MINNESOTA HORSESHOE PITCHERS'

Ringer Digest

July-August-September 2022

A Charter of the NHPA

Official Publication of the Minnesota Gopher State Horseshoe Pitchers' Association

From the Editor

By Jerry LaBrosse

  I want to first wish all world tournament pitchers the best of luck and safe travels to Monroe. There are some recent events on the national level  that many of you know about but many may not. 

Our Minnesota Regional Director Josh Olson has been the IT Director for the NHPA for the past year. An unexpected opening occurred on the NHPA Executive Board and Josh was installed into that VP position. Josh will be very instrumental in the success of all the IT functions at the world tournament, which I can assure you is no easy task. Congratulations to Josh and best of luck in your new role.

  For all of you folks who would like to keep an eye on the activities in Monroe, and maybe even watch your favorite "playa" pitch some games live, the World Tournament Coverage page is right on the home page of the NHPA website   click here >>>>>>   NHPA Website

  Our Ringer Digest used to be the main source of state horseshoe information for our members. I remember preparing the document, getting it printed, creating all the proper mailing labels, and then Marlys Timm and I would apply all the labels and sort them into the proper mail sacks. Marlys still faithfully proof reads every issue, and I thank her for that.

  With that said, I want to remind all of our members, especially the new members, to make sure that you are all receiving our Ringer Digest, and also the NHPA Newsline magazine. They are both free and easy to sign up for. To view any previous Digests and sign up to receive future digests, go to this link   https://www.minnesotahorseshoes.com/ringer-digest/

To receive the NHPA Newsline go here:   Newsline Sign Up

The only info you need to provide is your name and email address. League Directors please survey your members and make sure they have this information and are receiving these publications. They are also shared on social media thanks to our own Michelle Foard.

Here is a message from Michelle about social media:

  Facebook is a great way to stay up to date on all things horseshoes. We have our own page for the Minnesota chapter as well as another page for the National chapter. To find us go to the search bar type in Minnesota Gopher State Horseshoe Pitchers Association. To find the National page type in National Horseshoes Pitching Association (NHPA). 

 There is another page for all sanctioned and non sanctioned pitchers. They post daily questions and encourage you to share your photos. This page can be found by entering in All About Pitching Horseshoes. I hope to see more of you joining these great pages!

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  The MGSHPA officers and directors hold regular meetings in which we discuss how we can best serve our membership and promote growth in our sport on a state and local level. Our biggest event of the year is our state tournament every Labor Day weekend. This is much more than just a horseshoe tournament, it is the place where we have our annual membership meeting to shape our association, an awards banquet to recognize achievements and contributions to our sport, and to hang out with horseshoe friends you may only see a few times each year.

  There are ideas being looked at to switch the days of the event to finish on Sunday, which would free up the Monday holiday. The tournament would begin with a Friday morning shift, and end Sunday afternoon after crowning our Mens, Womens , and Elders Champions.

The document below is a PROPOSED SAMPLE SCHEDULE ONLY, posted here for your review and thoughts. We will be discussing this idea at the state meeting. This schedule will not be used this year.

GOOD LUCK TO ALL THE MN WORLD PITCHERS

HERE IS EVERYONE THAT IS TRAVELING TO MONROE!!

Cody Olson                              Men’s G2         July 11^th,12^th,13^th  

Daren Chambers                     Men’s F2         July 11^th,12^th,13^th  

Robin Constance                     Men’s E1         July 11^th,12^th,13^th  

Jeff Lawrence                          Men’s F1         July 11^th,12^th,13^th  

Ray Pierce Sr                           Men’s E1         July 11^th,12^th,13^th  

Paul Olson                               Elder’s G1        July 11^th,12^th,13^th 

Stan Bialek                              Men’s D2         July 14^th,15^th,16th 

Rich Bialek                              Men’s D1         July 14^th,15^th,16th 

Donata Kitchens                      Women’s H     July 14^th,15^th,16th 

Sue Pierce                               Women’s H     July 14^th,15^th,16th 

Lucas Rasmussen                    Cadet’s B         July 14^th,15^th  

Mackenzie Rasmussen            Cadet’s B         July 14^th,15^th  

Tom Prokop                             Sr. Men’s B      July 18^th,19^th,20^th  

George Peterson                     Sr. Men’s D      July 18^th,19^th,20^th  

Jerry LaBrosse                         Sr. Men’s C      July 18^th,19^th,20^th  

Jerry Werk                               Sr. Men’s B      July 18^th,19^th,20^th  

Helen Hawkinson                    Women’s B     July 18^th,19^th ,20^th  

Patti Oakes                              Women’s C     July 18^th ,19^th ,20^th  

Joe Mueller                             Men’s B1         July 18^th,19^th,20^th  

Mark Smith                             Men’s A2         July 18^th,19^th,20^th  

Josh Olson                               Men’s A2         July 18^th,19^th,20^th  

TEAM WORLD RECAP AND RESULTS

By Josh Olson

   In my opinion you can't find a better weekend of horseshoe pitching then down in Beloit Wisconsin for the Team World event in the middle of May.

This year was the first time back since 2020 and 2021 with COVID and everything else going on in the world and wouldn't you know it this year was completely full. That's right, that means there was 24 teams' majority from the Mid-West and even from Washington throwing shoes for 3 long days. 

Minnesota had 4 teams make the trip this year.

Team #1- Jerry Hokkala, Mark Smith, Helen Hawkinson and Josh OIson

Team #2- Jeff Washburn, Joe Mueller, Pat Stumpf and Janet Larson

Team #3- Eric Dehkes, Melissa Dehkes, Nathan Dehkes, Brad Heth and Michelle Foard

Team #4- Jerry LaBrosse, Patti Oakes, Dustin Dahl, Heather Dehkes and Andy Olson

You might notice the rosters are a little different from the last digest that went out, we had some last minute changes to make and I want to thank everyone for pulling together and working with me to make some of these changes work it was a warm weekend but we got through it and we all had fun!

Our very own Dale Lipvosky although not present at the Tournament was awarded the first ever Team World Earl Paulson Award, Dale has quite the history at the Team World event, was on the winning team for Minnesota All 9 times and there are many other accomplishments to go along with his record for that Tournament, which was the reason behind him becoming the first recipient of the Award, Congrats Dale! 

Wisconsin #1 came out Victorious again this year. Young Sarah Chaffee was a dominant force, along with her teammates Aleena Lepak, Penny Steinke and Lonny Transgrud. They went 92.5-7.5 this year and had a combined team ringer % of 69.80%...that is very good. Sarah had high average for the Team and the Tournament going 25-0 and throwing 82.50% Penny went 24.5-0.5 and averaged 75.60%, Aleena also went 25-0 and averaged 67.50 and Lonny went 18-7 throwing 53.40%.

Minnesota teams finished not so good but we all had fun!

Minnesota #2 Finished in 11th, 50.5-41.5

Minnesota #1 Finished in 12th, 49-43

Minnesota #3 Finished in 19th, 31-61

Minnesota #4 Finished in 24th, 11.5-80.5

Michelle's First Team World

By Michelle Foard

   This was my first time ever at Team World. At first I was like many of you thinking why would I wanna play and lose all my games to some great pitchers. Well as Eric Dehkes told me when in your life will you have the chance to pitch against these great players. I can't say enough good things about my Team World experience. I was team captain of Mn Team #3. Which was fine with me. I wanted to go and do pictures and videos which I accomplished. I did play 6 games over the weekend and I did win 1 game. The best part was the people. I have so many horseshoe friends I have never met and I got to meet several at this tournament. I also had several people say "you're that Tik Tok lady" or I see your post and videos all the time. With all the chatting, pictures and videos, I did have a serious job as captain. I got lots of help from Dalton and in fact our team took 3 of the 4 games from him. Team World was such an amazing event and I am ready to go back next year!

                                                   Team #1

   Mark Smith, Jerry Hokkala, Helen Hawkinson and Josh OIson

                                                    Team #2

    Joe Mueller, Pat Stumpf and Janet Larson, Jeff Washburn,

      Team #3

          Brad Heth, Nathan Dehkes, Melissa Dehkes, 

              Eric Dehkes, and Michelle Foard

                                                     Team #4

   Jerry LaBrosse, Patti Oakes, Heather Dehkes and Andy Olson 

                    Not shown, Dustin Dahl, 

Proposed Constitution & By Laws changes

By Sue Pierce, Constitution and By-Laws Director

Here are the constitution changes to be posted and voted on at the annual meeting.

Page 3, Article VI, Sec. 1, b-3 (only change language of #3)

  Current language: b. Supervise officer activities

                               3.Coordinate the activities of all committees

  Proposed change: b. Supervise officer activities

                               3.Ex Officio member of all committees

Page 4. Article VI, Sec 4 (take out this line)

  Current language Sec. 4. The Secretary/Treasurer/Membership Director shall act as custodian of all funds of the Association, sign all warrants for the Association expenditures, and keep accurate financial records for the Association. The Secretary/Treasurer/Membership Director shall meet annually with the Auditing Committee to ensure the financial records are in order. The Secretary/Treasurer/Membership Director shall receive club rosters and payment for state and national membership dues. Upon payment, membership cards must be promptly distributed to appropriate club contacts. Updated rosters must be forwarded to the President, NHPA Regional Director and the Editor identifying new members, current regular members, junior members, and NHPA card numbers distributed.

  Proposed change: The Secretary/Treasurer/Membership Director shall act as custodian of all funds of the Association sign all warrants for the Association expenditures, and keep accurate financial records for the Association. The Secretary/Treasurer/Membership Director shall meet annually with the Auditing Committee to ensure the financial records are in order. The Secretary/Treasurer/Membership Director shall receive club rosters and payment for state and national membership dues. Updated rosters must be forwarded to the President, Regional Director and the Editor identifying new members, current regular members, junior members, and HNPA card numbers distributed. 

Page 5, Article XII, Sec 3  (Add a word into the line)

  Current Language:  Sec 3. The Executive Board may conduct business by mail, e-mail, and/or telephone when necessary.

  Proposed change:  Sec 3. The Executive Board may conduct business by mail, e-mail, virtual, and/or telephone when necessary.

Please add these proposed changes to the Constitution into the Ringers Digest to be printed thirty (30) days prior to the annual meeting, per Article XIII (Amendments) of the ByLaws. 

Thank you

South Vice President

by Jeff Washburn

     Summer greetings to all our fellow horseshoe pitchers.  I know summer is here after we had to cancel our league night at Brooklyn Park last Monday as it was 99 degrees.  Perhaps other clubs have had to do the same thing, as the safety of our club members is always the most important part to consider for our club activities.

     The MGSHPA summer tournament schedule is well underway with several already having been completed.   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.

I would like to take this opportunity to give the Brooklyn Park Horseshoe Club some positive “ink”, as this is one of the two leagues I pitch in every week.  The other being the W. St. Paul Tuesday morning league.  There have been a number of new pitchers at BPHC this summer, and it goes to show how our leagues can grow with seemingly minimal effort. One person invites a co-worker, and then that co-worker invites a friend, and pretty soon we have a whole group of new pitchers.  Personally, I find this both rewarding and challenging. Most of the new pitchers have never thrown a horseshoe before, so they don’t know what they don’t know, however all of the new pitchers are very eager to learn.  It is impressive to see the progress being made by each of the pitchers after only a few weeks. The opportunity to mentor and help teach the game to newcomers is the rewarding part for me, just like Hots Anderson, Ray Tiili, and Jack O’Connor did for me in Duluth almost 50 years ago.

     Information on our 2022 State Tournament will be posted on the website very soon, so please consider joining the fun at Genola this Labor Day weekend.  Good luck to all of our Minnesota pitchers who will be competing in the World Tournament in Monroe, Louisiana. For those interested, you can watch the World Tournament games via live streaming on the NHPA website. I know I will be glued to my computer screen for those 2 weeks as I can’t attend the tourney this year.

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

MGSHPA Council meeting minutes

Sunday, May 22^nd 2022

6:00 pm by Zoom

In attendance: Ray, Jerry, Jeff, Sue, Lori, Josh, Rocky, Michelle and Ann.

1. Constitution and By Laws proposed changes
2. Several changes made by the committee, replacing Natstats with e-shoe, wording on no cards issued, etc. MN State Doubles wording is labeled as not active, wording to remain in case this status changes.
3. Bylaws committee: Sue, Jerry and Jeff.
4. Ray will put together a post for the Digest to alert members of rules changes to be discussed at the Spring meeting.
5. State qualifications were not voted on to change, so will be held to current wording for this year. May discuss slight change in # of events needed.
6. Zoom Account
7. Discussed purchasing for MGSHPA, cost looks to be about $150 per year.
8. Ann is tasked with setting this up.
9. Genola Repair of 3 pits
10. Past meeting this was discussed. Cost was estimated to be about $300, the repairs did happen.
11. Ray proposed the charter pay for these repairs. Ann seconded, motion carried.
12. Ann should be receiving a bill from Carol Brigner for around $263
13. State Banquet
14. Ray is looking at meeting with then known Pierz ballroom contact to see if they can negotiate a 5-year contract.
15. Agreement was banquet tickets this year will be $20.00.
16. Entertainment is TBD (to be determined).
17. Account Audit
18. Ray discussed the CBL wording for an annual review by the Audit committee. No such committee known. It was also discussed that a professional review could be set up. With our organization being a 501c and low in funds, the book-keeping is uncomplicated and there is minimal traffic of funds in/out.
19. Ray will research what is needed and get back to Ann with what documentation needs to be submitted.
20. Next meeting: Spring meeting, June 18^th between shifts at Bertha Open Tournament. Plan is to have zoom option for members.
21. 
    

Submitted by Ann Hagman, MGSHPA Sec/ Treas

Bill Danielson wins 2022 Alex Open

Summary by Janet Larson

  We had a gorgeous day to kick off the summer horseshoe season, with 28 participants, including five of our neighbors from ND.  

  Entering averages for Class D ranged from 5.49 to 23.55 making it a handicapped class. Junior Justice Martin pitched 37.5% his first game, 15.12% over his entering average to set a high bar. Bruce Swenson answered the challenge in game three, pitching 32.5%, 16.58% over his average. Bruce won the head to head battle with his son, Junior Marshal Swenson, in game seven, leaving them tied with 5 wins and 2 losses. However, the tie breaker was over average which narrowly gave Marshal second place, leaving Bruce in third place. Meanwhile Robert Ciaciura, his first time at the Alex Open, maintained a steady average, winning all of his games to claim the Class D title.  

  In Class C Steve Ziegler had just two losses, one was to Judy Carlson. Judy only had one loss, to Stan Barney. With the exception of his one loss to Steve, Stan had a barn burner of a tournament, pitching 50% in game five and 52.5% in game seven, finishing 14.63% over average at 38.21% to claim 1st place.  

  Paul Anderson claimed 3rd place in Class B. Phil Swenson, formerly from our league, drove up from Rochester to pitch the high game in this class with 52%. He only lost one game and he only lost that game by one point to Jim Syverson, talk about close! Jim went undefeated, pitching 4.55% over his average for 1st place. 

  Unfortunately Lori York had to drop out of Class A. This narrowed the percentage gap to less than 10%. The decision was made to switch to 40 point, 60 shoe maximum games. Rain on Friday night kept Jerry Werk from planting his crops, so being a good sport, he stepped in for Lori. Josh, Pat and Myron each pounded Jerry with games of over 65%. The competition was tight, with three of the games going to 60 shoes and one of those games ending in a 35/35 tie between Josh and Myron. Janet won game five against Bill, giving him his only loss and edging out Myron by half a game in total wins. Exhausted from the heat and having pitched the most shoes, Bill claimed 1st place. The ending gap between 2nd and 5th place was a mere 3.35%, with Josh taking 2nd place and Janet in 3rd.  

Bertha Open Recap

By Josh Olson

   We had a great turnout for the 9th annual Bertha Open Tournament. Was a very comfortable day weather wise pitching. We had a great turnout for the Membership meeting in-between shifts and even held the meeting on zoom for the membership to join if they were not able to attend in person.

I’d like to give some highlights of the classes and how everyone finished. Class D, Carolyn Brigner from Pierz finished 1st place, Robert Ciaciura from Hackensack finished 2nd, and Randy Werk from Herman finished in 3rd Place. Carolyn had high average for the class throwing 7.56% over her entry average and pitching a 23.57% for the day. Bruce Swenson had high game in the class with a 35% game!

Class C was Dominated by Cathy Ziemann! Cathy went 7-0 as well and pitched 11.41% over her entry average and finished with the class high average and had the high game with a 52.50% game as well. Tim Brigner also pitched well only suffering one loss against Cathy, and he also pitched 3.62% over his average, and Larry Brabec a local league member from Browerville finished with 3rd Place in the C Class.

Now the Afternoon shift. We finished the membership meeting with the 50/50 drawing, was a great turn out for that, we reached $280 and with split the pot $140 would go to the lucky winner, our Association President, Ray Pierce Jr was the lucky winner, and he donated his winnings which we had declared was going towards the Josh Olson Classic for expenses, it will really come in handy! Thank you again Ray!

Class A and Class B finished the day, Class B was off to the races, they finished almost 2 games ahead of the A Class. I want to thank my dad Paul, and Ray Pierce Sr. for pacing in the class after we had a last-minute dropout it was helpful. 3rd Place went to Stan Barney, 2nd place went to Anna Pierce, Anna had the highest average at the end of the tournament in the Class and had high game with a 60% game, nicely done! And Paul Anderson our good friend who we see a lot of at our Tournaments traveled from Fargo to pitch and he didn’t leave empty handed, he had a great day of pitching and won Class B. Congrats to everyone in the Class!

Class A played 40-point games which made for some fun and long games throughout the tournament. The Longest game was 80 shoes, that was a barn burner between Pat Stumpf and me, the final score was 42-37 in Pat’s Favor. 3rd Place went to myself, I went 5-2 and snuck out the highest average with a 55.58% over Janet Larson who just missed getting in the money, but Janet finished with a 55.45% Tournament. There was a tie for 1st place and after the two came to an agreement the 2 decided to let the person with the highest Ringer% have the Tournament Championship patch and claim 1st place honors, Bill Danielson took 2nd place and Pat Stumpf took home the 1st place honors for Class A with a 55.16%, Bill finished with a 54.14%, the top 4 all finished above 54% which made for a very tough couple of last games that is for sure. 

Class A  ( L to R)

Joe Mueller, Myron Vanderweyst, Janet Larson, Josh Olson, Pat Stumpf, Bill Danielson, Patti Oakes, Don Pedersen

Top 3

Josh Olson 3^rd Place, Pat Stumpf 1^st Place, Bill Danielson 2^nd Place

Class B  (L to R)

Colleen Szabo, Stan Barney, Lance Van Whye, Dave Striet, Anna Pierce, Paul Anderson, Ray Pierce Jr.

Top 3

Stan Barney 3^rd Place, Anna Pierce 2^nd Place, Paul Anderson 1^st Place

Class C  (L to R)

Carrie Kowalczyk, Tim Brigner, Cathy Ziemann, Rick Wright, Tina Matter, Ray Pierce Sr, Chuck Betterman, Larry Brabec

Top 3

Tim Brigner 2^nd Place, Cathy Ziemann 1^st Place, Larry Brabec 3^rd Place

Class D (L to R)

Sue Pierce, Carolyn Brigner, Mick Ziemann, Robert Ciaciura, Randy Werk, Bruce Swenson, Lu Cave

Top 3

Robert Ciaciura 2^nd Place, Carolyn Brigner 1^st Place, Randy Werk 3^rd Place

Promotion / News Media

by Michelle Foard

 Happy Summer All! I hope everyone is having a great time getting out and pitching. I have been to several tournaments doing pictures and videos. Team World, Forest Lake, West St Paul and Brooklyn Park tournaments. I made 13 videos from Team World and I am now just starting on videos from Forest Lake. I will be getting more out. I have been busy getting ready to move. As I have said before if you go to a tournament and wanna share pictures please send them to me. 

  I would also like clubs to do group photos again. It's nice to see all the club's. 

 Don't forget there are more tournaments to be played so sign up. Also State sign up is ready!

 The photo with my article is Mn Team #3 and Helen Hawkinson. She said she wanted to join our team and we showed her what happens! It was all fun and games. This picture makes me laugh. I love my horseshoe family !!

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