MINNESOTA HORSESHOE PITCHERS'

Ringer Digest

November/December 2024

A Charter of the NHPA

Official Publication of the Minnesota Gopher State Horseshoe Pitchers' Association

From the Incoming President

By Russ Girtz

Thanks for the support and kind words I have received since becoming your selection to lead as President in 2025.  Ray and I will continue the transition as the year comes to a close.  We are excited to celebrate the successful year of 2024 and look forward to hearing from you in 2025.  Areas of focus will include giving our current membership fun and challenging competitions while at the same time seeking to grow our base of members.  I ask that each of you consider how you can attend 1 more tournament, participate in 1 more league AND find 1 more pitcher to learn the game in 2025. I hope to see you over the winter at our Becker tournaments and look forward to attending as many league meetings as possible next spring. Please reach out with suggestions, ideas, and issues that we can address as a leadership team.  And remember, each of you can be ambassadors of our game in your local communities. 

Open Position - Webmaster

A huge thanks goes out to Lori York for her contributions to Minnesota Horseshoes in her role as Webmaster. Lori has decided to step down at the end of the year and we are seeking candidates to fill the role.  Please consider applying your talents to this role that is vital to how we communicate and market ourselves to the world. The primary responsibilities include:  manage the webpage content that includes tournament details and results, publish forms and documents as needed, and learn the IONOS web page editor.  Previous experience is not required as Lori (and others) will help to transition and train you to ensure a successful transition.  You can submit your interest in this position by email to president@minnesotahorseshoes.com 

Open Position - Nominations Director

We are seeking volunteers willing to take on this very important role that recognizes the great accomplishments of our many talented pitchers. to become the new Nominations Director.  Please submit your interest or nominations by email to president@minnesotahorseshoes.com no later than December 15th, 2024.

From the Editor

By Jerry LaBrosse

First, I would like to thank our outgoing president Ray Pierce Jr for his service to our organization. Being president is a very busy and challenging position, and Ray stepped up to the plate. Welcome to Russ Girtz as our incoming president.

I also want to thank Lori York for the awesome job she did as our webmaster. She has been improving and upgrading our website for the past 4 years. She has also been an excellent voice of reason in council meetings. Thank you for serving our organization despite your busy family life.

Another memorable season is now in the books, and it was definitely a year full of new challenges and of change. We have had changes in our Officer and Director ranks, and there are some open positions that are announced in this issue. For anyone out there who would like to take a stab at serving our organization but are maybe skeptical or uncertain, please just give Russ Girtz a call and chat about it. Whichever position you are interested in, you will receive full guidance and support. Always remember, if any of you would be interested in learning about the Digest Editor position, I am fully willing to train and guide someone into this very rewarding and fun position. I have been doing it for a very long time and would like to see some younger talented person take this over and make it more fun again. I know you're out there, so just decide that it's time to give it a try and give me a call to discuss it.

On a personal note, I will be fully retiring by years end and have taken on some NHPA duties again. I am currently the NHPA 3rd VP and will be doing the Rules Committee and taking charge of the equipment needs and world tournament setup again. Due to the challenging events that recently happened in the NHPA team I felt the need to step up and help.

If you know anyone who may be interested in becoming part of our horseshoe family, always remember to forward these Digest emails to them as a sample of our sport. Encourage them to do the FAST, FREE, and SECURE sign up for both Ringer Digest and NHPA Newsline.

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Regional Director / Stats Guy

By Josh Olson

The Fall colors sure look great this time of year, a sign that winter is coming unfortunately though. But that also means the Fall/Winter season is underway for Tournaments and leagues that are going on. I recently traveled down to Wentzville Missouri with 3 of my fellow league members for what might be the final Sanction League Tournament that has been going on for many years at the Hall of Fame building. Lance Van Wyhe, Harvey Burkman, my dad Paul (didn’t play) and myself played in the Tournament over 2 days, we pitched against some other teams from Kansas, Missouri, Colorado and Alaska. Harvey, Lance and I pitched 10 games against 5 other teams (we did a double round robin over the weekend) and we took 3rd place over all in our group. Harvey pitched about 20% over his entry average with it being his first tournament at 30ft for the 2025 season. He had a high game of 72.5% which got him the highest game over average award in our group. Speaking of the Sanction League Tournament, the 2025 MGSHPA Tournament will have a similar tournament on the schedule that will be held in Genola in June. Along with the Club Team Tournament in June, Genola will also be the home that same weekend for the return of the MN Team Tournament. Like Team World in many ways, only thing that is different from Team World, Team World requires a 40ft pitcher on each team and doesn’t have a ringer % limit on the teams, the MN Team Tournament will not require a certain distance pitcher represented on the team BUT will require your Team to keep the combined average to a MAX of 200%. I will be the Tournament Director for the MN Team Tournament on Sunday June 22nd, and the Club Team Tournament will have Carolyn Brigner as the Tournament Director. Keep an eye on both Tournament announcements in 2025 when we get closer to the Summer. All Tournament information can also be found on nhpa-eshoe.com.

What is on the Horizon 

The 2025 World Tournament in Salt Lake City July 21st-August 2nd. Deadline will be in May so make sure you have your 4 events prior to the Deadline, I hear the Entry form will possibly be available maybe as early as the time you are reading this now. For more information and details on the World Tournament for 2025, check out the horseshoepitching.com website and if you want any more info that you might not see, feel free to reach out to me and I can get you pointed into the right direction. It isn’t too early to start thinking about the 2026 World Tournament in Wausau, Wisconsin! For majority of the Twin City’s pitchers, that is a 3–4-hour drive…HOW GREAT IS THAT! It’s about a 5-hour drive for me and I am super excited about that! I along with Jerry LaBrosse (Newly re-appointed) 3rd Vice President on the council will be making a trip in April to visit the venue in Wausau to make sure setup related issues will be met and ready to go. Speaking of Jerry LaBrosse, Jerry along with Dalton Rakestraw (newly re-appointed) 2nd Vice President joined the NHPA council back in early September. The NHPA council welcomed them both back in with open arms, I am glad to see Jerry back in the fold, and I am also excited to see Dalton back as well. Both bring back experience and some much-needed strengths to the council! Welcome Jerry and Dalton!! 

I chose to cancel the Oct Upsala horseshoe tournament due to a lack of entries. I am really concerned about having too many places to pitch this winter. One might think it’s a good thing, but is a good thing if our number of horseshoe tournament pitchers are not pitching as much in the Fall/Winter? I will say that running tournaments in Upsala will be a little more demanding because of the situation with the rent/deposit that is required. With that being said, the November Upsala Fall Tournament is still on the schedule, but if it doesn’t for what ever reason work out mainly because of a lack of entries, I have decided to cancel all the Tournaments I had originally planned to run this winter in Upsala. I don’t want to beg people to pitch, if we don’t have the numbers to support the tournaments it’s just the way it is right now. To many places is not a bad thing, we will be seeing a new home for winter horseshoes very soon, I think. Mark Smith has been working on a building that will be home to 4 indoor horseshoe courts very soon. I can’t wait to see the results and to get the opportunity to pitch with Mark at his new courts. 

*****************

I would like to take this time to encourage EVERYONE to bring a friend to the next Horseshoe tournament you go to and see about signing them up for the next one you go to. We can all do our part to regain membership and get our Charter back up on top! 

Below are the dates and brief information on the upcoming Horseshoe Tournaments!

So DONT forget to sign up ahead of time for the Becker and Upsala Tournaments this Fall/Winter. (Reminder, all of the information will be available soon on eShoe and on the MGSHPA Website as well).

Events - eShoe (nhpa-eshoe.com)

Minnesota Gopher State Horseshoe Pitchers Association - 2024 Tournaments (minnesotahorseshoes.com)

Constitution and ByLaws Director

By Sue Pierce

Hello Horseshoe Friends! Another season has come to an end. Our Hibbing League was fun and the Toby Neuenschwander Tournament was a success. We had 4 new members and our banquet was held in September. The State Tournament was again held Labor Day weekend with a new format of a three day weekend. Tournament Director Josh did an awesome jog juggling the schedule, the meeting and the banquet and it was a nice change to be home on Labor Day Monday for a barbecue with the family. Ray and I again traveled to Kennewick, Washington for the World Horseshoe Tournament in August. I had a successful tournament and brought home a 3rd Place trophy. I had to buy a new suitcase to pack my trophy & safely fly it home! YAY!!!! We had a few changes to our Constitution and Bylaws and I encourage everyone to become familiar with the rules. Hope everyone has a warm and safe winter and Happy Holidays (as the stores are already setting up Christmas Trees

South Vice President

by Jeff Washburn

 Greetings to all fellow horseshoe pitchers, families, and friends.  Here we are in late October and the weather is still balmy.  I recall the years growing up in Duluth and later living on the Iron Range, when it usually started snowing in late October. Well, maybe not this year.  Another great summer season of horseshoe pitching has come to an end, culminating with another fine State Tournament.  The big news this year was the addition of new computers, made possible through a grant from the NHPF.  Through fundraising held at our State Tournament, a significant portion of this grant has already been paid back, which is a testimony to the high interest levels and generosity of our Minnesota horseshoe pitchers.

2024’s State Tournament was the first year using a 3-day tournament schedule and, personally, I heard very few concerns and lots of positive comments with this format.  Next year, the Friday schedule may look a little different with perhaps an earlier starting time.  The MGSHPA Executive Board welcomes any comments, good or otherwise, as we continue to find ways to enhance our State Tournament and increase the participation in this great event. For those who pitched, thank you, and don’t forget to encourage others to get back in next year.

2025 will bring with it a few new changes and opportunities for our horseshoe pitchers.  First, we have a new President, Russ Girtz, starting January 1st and he will be bringing fresh new ideas to help grow our membership along with the help of each one of us.  Josh Olson has been working hard to provide indoor winter pitching in Upsala, and this will compliment the ongoing winter tournaments in Becker. Please check out the MGSHPA website for more winter tournament information.  Also, a big thanks to Michelle Foard and Russ Girtz for their ongoing work as Tournament Directors for the events in Becker.

There is another opportunity on the horizon for indoor winter horseshoe pitching. Mark Smith is in the process of constructing a building in Darwin which will house 4 horseshoe courts for potential league play and winter tournaments.  In speaking with Mark, his goal is to provide indoor pitching for existing players and, just as importantly, create an opportunity to entice new pitchers to try out the sport.  Kudos to you Mark, and the best of luck!  If anyone has a question for Mark, he can be reached at 320 241-2389.

I would like to wish each of you and your families a Happy Holiday Season!   Stay safe and enjoy what is important in your lives: friends, family, and hopefully good health.  Don’t forget to renew your 2025 MGSHPA dues which started on October 1st and remember to look at potential upcoming winter tournaments. I look forward to seeing many of you on the courts again next spring!    Cheers, Jeff

North Vice President

By Rory Pierce

Hello fellow Horseshoe pitchers a quick message from your North Vice-President. With regular seasons now closed out we are prepping for the winter months to come. 2024 proved to be another great season and we had a great state tournament. There are quite a few tournaments and things still going on throughout the winter and these are listed on the website. If you have any questions please feel free to reach out to me @ piercerory78@gmail or 218-966-5280. By the time you read this Hunting season will be in full swing for me and my family. With that being said I want to wish everyone a safe and successful hunting season. Also just a reminder we always need more pitchers so as you are sitting around your Deer Camps or in the Duck blinds keep horseshoes in your conversations. I hope to see you all again in 2025! Good luck and be safe see you next year!

Sincerely your North Vice-President

Rory L. Pierce Sr.

Promotion and News Media

By Michelle Foard

Happy Fall Everyone,

Indoor horseshoes is in full swing up in Becker, Mn. Russ and I have tournaments planned every month. Our next one is Nov 16th. We have a total of 24 spots we can fill each month. Still plenty of openings for November. Our other tournaments are 12-14, 1-18, 2-15, 3-15 and 4-12. So get signed up and get tournaments in for next year’s World Tournament in Salt Lake City, Utah! We had our first tournament the Pumpkin Patch on Oct 19th. We ended up with 21 Pitchers total. We started at 9 because C Class had 6 people. It was Lu Cave and Barry Schilling’s first time pitching in Becker. Barry took 2nd place and Dale Novotny had a good day taking 1st place. We had a full B Class with 8 pitchers . Sarah Nelson finally joined again after a few years of being away. She pitched above her average and took 3rd place. Don Claseman took 2nd pitching above his average. Steve Barron had a great day pitching above his average and took the 1st place spot. A Class had 7 pitchers. Lance Van Wyhe and I were pacers. Denise Kleven made her debut in A Class. She has been increasing her average since last year. She pitched well and had some great games in A Class so she secured 3rd place. Harvey Burkman was just 2 weeks in his transition to the Elders division. His 2 losses were by the 1st and 3rd place winners. Harvey took 2nd place. The big winner of the day was Gary Boots. Gary had a 72.5, 70 and 70% games were his top 3. Gary pitched 8.47% over his average. So Gary landed a 1st place. A Class pitching was a great one to watch.

So on the National news front I am the new Social Media Director for the NHPA. I run all the social media pages. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and X. I understand not everyone is on social media and don’t expect you to start doing so, but if you are interested in getting any of the pages I mentioned I can help you out. Also on Tik Tok you don’t need to post videos yourself. You just need to create a page and then you can follow me to watch live horseshoes. During the fall and winter I go live at league and also at our tournaments. I am also on the Publicity Committee. I am always open to hearing any ideas you may have to get the word out about pitching horseshoes. A few people have reached out to me with ideas and I created videos with those ideas.

You can renew your membership for 2025 right now. If you are changing divisions you need to contact the secretary Janet to let her know. Think about gifting a membership or a new pair of horseshoe this holiday season. Several of the horseshoe distributors run sales for the holiday season. If you aren’t on social media and are looking to see if a certain style of shoes go on sale you can contact me and I can notify you when they do.

As we are finishing out the year I would like to give thanks to our President Ray Pierce Jr for leading our charter. He was instrumental in pushing for the Women Elders division. I think Mn was one of the only States who did participate in the temporary rule. We also had a Women Elder division at State. I know many don’t agree with this and there was a lot of push back. So thank you to Ray for standing up and helping to make this happen. I appreciate all of your hard work. I hope once things settle down you find your way back to the board.

Lastly I wanna wish all of my horseshoe family a happy and safe Holiday Season. Hope to see you on the pits soon!

Michelle Foard

News/Media Promotions Director

Pumpkin Patch Winners

A Class 

2nd Harvey Burkman, 1st Gary Boots, 3rd Denise Kleven 

B Class

2nd Don Claseman, 1st Steve Barron, 3rd Sarah Nelson 

C Class

2nd Barry Schilling, 1st Dale Novotny, 3rd Mike Timm 

Alexandria Season Recap

By Janet Larson

Alexandria Horseshoe league completed their 2024 season, celebrating with a potluck and awards on Sunday, September 15th. The month of May they hosted “Give Horseshoes a Try" playing count-all singles. This was open to anyone in the area, on any Wednesday that they were available to attend. We had 18 pitchers show up for at least one Wednesday evening, three of them were new to the sport. The third Wednesday Jeremy Thurk, one of our new pitchers, had a high game of 7 ringers for 17.5%, which earned him the rookie patch for the spring singles session. Jeremy, Randy Werk, and Alan Larson each earned a patch for high game over average. Alan also received patches for High Game and High Average.  

In June and July we played a round robin of High/Low Doubles with eight teams being created using everyone's previous averages. This tends to make for a very competitive season, and this year was no exception. Going into the last week several teams were still vying for the top spots. Alan Larson and Jordan Reese would claim 1st place, but there was a tie for second which forced a playoff round of games between the teams of Jerry Werk and Amanda Thurk versus Janet Larson and Tina Matter, Jerry and Amanda prevailed.  

Then we went back to playing singles with a tournament that was divided into three classes, utilizing our averages and handicaps from the doubles round robin. In Class C Brian Hoppe took 1st with a 5-0 record, Amanda Thurk claimed the tie for second at 3-2, by having the highest number of total points. Barry Schilling won Class B, with Al Nicholson coming in second. Class A ended in a tie for first between Alan Larson and Jerry Werk, each had 3 wins and 1 loss, however Alan had 26 more total points to break the tie and claim first place. 

Returning to doubles play and our original teams, we entered the final part of our league competition, the Double Elimination bracket and a chance to get our names on the coveted Traveling Trophy that holds more than 40 years of history for our league. Jerry and Amanda got knocked down to the losers bracket in the first round by Janet and Tina. However they would come back through that bracket to once again face the undefeated team of Janet and Tina. This time they would win to force a final round of “do or die” games. The first of three games ended in a tie, Jerry and Amanda won the second game by 22 points. Janet and Tina won the last game, but only by one point which gave total points and the win to Jerry and Amanda. Jerry said he had been trying to get his name on the traveling trophy for ten years. Amanda, who was one of our new members this year, having never played the game before, proudly responded “It only took me one year!” Amanda had a great first year, getting a few lucky ringers to start with, but constantly improving, averaging nearly 35 points a game by the end of the season. With this win, and getting second in both the earlier doubles round and Class B singles, it was easy to declare Amanda our Rookie of the Year.  

Other year end awards that were given out included: 

High Ringer Average - Alan Larson 58.92%

High Ringer Average/Playoffs - Alan Larson 53%

High Game - Gary Boots 123 points

High Game/Playoffs Jerry Werk 114 points

High Game Over Average - Janet Larson 29.81 points (116/86.33)

High Game Over Average/Playoffs - Gary Boots 22.44 points (111/88.55)

Sportsmanship - Janet Larson

Most Improved - Gary Boots

We would also like to congratulate three of our members that took 1st place at the MN State Tournament over Labor Day weekend. They were Barry Schilling in Men’s C with a 6-1 record, and Randy Werk going undefeated in Elders F to win their classes. In the Elders Championship, Jerry Werk also went undefeated to claim his first division title.  

Jerry Werk and Amanda Thurk winners of the Alex League Double Elimination Tournament. 

Seated: Janet Larson, Jerry Werk, Amanda Thurk, Jordan Reese

Standing: Jeff Thompson, Jeremy Thurk, Al Nicholson, Randy Werk, Tina Matter, Gene Ward, Barry Schilling, Bruce Swenson, Steve Ziegler, Alan Larson, Gary Boots

Mankato Club Recap for 2024

By Brian and Linda Duenow

The North Mankato Horseshoe Club wrapped up a fantastic year with 61 pitchers. We started the year in February with a 9 member advisory committee meeting. They reviewed the rules, by-laws & awards guidelines and made suggestions to the managers. The Manager’s meeting was held on March 5th at the North Mankato Legion. Our membership meeting was held on April 3rd at the Mankato Eagles with 42 pitchers in attendance. We had clean-up night on May 7th with 40 members present to help. 

This year we had 2 divisions and 10 teams. We played on Wednesday and Thursday nights. We held the 33rd annual Celebrity Tournament on July 12th. Mankato defeated the North Mankato team with a 9 – 7 record. We had a very hot day for the Fun Days Tournament with 34 pitchers. Dan Seys & Jim Bilderback tied for 1st place in Class A, there was no play off because of the hot weather. 3rd place went to Myron Wait. As we headed into August, we ran 2 more tournaments. The Club singles tournament was held on August 10th with 30 pitchers. The Class A champion was Mike Creech with a 29.60% average. Steve Miller won 2nd place and Richard Hunstad took 3rd. Our Club Doubles Tournament held on July 31st & August 7th with 14 teams (28) pitchers). The team of Dan Seys & Mike Creech won the Class A championship. Followed by 2nd place awarded to Zach Fuhrman & Richard Hunstad and 3rd place went to Bob Klein & Dave Klein. 

In Division 1 North Mankato Legion took 1st place with 95.5 wins & 48.5 losses, tie for 2nd place went to CJ Towing & Repair & Janesville Bowl with 77 wins & 67 losses. Division 2 champions was Northwest Gas, 2nd place Hromadko Construction and 3rd to 

R Henry Construction.

We had 7 members attend the state tournament in Genola with Erwin Tischer receiving a longevity award for pitching in his 47th state horseshoe tournament.

We concluded the year with the annual banquet and awards on September 16th at the Mankato Eagles with 69 people in attendance. Sponsors were acknowledged and thanked for their support. National awards were given to the following: Division 1 High Game Steve Miller with 29 ringers and Division 2 Duane Anderson with 19 ringers. Division 1 High Average Dan Seys with 42.39% and Division 2 Duane Anderson with 22.21%. High Game Over Average Division 1 Steve Miller with 24.79% and Division 2 Randy Albrecht with 18.79%. Most Improved Division 1 Zen Albrecht with +5.59% increase and Division 2 Dan Christensen with +8.26% increase. 

Medallions were given to the top 3 teams in each division (as listed above). Player of the Year awards were given to 1 person of each team (see picture below). From these winners, an Overall Player of the year was awarded for each division (see picture below). Rookie of the Year for each division was also awarded: Division 1 Jeff Wagner, Division 2 Zach Becker. The Achievement awards were given to Dan Seys in Division 1 with a record of 33 wins and 3 losses. Division 2 award went to Dan Christensen with a record of 31.5 wins and 4.5 losses. 

Recognition awards for 20 years with the North Mankato Club were awarded to Mike Creech. 30 year award was given to Robert Allen, 40 year awards was given to charter member Gary Graff.

The Presidential Award was given to Gary Graff and Brian & Linda Duenow for their outstanding service & dedication to the North Mankato Horseshoe Club.

Now that the season has come to a close, we would like to thank everyone that participated in the club, whether you were a pitcher, scorekeeper, sponsor, manager, officer or spectator. Without you the club would not be a success. Have a great winter and we are looking forward to next season!

North Mankato Celebrity Tournament

1st Mankato, 2nd North Mankato 

North Mankato Fun Days Tournament Class A

1st place Jim Bilderback & Dan Seys, no play off due to weather

North Mankato Singles Club Tournament Class A

1st Mike Creech not pictured, 2nd Steve Miller. 3rd Richard Hunstad

North Mankato Doubles Club Tournament Class A

1st Dan Seys & Mike Creech not pictured

2nd Zach Fuhrman & Richard Hunstad

3rd Bob Klein & Dave Klein

Division 1: 1st Place North Mankato Legion

Matt Paap, Kevin Plath, Erwin Tischer, Ken Neidecker, 

  Mike Forlti, Gary Graff, Linda Duenow, not pictured Tom Maus.

Division 1: Tied for 2nd Place CJ Towing & Repair 

 Jameson Klein, Dave Klein, Bob Klein, Jim Klein, 

Steve Miller, not pictured Michael Klein

Division 1: Tied for 2nd Place Janesville Bowl

Jeff Wagner, Dan Seys, Andy Haala, not pictured Mike 

Division 2: 1st Place Northwest Gas

   Don Landsteiner, Mike Lawrence, Duane Anderson, 

Carl Bloedel, Ron Swift, not pictured Dan Christensen, &

Brad Nawrocki

 Division 2: 2nd Place Hromadko Construction

 Ronald Lane, Nick Lane, Doug Nielsen, Mike Hromadko &

 Randy Albrecht

Division 2: 3rd Place R Henry Construction

Rob Paulsen, Brad Stinocher, not pictured Jeff Flowers, 

Trenton Flowers, Ray Flowers and Dale Flowers 

Division 2 Player of the year

Doug Nielsen, Jeff Brooks, Cecilia Elmore, 

not pictured Ray Flowers & Dan Christensen

Division 1 Player of the year Matt Paap, Zen Albrecht, Richard Hunstad, Dave Klein, 

not pictured Mike Creech

Overall Player of the Year 

Division 2 Dan Christensen, not pictured

Division 1 Zen Albrecht 

Achievement Award

Division 2 Dan Christensen, not pictured Division 1 Dan Seys                       

20 Year Recognition award

Mike Creech, not pictured

30 Year Recognition Award

Robert Allen, right

40 Year Recognition Award, Charter Member

Gary Graff, left

Presidential Award

Gary Graff

Presidential Award

 Brian & Linda Duenow

Banquet Cake

Publishing Schedule for the MGSHPA Ringer Digest

January-February-March

April-May-June

July-August-September-October

State Tournament Issue

November-December

Send all digest materials to the Jerry LaBrosse Jlabro6186@aol.com

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