Published: June 27, 2009 10:52 pm      

CONARD: Horseshoe tourney offers friendly competition

It was quite the scene, 65 proud, plucky veterans who’ve stared life in the eye through thick, thin or thistle enjoying their moment in the spotlight — the annual Haynes-Apperson Festival Horseshoe Tournament at Highland Park.

Think what you want, and say what you please. But the ringer flingers who toed the line Saturday afternoon in this 26th yearly Kokomo fun fest were a special breed who learned long ago the best things in life are free for the piddling price of easy come, easy go, never mind win, place or show.

They came on as human remnants of the Steel Mill, Delco, Chrysler, construction types, etc., and of days when life was simpler, more plentiful and unquestionably more acceptable. But they stepped up as veteran Haynes-Apperson athletes who knew how to play and enjoy the right way.

As I stood aside with longtime friends and veteran pitchers Bill Rist and Don Pine viewing the likes of Kenny Pendergrass, former Eastern Comet basketball coach Dick Price, Ray Grubbs, Robert Watson and Fred Rink among many others — including top lady thrower and six-game-perfect Class D champion Sue Stubbs — saunter up and down the well-manicured 40-foot courts, I couldn’t help but marvel at the calm but intense demeanor.

Granted, the name of the game was “win,” and this select troupe of 65 — no draft choices, mind you, just game makers — had the same zing and purpose as any Carlos Zambrano or CC Sabathia in launching their 21/2 pound shoes at a defenseless 2-foot stake 30 and 40 steps away.

No shouts, hip hops or tantrums, just ringer after ringer after ringer, etc., clang, clang, clang went the volleys — machine guns minus triggers, miniature grenades without smoke.

Price, a spry 81 years young looking ahead to No. 82 on Sept. 3, spent 18 years in classrooms and gymnasiums, the last at Eastern where he also served as A.D. in 1976 before stepping aside in 1988.

He recalled the successful Comet days alongside coaches Jim Callaway and Bob Shawn, and today is serenely happy with winters in Orange Beach, Ala., down the way from Pensacola, Fla. Now when he steps onto the court wth ’shoes in hand. the old competitive flame comes alive. He’d never played until the summer of 2000 but learned quickly with almost religious daily practices on his own home court.

He was a two-league champion in Alabama three years in succession; lost in the Louisville, Ky., Senior Nationals by one game in 2004 and took third place in the 2004 Class A state finals. He laughed as he recalled: “I beat the state champion twice in the preliminaries, than had that one miss in the finals.”

The epitome of dedication, Price pitches 100 ’shoes every day except Sunday, and has improved his ringer accuracy from the high 30s to the low 50s — a tad better than the average pitcher gait of 35 to 45 percent. He hit 62.5 percent Saturday, but had a low of 37.5.

Pitching talent aside, Dick remains the same frank and pleasant guy who spent 18 years of Fridays and Saturdays coaxing youngsters to do their best. The heart and effort are the same, only the ’shoes have changed.

Kokomo league secretary Jerry Monticue, who’s been a part of the National Horseshoe Pitching Association (NHSPA) for 21 years, offered: “Dick is one of the top 10 pitchers in Howard County along with Fred Gross, Ted Sprinkle and Dan Dunn. Gross has been pitching 50 years, use to throw 60 percent ringers and has competed in about 18 or 20 world tourneys in Canada, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wyoming and North Dakota. And Dunn and Sprinkle have been 60 percent pitchers.”

As for Rist. he was there when the Kokomo league got its start, provided the maintenance shed and other necessities, and was involved as a regular player.

To all the above, such trickery as “flip,” three-forth turn, 11/4 turn, 13/4 turn and “reverse” are mere ABCs. To the rest of us that’s pure Popular Mechanics malarkey.

Pendergrass started aiming for ringers as a 10-year-old and has never shaken the bug after 70 years. He helped organize the Kokomo League in the late 1950s and recalled the Continental Steel League of 10 four-man teams.

He used to throw “strikes,” i.e., ringers, to the tune of 48 and 49 percent. The fire is still there, but the number these days is in the 30-plus percent range. Still, he got the best of Price, Grubbs, Watson and Rink Saturday to finish 4-0 and take the championship.

“My brother-in-law, [Fred] Gross talked me into playing,” Pendergrass chuckled. “I just aimed to throw.” He must’ve thrown pretty well — the clang, clang, clang never stopped. There was a time when the game was pure habit. Today he throws once a week except in winter when he joins his pals throw at the indoor court just off Courtland Avenue.

Saturday’s tourney atmosphere was more like a family outing, all 18 courts alive and families, fans and well-wishers alongside in the safety of shade and lawn chairs, a bona fide horshoe holiday. It was also 65 diehards displaying the best side of one-on-one in a simple thing known as a game.

Even those forlorn stakes, swallowed in clay and steady shots of 2 1/2 pounds, joined the party without a whimper.

It happens just once a year, a shame of sorts because — ringers aside — it’s one too-brief opportunity to go face to face with humanity’s best. 2010 can’t come too soon.

• Gene F. Conard may be reached through the sports department.