hokkala would take 3rd place. Don’t forget you can see all of the tournament results on eShoe and on the MGSHPA website.

Thank you again for everyone who helped make it possible this past winter/spring in Bertha for the Tournaments and Leagues, without the great participation we wouldn’t have been able to do it! I also want to make a shout out to my mom and Dad (Sharyl and Paul) and my brother Cody, the 4 of us put in a lot of hours with the setup and everything to make each and every tournament possible. Thank you!

Bertha Open

We had a lower Turnout compared to last year but it was a PERFECT day for pitching in Bertha. We had 25 pitchers throughout the day, even had some RAIN which was great, we didn’t have to stop or anything. The Morning shift had a very tough C Class, and Class D was very tough as well. Class D was swept by Marlys Timm, Marlys had a very good day, she pitched 16% over her entry averaged and finished at 38.50% for the day. Carrie Kowalczyk would take 2nd place pitching about 5% over her average, her only loss would be Marlys. And Mike Slininger from the Fargo/Moorhead area placed 3rd. Class C was close all the way until the last game, Paul Anderson from Fargo would take 3rd place, Rich Kvamme from Brooklyn Park was up North at his family Cabin in the Park Rapids area and decided to pitch, he pitched well for the day just over his average, and Colleen Szabo would win Class C with a 5-1 record pitching her average as well.

Class A and B would finish the day off starting just before 1pm this afternoon

Bertha Open Class A

Class A Winners

Bertha Open Class B

Class B Winners

Bertha Open Class C

Class C Winners

Bertha Open Class D

Class D Winners

Bertha Spring #1 Class A

Class A Winners

Bertha Spring #1 Class C

Class C Winners

Bertha Spring #2 Class A

Class A Winners

Bertha Spring #2 Class B

Class B Winners

Bertha Spring #2 Class C

Class C Winners

South Vice President

by Jeff Washburn

Hot and cool weather greetings to all our fellow horseshoe pitchers. It is 90 here in Shoreview as I write this article on June 21st, and it was 50 degrees in Duluth when I was there last Monday for my brother’s 68th birthday. Only in Minnesota can the temp vary 40 degrees in different cities.

The MGSHPA summer tournament schedule is well underway with many clubs already having completed their tournaments. A special thanks to those pitchers that enter tournaments to help sponsor the local clubs and at the same time enjoy the excitement tournament play brings along with the camaraderie of your other fellow pitchers. For those still thinking of entering a tournament, please give it a try.

Our State Tournament is only a few short months away so let’s all try and make this year’s tournament a big success. Each of us can start by deciding to enter and hopefully partaking in the fun filled banquet scheduled for Sunday evening. If you have never attended a State Banquet, then maybe this is the year to come and join in the fun. Look to our MGSHPA website for State Tournament information coming soon!!

This might be a good opportunity to share a quick story about my first State Tournament. The year was 1975, and the tournament was held in Jackson, MN. Layre Ambrose was one of Minnesota’s top Class A men’s pitchers and was the host for that year’s tournament. My fondest memory of that tourney wasn’t that I took 3rd place in Men’s Class T, it was the fact that the tournament was held in a pig barn. The barn wasn’t wide enough for the 40’ long courts, so the courts were actually placed at an angle in the building. The walls of the building were very close to the end of the courts so many pitchers had a real hard time with their delivery as they would bump into the wooden walls or beams during their backswing, me included. Dale Lipovsky won first place in the Men’s Division in 1975 and some have no idea how he did this with his long backswing. This goes to show how lucky we are now to have our State Tournament held in such a fine facility in Genola.

Good luck to all of our Minnesota pitchers who will be competing in the World Tournament in Michigan. For those interested, you can watch the World Tournament via live streaming on the NHPA website.

I hope all of our MSGHPA members and their families have a safe and enjoyable summer, with lots of ringers.

State Tournament Web Pages

Launch…Now!

By Lori York

Our website will “go live” with State Tournament information on July 1, just as this edition of The Ringer Digest is hitting your inbox. If you don’t already know, I am a self-professed nerd when it comes to my Webmaster duties. I’ve been fine-tuning everything by reviewing what we used last year, then updating and tweaking it until it is better than ever!

Go here: https://www.minnesotahorseshoes.com/state-tournament/

What’s New?

*You will find updated instructions for online payments. Check it out here: https://www.minnesotahorseshoes.com/state-tournament-payments/ Follow the link most appropriate for you: existing PayPal users or those who do not have a PayPal account. We hope this change alleviates the trouble our members experienced last year with the ‘shopping cart’ experience.

*New rates for on-site camping are posted in the State Tournament Information & Reminders PDF, along with local lodging options.

What’s the same?

*State Tournament Registration is available with our easy online e-form or with a mail-in form. Paper forms and checks should be mailed to the address on the form.

What’s Next?

After the registration deadline, I will post the day-by-day tournament schedule online as soon as it becomes available. Thanks for your patience as we finalize those details!

As always, your feedback is welcome. Email me at webmaster@minnesotahorseshoes.com with your comments and suggestions to improve the website.

See you soon at State!

North Vice President

By Rory Pierce

Hello MGSHPA quick word from your North Vice-President. The Hibbing League has been having a great season so far. We have 3 new pitchers this year including one cadet. Our club just held our annual Toby Neuenschwander Memorial open Tournament. We had 30 pitchers entered this year, Class A thru D. Class A Champion and Tournament Champion was Alan Larson, Class B Champion was Taylor Hughes, Class C Champion was Joe Raycraft, and Class D champion who was the only undefeated pitcher for the tournament was Tim Schmalz. We had a great time and the payouts once again proved to be the best in the State! I myself pitched my average and had an absolute blast in the B class. Already looking forward to next years “Toby Open”, which will be held June 29th 2024. Since the last edition of the Digest I had the opportunity to pitch in the Brooklyn Park tournament which was also a great time, unfortunately the upper classes got rained out. But we had a successful spring meeting and I once again pitched my average. If you haven’t gotten a chance to get in one of these tournaments I encourage you to check out the website and find one in your area and try it out. Tournaments are a lot of fun and the MGSHPA family is second to none. The next tournament that I will be participating in will be the Josh Olson classic in Genola Aug 19th and 20th. Hope to see you all there. Also a quick reminder if you are planning on participating in the MGSHPA State Tournament in Genola Laborday weekend, you need one of the following to participate, 1 tournament in Mn and 200 shoes in a league, or 3 tournaments with 1 being in MN. These qualifications are a rotating calendar year from Aug 1st-Aug 1st. Just a reminder so you don’t miss out. With that being said I hope you all have a great 4th of July weekend with your family and friends. Keep pitching straight and I look forward to the great competition to come.

Sincerely your North Vice-President

Rory L. Pierce Sr

Promotion and News Media

By Michelle Foard

Happy Summer All. A little recap from Team World. I was the 5th person on Mn Team #3. My main focus was doing pictures and videos. I did meet The GOAT Alan Francis. Several of us Mn players talked with him. I put a bug in his ear to play against Sarah Chaffee. So Sat morning Ohio vs Wisconsin #1 played. I went Live on Tik Tok and then posted the replay later on FB. I got a great response from that. Many people were excited to see that game. It came down to the final shoes. Alan had 1 ringer and Sarah need a 6 pack to win. She got her first shoe on and missed her second. So Alan got the win. It was a great game to watch.

Brooklyn Park hosted the State Meeting at our tournament. We had a full house with all classes full except one with a last minute pull out. In F class Deborah Thomsen took 1st, Larry Pokornowski took 2nd and Justice Martin took 3rd. In E class Marlys Timm took 1st, Ron Mead took 2nd and Jon VanRyswyk took 3rd. In D Class Rick Wright took 1st, Terry Thomsen took 2nd and Arnie Johnson took 3rd. At the meeting I believe we had a count of 48 people. After the meeting A-C classes started to warm up and the rain came. It lightened up a tad then poured pretty good. So we canceled the afternoon tournament. The sun came out in time for clean up.

On Tik Tok news I have been working closely with Barry Webster. We have been working on promotional ads. Trying to highlight different players. So look for new content coming out.

As always if you are hosting a tournament please take photos of the class winners and take a photo of the results sheet for me to post. If you have any club photos send them my way. Also feel free to send me a d league or tournament photos you would like posted. I got several photos from our snowbirds.

Don’t forget about the State Tournament! Sign up will be in July! Also come to the banquet to see the awards and stay for the entertainment.

Brooklyn Park Class D

Brooklyn Park Class E

Brooklyn Park Class F

A Wet Afternoon

WSP Class A

WSP Class B

WSP Class C

WSP Class D

Helen's Corner

By Helen Hawkinson

Slute to ERWIN TISCHER

Erwin Tischer was born in 1933 and the first time he pitched horseshoes was in 1976, which made him 43 when he started. It is now 2023 and he is still pitching horseshoes at 90 years old! He grew up farming in Good Thunder, Minnesota which is 8 miles South of Mankato. He joined the Army as a young man and went to Korea, then when he came back, married Rosie and had two daughters. His wife, and both daughters pitched horseshoes and they loved competing with each other. His daughter Linda still pitches, along with her husband who does all of the stats for the Mankato leagues, which is where Erwin was league director for many years. Mankato is currently the largest league in the State of Minnesota with 80 sanctioned pitchers made up of 10 teams of 8 players.

Erwin pitches a 3/4 turn using Ted Allen's. He started out pitching in a traveling horseshoe league that went from Southwestern Minnesota near Mankato to Iowa and South Dakota.

I asked him to tell me something that was memorable in his horseshoe career besides all of his trophies and awards. He told me he was pitching in Le Sueur, Minnesota and he and his opponent had both gotten 2 ringers each- so he yelled out "four dead" - well there was an undertaker on another team and when he heard that he came running over - where, where? They had to explain that is what four ringers was called. He laughed again.

In 1987 both he and his wife Rosie were inducted into the MN Horseshoe Hall of Fame. In 1989 he won 1st place in the World Tournament in Spearfish, SD in Men's Class O. He has played in many other World Tournaments including Genola, MN, Eau Claire, WI, and Cedar Rapids, IA. In 2004 Irwin and Rosie were jointly presented with the Presidential Award for their outstanding dedication. In 2010 and 2014 he was presented with an award for outstanding sportsmanship.

He has 45 state awards on his 4 MGSHPA plaques - 50% of them are 1st, 2nd or 3rd place. I asked him when he thought he would retire from horseshoes and he laughed and said Jerry LaBrosse said you can't quit until the 4th one is full. There are only 3 spots left. I believe you can fill them up Erwin! Hope to see you on the Courts.

Junior Director

By April Lynch

Happy Summer to my Horseshoe Family!

I hope you are enjoying summertime with family & friend activities and of course hopefully having fun throwing some horseshoes in between.

Today I am writing to let you know that I have decided to step down from the Minnesota Junior Director position. I can’t believe I have been in this position for 7 years! I took over this director position after Josh Olson’s amazing leadership in 2016. I remember when Rick Wright came to me and asked If I would consider stepping into this role. I was excited because my love for horseshoes started as a junior pitcher so combining that and my passion for teaching kids, I knew this was a perfect fit! I have many fond memories working in this position with the kids over the last 7 years. My favorite for sure was that my daughter Linnea pitched as a cadet for a couple years. I was a very proud mom as I watched her excel in this great sport. I want to thank everyone for the love and support you gave me as the Junior Director over the years, and I will miss it for sure. Thank you especially to all the kids whom I got a chance to work with! Your passion for this sport I hope will shine and inspire more kids to join. Afterall you are the future of this sport!

I’m happy to announce that Kelli Pierce from Hibbing will be taking over as Junior Director. She is very excited and has a 7-year-old granddaughter that is currently pitching in league with her in Hibbing. I won’t be far away as I plan to help Kelli as she takes over this role as Junior Director.

See you at the courts!

April Lynch

Obituary - Rick Mike

By April Lynch

It is with great sadness to share with you the loss of one of our horseshoe family members. Richard “Rick” T. Mike Jr. husband to Helen Hawkinson Mike passed away suddenly on June 3^rd at the young age of 57. Rick was a MGSHPA member for 12 years and played league in Forest Lake and Isanti. His wife Helen grew to love horseshoes more and more over the years and of course Rick’s love for Helen led him to join her in playing this amazing sport too. He would often be seen helping her as she ran the Forest Lake Thursday night Doubles League! Rick’s smile, humor, and kind heart shined bright when he was on the courts. Everyone he met he would show them unconditional love & friendship. Rick was always cheering the opponent and cheering his doubles partner who this year happened to be his honey, Helen! We will miss his tremendous smile and encouragement on the courts and the amazing fun he brought to the game of horseshoes. It never mattered to Rick if he won or lost a game. In the short time, he played the sport Rick knew what

horseshoes was all about, friendship, love & family! Please keep Helen along with Rick’s family and friends in your thoughts and prayers.

Click the button below to view Mattsons Funeral Homes Obituary

Rick Mike