An elderly man in a white shirt, soaked in sweat, stares intently at a metal pole in the ground. He steps forward and flicks his wrist in a Frisbee-like motion, sending the metal object in his hand flying through the air.
“Ringer!” the man yells, as the horseshoe lands squarely around the pole.
The surrounding men stand up and place a quarter in the bin–it’s a ritual performed whenever someone achieves two ringers consecutively. A waitress brings out a round of drinks, and all the men smile in appreciation.
Bob “Duby” Erickson and his friends have been playing horseshoes for more than 30 years. Every Saturday morning they’re in Lincoln Park, and every Sunday afternoon they gather for three hours at a variety of taverns sponsoring horseshoe teams. They drink a few beers, have a few laughs, and play the game they love.
“There are only a few of us who practice regularly and play in nationally sanctioned events,” Erickson says. “Most of the guys just come out to have a good time.”
Erickson learned to play the game as a boy in the early 1930s; his parents and his uncle threw horseshoes in the backyard. Now Erickson, who’s competed in the world championships, is known as a scholar of the game, teaching as well as playing.
“My uncle was a great player, and we used to go out and play in Douglas and Lincoln parks all the time,” he says.
Ask him how to throw a horseshoe correctly, and Erickson smiles. He obviously loves the game.
“The best way to throw a horseshoe is using a one-and-a-quarter or one-and-three-quarter throwing technique, which signifies how many times the horseshoe turns in the air,” he says. “You throw it kind of like a Frisbee, stepping forward to throw.”
The Marvin Taylor Tavern League–named after a player who died of cancer–has been hosting horseshoe events in Springfield for the last 20 years, with players ranging from old veterans to young guns. The league consists of 11 teams vying for the top spot. In doubles games, two members from each team stand on either side of the pit; opponents stand next to each other.
“You get three points for a ringer, and one point for any horseshoe within six inches of the peg,” Erickson says. “We play to 35.”
Gary Nation, one of the 12 players on Erickson’s team, says pitching horseshoes is great for muscle and bone pain, as well as coordination. “It’s one of the best therapies for arm pain, and it really improves your hand-eye coordination,” he says.
Erickson’s team, Delaney’s, has taken first place in the league for the past two years; all of the members are good friends.
“I come out here to see my friends as much as I do to play,” Erickson says. “We’ve seen each other for years–some of our sons played little league together back in the ’50s.”
While the uninitiated may consider the game to be old-fashioned, some aspects of the sport have changed over the years. When Erickson started throwing, horseshoes were much less expensive and prevalent. “My first horseshoe was $2, and I remember once at the fair they were giving them away for free,” Erickson says. Today a single horseshoe can cost up to $60.
Even so, the tavern league is bigger than ever. “There were only 24 people playing horseshoes in Springfield when I started,” Erickson says. More than a 100 players compete on tavern teams, and even more attend the monthly meetings of the Earl Bomke Horseshoe Club.
“We’ve got some pretty good players coming up around here,” Nation said. “We’ve even got this little boy who won the state champion when he was 11 years old.”
The quality of a player is measured by his “ringer percentage.” Great players hook the ring around 70 to 80 percent of the time, while the average thrower comes in below 30 percent.
“You can’t just join the tavern league,” Erickson says. “You have to sign up in the beginning of the season and you have to be pretty good. But anybody can play at the monthly club meetings.”
This year three Springfield players–Ivan Glasscock, Jim Kramp, and Fred O’Conner–will be playing in the World Championships in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
“We’ve got a few guys going up there,” Erickson says. “It’s a pretty exciting thing–they have over 30 pegs set up on one field and you’ve got the best from around the country. We even had some guy from Switzerland up there once.”
In the winter the league and the club take a break, though there is an indoor court in Palmer, Illinois. Erickson and his friends have a quick answer for what they do during the off-season.
“We bowl,” Erickson says. “It has a lot in common with horseshoes and I guess I have to see these guys year-round.”
In a moment of silence, everyone looks around and smiles. Even after all these
years, the game still holds their attention. Team member Bob Sponsler finally
laughs and breaks the silence: “Who wants another drink?”
This article appears in Aug 7-13, 2003.
