“Pitching in Miller Park” … just saying it brings back memories of the stories about the courts and their history. This is where the NHPA was first introduced to Virginia pitchers, and the Virginia Horseshoe Pitchers Association was born.

Marty Coleman and Mark Bunch, working with the Lynchburg Parks & Rec Department are giving the court complex a facelift, and were excited to host the Hill City Spring Ringers tournament as their “Grand ReOpening” event. Many brand new pitchers attended the event, and Marty introduced Marvin May as a keynote speaker to welcome them.

As explained by Marvin, casual horseshoe pitching and competitions were very common in the area back in 1958. To improve his game, he bought a pair of Gordon shoes. In the box was pamphlet about “official rules” and the NHPA. He contacted the national organization, got some local interest, and founded the Virginia charter, with Billy McCloud as President, Robert Toney as first Vice and himself as Secretary/Treasurer. Their membership could be counted on two hands. They held the VaHPA’s first sanctioned tournament in Miller Park in 1962. At that time, the original 8 courts had just been built, but with the local interest, by the late 60’s another four courts were added on.

As things go sometimes, as more court complexes sprang up around the state, and tournaments were held elsewhere, the local interest in Lynchburg began to fade. Eventually the courts sat un-used, and the city gave up maintenance. The sport of horseshoe pitching, however, continued to thrive in the area, and Marty & Mark recognized the potential sitting idle right in town – 12 fully built courts with lights, electricity and water already installed! Their efforts were greatly appreciated by the pitchers in attendance.

With rain in the forecast for mid afternoon, it was decided to run the event in a single flight, even though it meant that several pitchers sat out. Twenty eight pitchers were seeded into four classes, and the pitching began.

Seeding walk-ins straight down the line into groups of 7 per class might lead to concern about entry percentage spreads, however, this event was very unusual in that it was distinctly top heavy. 21 out of the 28 pitchers had entry percentages over 30, and the classes seeded very tightly. Another item that was worth noticing was that over 50% of the participants were brand new pitchers, throwing in their very first sanctioned event.

The pitchers were excited to be on the courts, and casual banter and cross-court good humor was heard all day. The pitchers in A Class were relaxed and rarin’ to go, and they truly showed their skills. All four of the top place finishers had games with final scores over 76% . Hearl Kelly beat his own personal record by pitching an 89.47% against James May. Lenwood Conner Sr threw an 80% against Ron Walker. Ronnie himself threw two 79% games during the day, and Jackie Whetzel pitched a 76.74% against Ronnie. Great pitching all !!

In B Class, during the class matches, Jessie Johnson threw an 82.14% game against James Owens. Charlie Walker must have heard about it, because in his very next game which was against Jessie, Charles threw a 65.63% game - a full 15.63 over his entering stat! Jessie came back after that match and pitched a 70.45% against Horace Phillips! What a day for Jessie! He was beaming as he walked off the courts, pleased as could be with his shoes this day.

James Hartman, won 1st place in C Class, his only loss was in the second round against WL Doss. This was the closest match of the day, with a final score of 38-40. The game was decided on the very last throw.

The energy and vibes must have been contagious, because in D Class, again, all of the top four place winners pitched games well over their entering stats. The class entering stats ran from 19.4 through 25.7 . Yogi Guyer, first place winner after a playoff against Gail Walker, threw a 41.18% game. Gail Walker, second place finisher, threw a 42.11% game. Third place Wayne Austin threw a 39.47% game and Doug Gamble threw a 41.18% game. I don’t think these pitchers will stay in D Class for long… looks like they’ve found their strokes and are on the way up.

Lenwood Conner Sr, A Class, had a great day pitching, ending the tournament with the “High Over Average” record… he pitched 12.89% overall above his entering stat, ending the day with a 67.34, in second place behind Hearl Kelly who ended with a 72.32 – 5.59% over his entering stat.

As the scorekeeper’s table and the concession booth were taken down and folded away, pitchers stopped by to thank Marty and Mark for the event. It seems that everyone had had a great time and asked when the next one would be. With the last of the chairs and tables safely stowed, the rain that had been threatening finally began to fall. The early morning decision to play a single flight was the right one to make after all.

We’ll be playing again in Miller Park in June – at the Virginia State Doubles. Hope to see you all there !!