Horseshoe Club Makes a Pitch for Exercise and Camaraderie
Pitching horseshoes.
The phrase conjures up an image of retired men relaxing and taking in the air. A gentle sport. Something akin to shuffleboard, say, or lawn bowling.
Maybe that’s true in some places, but not in Balboa Park. The folks who play there are dead serious.
In fact, the burgeoning, 175-member Balboa Park Horseshoe Club has recently gobbled up a half-dozen underused shuffleboard courts to use. And the shoe-tossers sound positively gleeful as they describe the graying and deterioration of the shuffleboard and lawn bowling clubs they share the park with.
“Larry and I believe in youth. That’s why we have younger people and they don’t,” club president Everett (Red) Seaman, 62, says. “Hell, we’re not going to be around that long. We want this thing to continue.”
Shuffleboard, on the other hand, “seems to be a game of the past,” said former president Larry Ford, 70, with a trace of a smirk.
Off to the Contest
Buoyed by such spirit, Seaman, Ford and 12 of their Balboa Park brethren today will ply their skill and chase dollars in Pleasanton, Calif., at the first World Horseshoe Pitching Championship to be held in the state in 15 years.
Perhaps the biggest lure drawing the San Diego team northward for the championship quest is the thrill of the hunt. It’s a good thing. The $200 top prize in the local team’s categories probably won’t stretch enough to cover the Howard Johnson’s motel rooms and the $25 entry fee.
The international contest has drawn 839 competitors from as far away as Maine, Georgia and Canada to vie for trophies and $60,000 in cash prizes. They are grouped according to their percentage of ringers per 100 throws: The defending champion has just over 80%, while the top San Diegan entering, Tom Tiedeman, has a 55% mark.
The Balboa Park club--the only club for horseshoe enthusiasts in San Diego County--is one of the nation’s largest, according to Seaman, a 44.2% pitcher. In addition to its local members, the group has part-time adherents in Idaho and Arizona. The 27-year-old organization hopes to pick up even more steam next month when it plays host to the first state championship tournament to be held in San Diego since 1925.
The statewide contests generally attract about 300 entrants, Seaman said, and it could be just the ticket to get out the local word on the healthful, uncomplicated sport.
From 8 to 88
The Balboa Park club members--who pay $10 a year for the upkeep of the 16 clay and 5 portable courts--range in age from 8 to 88, including two husband-and-wife teams.
“The majority of our members are under retirement age,” Seaman said. “You’d be surprised at the people who come out. We have schoolteachers, people who work in construction, someone in computers. We have about every trade you can think of.”
The club holds its own tournaments about one weekend each month.
Seaman and Ford, who was a founding member of the Balboa Park club, are energetic men, and they described a club history of persistence and hustle as they practiced recently on the courts, 6th Avenue and Juniper Road.
“We started out in 1958, but the freeways wiped us out,” said Ford, who has competed unsuccessfully in four world championships since 1979. “We got the park to build us five more, and we got that to grow into 16. Two years ago, we saw the shuffleboard courts weren’t very active, so we had them converted.”
The surrounding area has blossomed as well because the city “goes along with most of our improvements,” Ford said. After the club got back on its feet in 1961, the city cleared out surrounding high brush that attracted drifters. Local merchants have donated money, and new shrubs and lighting now adorn the court area.
Most club members say it is exercise and the thrill of competition that attract them to the unusual sport, which most people may sample as youths at summer camp but never play again.
“We play for the camaraderie, the exercise and the competition. I love the competition,” said Seaman, who worked for 41 years as a baker and now works mornings at an auto parts store.
“When you think of throwing 2 1/2 pounds 40 feet, you realize you’re talking about real exercise,” added Ford, who was a materials supervisor at General Dynamics before retiring and working part time as a travel consultant.
Without a doubt, both men--who favor baseball caps, T-shirts and comfortable shoes--are avid enthusiasts.
“It’s a family game,” Ford said. “It keeps people happy.”
Add Seaman: “It’s like hitting a home run every throw.”