Letters from my e-mailbox

Dear Dean: I am going to attempt writing some interesting facts about our club. We had our Greater Lansing Area Horseshoe Club Banquet the night of (9-16) at Fire Mountain Restaurant in Lansing. Because I am President and Statistician, I discovered some interest things about this years members.

First, I'd like to commend you and some others about how to build clubs. I've read a few articles and found inspiration and knowledge in them. I hope I am not done yet. Next year is just around the corner. And I have already had a few people ask, what do I do to get started? I like those kind of questions.

As I was saying, some interesting facts about the new NHPA members. Seven of them joined our Club this year. What's interesting is, that we have a Husband & Wife, (John & Jan Decker), a Father and Daughter, (Lee Frances and Shelley Perry), a Father and Son, (Mike Fish & Wade Fish), and a Grandpa & Grand Son, (Bob Carr & Josh Carr). We also had two brothers at the beginning of the year, (John and Martin Ulrich.) But because of some complications, John could not pitch with us.

Another interesting fact is about one of these new members pitched his first State Tournament this year and won!! Bob Dick won after a play-off with Paul Mattson.

There can't be enough said about these Juniors skills in pitching. They all just get gooooder and gooder. Josh Carr took home another Class A Championship. His second year in a row. I am sure he'll be back again next year to defend it. I think he's trying to be another Tom Williams, and a few more like them. He was right next to Drew Becker all the time he was at the World Tournament in Pocatella, Idaho. He would like very much to put his name at the top with him and Nick Preston (2004 World Champ). Some of our new pitchers are already asking friends of theirs if they'd like to join us next year.

It looks like we will also have another league. A non-sanction league that will help us keep some of the eighteen courts we have in better shape. Maybe by the time the State Tournament gets here we'll have the clay in the best shape it's every been. See ya on the courts.

--Bob Carr

Dear Bob: Thanks for the nice note on the state of your club.

Growing a club, I find, is just as rewarding as pitching in a sanctioned tournament. You have a good nucleus to make the Lansing Club one of the finest in the WSHPA. Dewey has the experience and newcomers like Robert Dick have the enthusiasm. With your leadership, good things will happen.

Horseshoe pitching is truly a family sport. I have written before how you and Josh set an example and now the

whole Lansing Club looks like a family reunion every time league night rolls around.

Congratulations on forming a new recreation league. A good place for most pitchers to start until they become more confident in their pitching.

I hope your sanctioned club can muster up 10 pitchers to compete in The Woody Cup Challenge in 2005. I hope The Woody Cup becomes as famous as the Ryder Cup and the Stanley Cup, well, at least with horseshoe pitchers.

Horseshoe pitching season is never officially over for a promoter. There are always things to work on with recruiting and working out details of getting club members to share the work load. Thanks for keeping the spirit of horseshoe pitching alive and well in your area.

Dear Dean: I know we tried this before, but now the administrator is getting involved. If at all possible, we would like to get the portable pits. I need to know how many pits there are and directions to pick them up. I want to insure that I have a vehicle available before I set a date and time to do this, so it will not be this week.
You can either e-mail me or if you are coming down on Saturday, let me know then.

We are working on adding the rest of our outdoor pits starting this coming week and our lighting will be done along with the additional pits. The Moose administrator was so impressed with the tournaments this year that he is helping us accomplish these tasks as quickly as possible. I have the backing from the Moose, and am looking forward to expanding our capabilities as quickly as possible.

Let me know, so we can get started with inclosing our pavilion for the winter, at least until our new pole barn is finished to place the portable pits inside.

--Guy Hall

Dear Guy: Congratulations on the progress your club has made. I look forward to pitching in a state tournament at Taylor in the future and also in your indoor club.

I passed on your e-mail to John T and John Z. JZ will be in Taylor Saturday. They will both be at the Tournament Directors meeting in Webberville on Sunday. I hope you will be there to pass on the good news to the WSHPA. JT is storing the pits in his work warehouse. He would be the contact person to retrieve them. Let me know when you get ready to set them up as I will assist with the first set-up. I have the removable stakes in my garage.

Thanks for promoting horseshoe pitching in the metro area. We have hundreds of pitchers living here who still don't know the real joy of pitching horseshoes. Keep up the good work.

September 2004