The Eastern National horseshoe pitching championships is in its 51st year being held in Erie, PA. This year the tournament was moved a few blocks to a brand new site on Glenwood Park. The courts are some of the nicest most of us have ever seen. The only unfortunate thing was the weather didn't want to cooperate and the 2nd shift on Saturday was cancelled. The top groups were scheduled to start at 5 pm, but we waited for a break in the weather and started our games at 7 pm. After about 10 minutes of competition the rain started to come down too hard and we covered the courts again. The rain didn't last very long and we continued our first game. The competition was scheduled to have the top 8 40' men advancing to the Men's championship classes while the top 8 30' players (elder men and women) advance to the 30' championship class. The players were set up in 8 player classes based on entering average. I was in the top Men's class along with the current Men's champion Alan Francis.
The competition was interrupted at the end of the 6th round when it started to rain again and there was lighting. We were scheduled to play 7 games. Even though I had finished my 6th game it wasn't going to count as there was one game which hadn't finished and the rules of horseshoes normally have the competition go to the last completed round of competition. I haven't been playing quite as well as I would like lately and wasn't overly optimistic about how I would play. And since we started in the wet conditions which usually result in slick walkways I less enthusiastic about my potential. However, after the slow start in my first game I started to throw some ringers and managed to keep my bad streaks to a minimum. I won my first 5 games and even the 6th game which didn't count. I was scheduled to play Alan Francis the last round and we were tied at 5 wins and no losses. I ended up averaging 79.1% for the first 5 games. For some reason at the end of the 5th game I started to have trouble with the approaches and was slipping a bit. This continued into the 6th game until I put some rags on the approach which gave me better traction.
Player Wins Loss Ringers Shoes R %
1.ALAN FRANCIS OH 5 0 246 298 82.55
2.WALTER RAY WILLIAMS JR FL 5 0 201 254 79.13
3.MANDELL PROCTOR MD 4 1 206 272 75.74
4.BOB HAYES NY 2 3 223 306 72.88
5.TOM WESTBROOK SC 2 3 206 294 70.07
6.STAN LEIS ON 1 4 161 248 64.92
7.KURT VONKLIEST PA 1 4 111 208 53.37
8.ROBERT JONES NY 0 5 168 264 63.64
And my results:
My Opp My Opp
Game Opponent Score Ringers Shs Ringer %
1. Bob Hayes-NY 40-13 35 27 46 76.1 58.7
2. Stan Leis-Ont 41-29 50 46 66 75.8 69.7
3. Kurt Von Kleist-PA 40-3 23 12 28 82.1 42.1
4. Robert Jones-NY 42-4 38 25 42 90.5 59.5
5. Tom Westbrook-SC 40-30 55 52 72 76.4 72.2
Wins-5 Losses-0 201 162 254 79.1 63.8
In the game which didn't count, here is the results of our game.
6. Mandell Proctor-MD 41-30 49 45 64 76.6 70.3
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In the Championship class, the 8 players were Alan Francis, myself, Mandell Proctor, Bob Hayes, Tom Westbrook, Stan Leis, Robert Jones, & Andre Leclerc. Andre moved up from the 'B' class while the other 7 moved up from the 'A' class. The weather report was not good and with our late start (we were scheduled to start at 1 pm, but started around 3 pm) they decided to pitch 30 point games. I started rather slow pitching under 70% my first 3 games. Considering my low game yesterday was over 75% I was rather disappointed. I lost my 3rd game to Stan Leis after sneaking by my first 2 games and I guess that motivated me as I pitched over 80% my last 4 games. In the last game I was pitching against Alan Francis. Alan is the current Men's world champion and he had the high average on Saturday. Alan hadn't lost a game I had the one loss, so if I beat Alan, we would be tied and would need a playoff game. Unfortunately Alan has been beating me regularly in the last few years so I was hoping to give him a good match. We started out pretty close, but I had a bad middle to give Alan a 24-16 lead. I managed to pitch a good finish having 22 out of my last 24 shoes, but Alan was able to sneak out the win 30-29. Even though I wasn't the true winner I felt much better about my pitching after this weekend. Hopefully I can do better in a few weeks in Greenville Oh and even better in August at the World tournament in Alberta Canada.
1.ALAN FRANCIS OH 7 0 208 258 80.62
2.WALTER RAY WILLIAMS FL 5 2 227 302 75.17
3.MANDELL PROCTOR MD 4 3 209 296 70.61
4.TOM WESTBROOK SC 4 3 193 290 66.55
5.STAN LEIS ON 3 4 204 296 68.92
6.BOB HAYES NY 2 5 187 280 66.79
7.ROBERT JONES NY 2 5 184 302 60.93
8.ANDRE LECLERC PQ 1 6 162 260 62.31
Here are Alan's and my games today.
1.ALAN FRANCIS-OH 2.WALTER RAY WILLIAMS-FL
OPPONENT SCORE R SP % OPPONENT SCORE R SP %
1.ANDRE LECLERC- 30/ 4 20 22 90.9 1.ROBERT JONES-N 32/ 21 28 42 66.7
2.STAN LEIS-ON 32/ 4 34 38 89.5 2.TOM WESTBROOK- 32/ 13 27 40 67.5
3.ROBERT JONES-N 30/ 18 19 28 67.9 3.STAN LEIS-ON 23/ 30 31 46 67.4
4.TOM WESTBROOK- 30/ 10 25 34 73.5 4.ANDRE LECLERC- 30/ 15 31 38 81.6
5.BOB HAYES-NY 30/ 14 32 42 76.2 5.MANDELL PROCTO 31/ 10 28 34 82.4
6.MANDELL PROCTO 30/ 8 27 32 84.4 6.BOB HAYES-NY 31/ 10 32 40 80.0
7.WALTER RAY WIL 30/ 29 51 62 82.3 7.ALAN FRANCIS-O 29/ 30 50 62 80.6
W- 7 L- 0 212 208 258 80.6 W- 5 L- 2 208 227 302 75.2
In the 30' championship class they had some great competition. Here are some of their results:
1.AMY FRANCIS OH 6 1 312 370 84.32
2.SUE SNYER KY 5 2 304 366 83.06
3.FRANK BOHUN PA 5 2 288 352 81.82
4.SYLVIANNE MOISAN PQ 5 2 272 334 81.44
5.JOAN ELMORE TN 4 3 307 382 80.37
6.BECKY KEMPER KY 2 5 211 304 69.41
7.ED PACACHA PA 1 6 177 288 61.46
8.LUCILLE LEIS ON 0 7 162 268 60.45
GROUP CHM3 -
1.AMY FRANCIS-OH 2.SUE SNYER-KY
OPPONENT SCORE R SP % OPPONENT SCORE R SP %
1.BECKY KEMPER-K 31/ 3 25 30 83.3 1.LUCILLE LEIS-O 31/ 14 37 46 80.4
2.LUCILLE LEIS-O 30/ 14 30 36 83.3 2.BECKY KEMPER-K 30/ 7 25 30 83.3
3.ED PACACHA-PA 32/ 12 27 38 71.1 3.SYLVIANNE MOIS 18/ 30 38 48 79.2
4.SYLVIANNE MOIS 30/ 16 50 56 89.3 4.ED PACACHA-PA 33/ 9 25 30 83.3
5.JOAN ELMORE-TN 31/ 16 48 56 85.7 5.FRANK BOHUN-PA 18/ 30 43 54 79.6
6.SUE SNYER-KY 26/ 30 73 88 83.0 6.AMY FRANCIS-OH 30/ 26 74 88 84.1
7.FRANK BOHUN-PA 30/ 19 59 66 89.4 7.JOAN ELMORE-TN 30/ 18 62 70 88.6
W- 6 L- 1 210 312 370 84.3 W- 5 L- 2 190 304 366 83.1
3.FRANK BOHUN-PA 4.SYLVIANNE MOISAN-PQ
OPPONENT SCORE R SP % OPPONENT SCORE R SP %
1.ED PACACHA-PA 31/ 12 29 40 72.5 1.JOAN ELMORE-TN 30/ 15 45 54 83.3
2.SYLVIANNE MOIS 31/ 21 45 54 83.3 2.FRANK BOHUN-PA 21/ 31 42 54 77.8
3.LUCILLE LEIS-O 31/ 7 31 40 77.5 3.SUE SNYER-KY 30/ 18 42 48 87.5
4.BECKY KEMPER-K 34/ 8 34 40 85.0 4.AMY FRANCIS-OH 16/ 30 45 56 80.4
5.SUE SNYER-KY 30/ 18 47 54 87.0 5.BECKY KEMPER-K 35/ 18 54 66 81.8
6.JOAN ELMORE-TN 9/ 33 47 58 81.0 6.ED PACACHA-PA 34/ 8 23 30 76.7
7.AMY FRANCIS-OH 19/ 30 55 66 83.3 7.LUCILLE LEIS-O 32/ 0 21 26 80.8
W- 5 L- 2 185 288 352 81.8 W- 5 L- 2 198 272 334 81.4
5.JOAN ELMORE-TN 6.BECKY KEMPER-KY
OPPONENT SCORE R SP % OPPONENT SCORE R SP %
1.SYLVIANNE MOIS 15/ 30 41 54 75.9 1.AMY FRANCIS-OH 3/ 31 16 30 53.3
2.ED PACACHA-PA 30/ 12 34 44 77.3 2.SUE SNYER-KY 7/ 30 17 30 56.7
3.BECKY KEMPER-K 32/ 27 45 58 77.6 3.JOAN ELMORE-TN 27/ 32 43 58 74.1
4.LUCILLE LEIS-O 32/ 15 31 42 73.8 4.FRANK BOHUN-PA 8/ 34 25 40 62.5
5.AMY FRANCIS-OH 16/ 31 43 56 76.8 5.SYLVIANNE MOIS 18/ 35 48 66 72.7
6.FRANK BOHUN-PA 33/ 9 55 58 94.8 6.LUCILLE LEIS-O 30/ 0 20 26 76.9
7.SUE SNYER-KY 18/ 30 58 70 82.9 7.ED PACACHA-PA 32/ 19 42 54 77.8
W- 4 L- 3 176 307 382 80.4 W- 2 L- 5 125 211 304 69.4
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Amy has been runner up at the World championships several times and she looks determined to be the champion. She also has the best practice partner in the world in her husband, Alan. Sue Snyder is a 4 time women's world champion while Frank Bohun at 87 years of age is a 4 time elder men's world champion. Sylvianne Moisan is the current women's world champion having won the last two years. She is married to Andre Leclerc who is starting to pitch a bit better. Joan Elmore is the TN ladies champion and like Amy is gunning for her first world title this year. Becky Kemper isn't quite showing the form that she had several years ago when she was the women's world champion, but some decent games at the end have her determined. Frank is an Erie resident and had 2 great games pitched against him, the 94.8% game of Joan Elmore and Amy's 89.4% in the deciding last game.
In the Junior division, local Tony White defeated current girl's world champion Shalee Sebastion on the last round of competition.
Walter Ray
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