Hours of ‘Practice, Practice, Practice’ Make a Shuffleboard Champion
John Stout laughed hard when asked about his status as the state’s shuffleboard champion. “Me? a champion? “ The 80-year-old Bellflower resident guffawed. “Well, I guess so. I guess you could say that.”
Stout won the state championship in January and again in June, securing a place on the U.S. team, which will compete against Australia, Japan and Canada for the world championship in Clearwater, Fla., at the end of the month.
Among senior citizens, shuffleboard is a growing sport, Stout said. The reason, he suspects, is that the national shuffleboard association restricts membership to players 55 and older. The California association divides the state into 13 districts with hundreds of members. Stout’s club, at Simms Park in Bellflower, has about 50 competitors.
“I bowl too,” Stout said, “but only when there aren’t any shuffleboard tournaments.”
Stout plays shuffleboard several times a week. The board, a triangle painted on concrete, is divided into zones marked with numbers. The numbers denote points earned if the player, using a special stick, successfully shoots an opponent’s disk into one of the zones.
Strategy is important, Stout said. Players must outfox opponents by strategically placing disks, minimizing opportunities for opponents to score. “You always have to think ahead,” he said. “You have to have a feel for the board.”
Stout said he is worried about competing in the world finals. He has never been to Florida, but he hears that the boards “are a lot rougher than what we have here. Our boards are smooth as glass. With rough boards, you’ve got to push a lot harder. I’m going a few days early to practice.”
Until a few years ago, shuffleboard was not a big priority for Stout. He had been working, doing “odds and ends,” first as a longshoreman and then as a church custodian, when he decided to retire. A neighbor persuaded him to try shuffleboard at a local court and he was hooked.
Eunice, his wife of 42 years, plays too, but not as enthusiastically. “She won’t let it interfere with church,” he said. “I will.”
Stout attributes his success to practice. He plays three times a week, at least two hours a day. “How do baseball pitchers hit the corners? They practice. Well, I do the same. I play and play, I slide the disk and watch what kind of line it follows, whether it drifts right or left. It’s just practice, practice, practice!”
In Florida, Stout may compete against men half his age because other countries don’t have the same age restrictions as the U.S. shuffleboard association, he said. “It don’t bother me. Being young doesn’t give you any advantage. Besides,” he added, “the bigger they are, the harder they fall.”
Compton resident Josephine Bolden was recently named a Delta Great Teacher by the national black sorority Delta Sigma Theta at the club’s national convention in Baltimore, Md., Bolden chairs the Social Studies Department of Compton’s Roosevelt Middle School, where she works with the drill team, the leadership team, school site council and School Advisory Council. She also volunteers in the community, working with the homeless and disadvantaged.
Lisa Lick was elected to the Senior Care Action Network board of directors. The network is a nonprofit organization serving needy senior citizens living in Long Beach, South-Central Los Angeles, South Bay and northern Orange County. Lick, a local businesswoman, will help the foundation provide emergency assistance to senior citizens.
St. Mary Medical Center selected Dr. Sylmar Williams as 1992 Doctor of the Year. Williams, who specializes in internal medicine, has practiced at St. Mary’s in Long Beach since 1962. He was chosen from among 44 candidates.
Carson resident Bettye Fontenot has been appointed manager of the American Red Cross South East District in Los Angeles. Fontenot hopes to better promote the Red Cross in southeast Los Angeles and wants to build a larger volunteer network.
Daniel Keosababian of Whittier recently won first place in the annual RTD bus driving competition in the parking lot of Santa Anita Park. Keosababian beat 450 contestants over two weeks of competition designed to test drivers’ skills by putting them through a series of obstacle courses. Keosababian will compete later this year in the national contest in San Diego.
