I ordered the trophies verbally with my supplier - my mistake. Picked them up in haste and never checked the plates. Arriving at the courts and unwrapping the paper, I got sick. What are we at the Richmond Racetrack? No, we are in race for 1st place in a horseshoe tournament.  Carl Otto graciously accepted the mistake and even noted it has happened several times in his life - "Auto" vs "Otto".  

This event was named in his honor! He is the reason the courts are even in the ground. Without Carl Otto's dedication to the sport of horseshoes, Richmond would still be with out good quality sanctioned courts. Truly one of a kind!

The first tournament, held early this year, was the Richmond Open. As TD, with my wife's help, I ran the event. The Otto Classic was different, prepared to teach. Pat and I organized a manual system with all the paperwork, so that Carl and his good friend and long time supporter Fred Mullinex could learn just what it took to run a sanctioned event. 

They both got involved from the start of the day, right up to the time of pitching. After figuring out the classes, there was no way either of them could pitch and run the table at the same time. Pat had woken up that morning just dragging with the flu or something. She even struggled with going, but made up her mind and traveled with me. She not only let Carl and Fred off the hook of running the desk, but also gave me the opportunity to pitch. Carl and Fred both learned how to set up and run an event, and at the end of the day Pat and I took the time and showed them how to end the event - what it takes to report a sanctioned event. As Carl observed, "As TD it is very difficult to play in an event that you are running. The behind the scenes help and support is what makes it happen." Carl, Fred and I expressed our appreciation for the outstanding effort that Pat showed. Thank you Pat!

19 pitchers had signed up, in miserable heat and humidity, By one o'clock the temps where near 100 and the humidity was almost unbearable! You could see it not only on peoples faces but their bodies. Everybody dripped. I had the foresight to bring a fan, and that helped relieve the pitchers in between rounds. 

6-man classes was the choice of the day. Lenwood Conner Sr. was top seed in A Class at 57.7%. A tough fight for the rest of the class - top seed under Lenwood was 39%, and the percentages ran down to bottom seed at 33.75%. Lenwood won his first game but in the process cutup his fingers. Bandaged and battered he tried to stick it out, but the cuts aggravated to the point that after the 3rd round he gave a forfeit. That gave John Coleman, Donnie Boykin, Michael Jackson, David Turner and David Moser a chance at claiming A Class. After all the sweat, David Turner can out the victory with 5 wins and no losses pitching overall 39.73% He also had the high game of the class pitching a 50% game against Lenwood during the 2nd round of play. With a little practice he's going to climb into A class on his own!

My own class, B, was still tough. Chuck Duymich from Mineral had just played his first sanctioned event in Churchville the day before, finishing 6th with a 20.59%. It was Chuck's first experience with clay and sanctioned play. He felt more at home with the sand courts in Richmond. Chuck took the class with 5 wins and no losses pitching a 29.91% for the day. Kelly Boykin, Chesapeake, took 2nd place 4-1 over Patrick Doyle, Chesapeake. However, Patrick had the high game for the class throwing a 42.86% (against me).

C Class struggled with the heat - the class lasted 2 hours more than the rest of the field. The eight vs six man round robin, the heat and the humidity just drained them. With a neck 'n neck race for 1st place, Daniel Yelenik (a junior) won his last game of the round robin. That forced a playoff with his own club member and President of his club. Daniel was hot and tired and gave it his best to overcome his mentor. In the end, persistence and consistency was just what Mark Mater needed. He beat Daniel 40-17 taking the first place trophy.

Daniel had shown his best series pitching at an event, finishing out with an even 20% for the day. That was 8.96% above his starting percentage but it was not enough to overtake Mark who was hot! Mark also pitched well above his starting average of 10% over with an overall 21.93% for the day. 3rd place went to Thomas Banks. Thomas had the highest game for the class pitching 35% against Fred Mullinex in the 3rd round.

Another fun tournament, and a great place to pitch! Trees at both ends of the courts provided much needed relief to the pitchers despite the day. I look forward to their next event.
  
 Until next riiiiinnngggggngeer, Kevin