MINNESOTA HORSESHOE PITCHERS'

Ringer Digest

Special State Tournament Issue - 2023, corrected

A Charter of the NHPA

Official Publication of the Minnesota Gopher State Horseshoe Pitchers' Association

Editor's Note

The following pages are filled with stories, photos, results, and fun memories of our State Tournament. I want to thank Michelle Foard for all of her hard work managing and providing the photos that make this issue possible. I also want to thank Marlys Timm for helping proof read these publications for years. I hope you enjoy this issue, and that you can join in the fun experience next year if you don't already.

Jerry LaBrosse

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR

2023 MINNESOTA STATE CHAMPIONS !!!!

Women's Champion ---- Men's Champion --- Elder's Champion

Pat Stumpf --------------- Nathan Dehkes -------- Jerry Hokkala

Junior Champion -------------------------Cadet Champion

Tristan Dehkes ---------------------------- Elijah Strandquist

Mens Championship Class

L/R Matthew Henning, Andy Olson, Tracy Seppelt, Eric Dehkes,

Mark Smith, Joe Mueller, Nathan Dehkes, Josh Olson

Mens Championship Recap

By Josh Olson

The 2023 State Tournament has come and gone, and I can say this is defiantly one of the most memorable ones to say the least. From the great competition in all the championship classes to the very HOT weather that we dealt with the entire weekend. I would like to start off by saying congrats to Pat Stumpf for adding another State Title (1st one in Minnesota) to her list of accomplishments. Also, I would like to congratulate Jerry Hokkala for winning his first State Title after a play-off win over Al Larson, congrats Jerry. 

Now to the Men’s Championship recap. Over the years Labor Day weekend usually brings us what I would call typical September or early Fall weather over the state Tournament weekend. It brings for sweatshirt weather and some very comfortable pitching weather. That was not the case this year, we had record temps the entire weekend. We are very fortunate to have the Genola Building to hold our State Tournament, if we had to hold the Tournament outside, we would have seen some dropouts throughout the event I would guarantee it. The Championship for the Men’s division started out slow, right off the bat the #8 seed and newcomer for the Men’s Championship scene Matt Henning from Mazeppa, MN gave Josh Olson (me) the defending champion a heck of a run for his money going 78 shoes, Matt battled back and scored 35 points. Matt would get the loss but would bounce back nicely after winning his next 2 games against #3 and #4 seeds (Joe Mueller and Mark Smith) and pulling off a couple of upsets in the first couple games of the Tournament, Matt was one of the 4 move-ups to make the championship class even coming out of Men’s Class C. Congrats Matt again on a great showing for your first State Championship appearance. The other 3 move ups (Andy Olson, Eric Dehkes and Tracy Seppelt) all had a good showing for the State Championship. All 3 of them making another appearance to each of there pitching careers, congrats gentleman for making it the big Dance once again. Tracy Seppelt would have a fantastic day of pitching going 5-2 for the day overall placing 3rd place after losing the tie breaker to Eric Dehkes by over all ringer percentage, Tracy would beat Eric, but Eric would have a few more ringers to stay ahead of Tracy for the tie breaker, Congrats to Tracy and Eric for there 3rd and 2nd place finishes. I would like to congratulate the new 2023 Men’s State Champion Nathan Dehkes on a well-deserved victory and great day of pitching. Nathan was the only one to stay consistent and hold a ringer average over 50% for the Day and to go Undefeated! Great pitching my friend! This would be Nathan’s first Championship win and I would say it will not be his last. We had a very good group of competitors this year for the Championship class in the Men’s division, I encourage everyone to get qualified for the State Tournament next year and come out and have some fun with us again in Genola. Until next year, congrats again to all the winners and we will see you on the courts! 

Womens Championship Class

L/R Janet Roubinek, Jenny Lammers, Carolyn Brigner, Michelle Foard, Patti Oakes, Helen Hawkinson, Pat Stumpf, Janet Larson

Womens Championship Recap

By Michelle Foard

The 2023 Women’s Championships round was sure a surprising one. We had our defending Champ Janet Larson, 2nd seed Pat Stumpf, 3rd seed Helen Hawkinson and 4th seed Patti Oakes. Move ups were Michelle Foard who took 1st in B Class with 47.14% and Janet R. who took 2nd in B class with 34.64%. Then we dropped down to C Class with Carolyn Brigner who took 1st in C Class with 36.50% and Jenny Lammers took 2nd in C Class with 35%. On Sunday B Class pitchers had it tough. It was 99 degrees with a feels like temp of 104. Many B Class pitchers struggled with the heat.

Thankfully Mon was cooler at 97 degrees. Josh made the decision to start at 8am which definitely helped. Pat Stumpf started out with a 71.43% game against Jenny Lammers. Pat went on to win all of her games pitching 60.61% for the day. Pat finished 1st becoming the Mn State Champion for the first time. Janet Larson had several games that were close to start and in the end Janet buckled down and pushed ahead for the win. Janet was down almost 20 points against Helen and managed to come back to win a close game. In her last game Janet played Pat and pitched her lowest average losing to Pat. So Janet finished with 6-1 record pitching 46.30%. I started off pitching the top 4 seeded players right away. I won against Patti. Then on to play Pat. I lost, but played well against her. Then on to Helen. I had yet to beat her at State. Today was my day pitching 52% against her. Then I played the defending Champ Janet. I did well keeping up with her even taking the lead shortly. Too many misses and Janet took the win. I went on to win the rest of my games taking 3rd for the first time and pitching 47.06%. Helen had a couple high games over 60% and finished in 4th with a 3-4 record pitching 41.51%. Jenny Lammers was back again this year in A Class. She had 2 games of 44%. She had a 3-4 record as well, but placed 5th with a 34.87% just under her 35% she threw in C Class. Patti Oakes took 6th place with a 2-5 record pitching 27.33%. Janet R took 7th with a 1-6 record pitching 28.80%. Carolyn Brigner took 8th place with a 1-6 record pitching 26.80%. I feel the heat definitely took its toll on some. It was a tough weekend to pitch. A Class ladies pitched their heart out! Congrats to Pat Stumpf our new Women’s State Champion!.

Elders Championship Class

L/R Jerry Hokkala, Al Larson, Dick Dvorak, Bill Danielson, Tom Prokop, Tim Brigner, Jeff Washburn, Myron Vanderweyst

Elders Championship Recap

By Janet Larson

This has been an exciting group to watch this year as the age requirement, changing from 70 to 65 years old, created an influx of new pitchers to the Elders division. I pitched with most of them between January and July, observing their improvement at the new distance first hand, with much anticipation and speculation as to how this Championship division would play out at State. 

Myron VanderWeyst was glad that as defending champion, his #1 seed was secure. Jerry Hokkala has been consistently ranked nationally in the top 100 Elders for the past 4 years with averages over 60%, so assigning him as #2 seed was pretty easy. First year Elders, Tom Prokop, Alan Larson, Jerry Werk and Tim Brigner all made very impressive showings at the WT in Lansing MI, but the last two seeded players would not be determined until the very last day of July, with Alan and Jeff Washburn getting those spots.  

As for move-ups, #5 was claimed by Tim, who won Elders B pitching between 50 and 62.5% every game. Also in Elders B, Tom pitched two high games in the 60’s to achieve an average of 51.79% and Bill Danielson pitched pretty steady in the low 50’s to earn these guys the #6 and #7 spots. As I have noted in the past, to get into the Elders Championship you will need to average 50% or better. Edging out Jerry Werk, Dick Dvorak pitched 13.25% above his entering average in Elders C to win that Class with an even 50% and take the last move-up spot. 

It was very clear as the battles began that this was going to be a very competitive group. Jerry H. pitched 70% his first game but then struggled in round 2 with his timing and said it just took him too long to correct it. This added to Tim’’s ability to take down each of the top four seeded players in the first four rounds pitching well over his average two of those games. Alan also started out with two very good games, each over 68%. Mild mannered Jeff, clobbered Bill in round 2 pitching his high game of 66.13%. After 4 rounds, Tim was undefeated. Jerry H. and Jeff each had one loss, while Alan and Bill were both 2-2 with averages of 60.53% and 57.22% respectively! That is one tough group of pitchers! In round five, Jerry H. once again had a brief struggle with his timing giving Alan a win. Tom pitched his best game to upset Bill, and Dick took down Tim giving him his first loss. Bill pounced on Tim the next game. Tim started out with 5 of 12 shoes being ringers, but the score was 21-0 in Bill's favor as he had not missed the stake. Bill averaged 58.70% that game to give Tim his second loss. This created a four way tie for first at 4-2, between Alan, Jerry H. Tim, and Jeff, with Bill in 5th at 55.21%. This battle was not over! Alan and Jeff would play each other in round seven, but a three way playoff was still a possibility. Jerry H. earned a win over Myron. Tom upset Tim pitching his second best game of the day. Alan beat Jeff, leaving just Jerry H. and Alan at 5-2 to battle it out in a playoff game. With all the other Championship divisions completed, there was a respectfully good number of spectators for this final game which would go 56 shoes and end with Jerry H. winning 41-24, pitching 60.71% and finishing with a tournament average of 56%. Alan’s overall average was only slightly higher at 56.44% and Bill broke the four way tie for 3rd with 55.83%. Note, that’s less than a 1% difference in all three of these guys! Excellent job! I was impressed with how many of these elders were still pitching high ringer games the last three rounds of this tournament with the extremely hot weather that we had. Defending Champion, Myron VanderWeyst, was not able to win a game, but he did make his presence known. Pitching only two games under 60 shoes, he threw a total 408 shoes, making his opponents earn their wins.  

 Jerry H. was all smiles as this was his fourth attempt to earn this title, having come in third in 2019 and second the past two years. Jerry is no stranger to Championship play, as prior to becoming an Elder, he also pitched in nine 40’ Men’s Championships between 1994 and 2017. Jerry’s brother introduced him to horseshoes when he got out of the service, and in 1982 Ray Watkins invited him to pitch in the Litchfield league. Jerry has been an NHPA member since 1983 and in recent years he has also pitched in the Greenfield and Becker Clubs. When Jerry was pitching at 40’, he was also doing a lot of archery. Now he has been concentrating more on horseshoes. He knows being good requires a lot of practice, and at 30’ he has found that to be a little easier to do in his own pole barn. He credits Jack O’Conner for instilling in him that you work on technique during practice so that when you are competing it should just “feel” right.

I asked Jerry if the pressure was off now that he had achieved both of his goals, to maintain a 60% average and win a state title, he laughed and said “there is always pressure”. I love visiting with all the participants in this group every year, after the tournament. Jerry, along with some of the other Elder’s that I spoke with, said they are setting new goals and planning their strategies for next year. I am looking forward to 2024!  

Junior / Cadet Recap

Kelli Pierce : Junior Director

This year's state tournament was extra special for me. Not only did I compete myself, but I was also able to bring my 7-year-old granddaughter, Kylianna to pitch in her first tournament. My interest in the Junior Director position happened on a Tuesday at our Hibbing club's regular pitching night. My older brother, President Ray Pierce, Jr. asked if I would be interested in taking over the youth director position. As a grandmother of 8 (9th due in February) nothing makes me happier than spending time with kids so of course I said yes!! However, I knew that I would be replacing one of the greatest and would have some amazing shoes to fill. 

When I got to the tournament, I was a little concerned as I would be pitching at the same time as the youth pitchers. April Lynch stepped up once again to support and cheer on the cadets and juniors while they pitched. What I love the most about taking on this position is that while horseshoe pitchers in general are some of the kindest, most supportive people, the youth are above and beyond that!! I witnessed cadets and juniors all helping each other and cheering each other on at this year’s state tournament. There was absolutely no competitiveness; only fun, encouragement and nothing but smiles the entire time.  

After the awards were handed out, the kids all taught ME how to do the horseshoe dipping with water and spray paint. How fun and cool - each one turned out so individually perfect! While our shoes were drying, we enjoyed a nice lunch from subway and our President supplied each participant with a beverage from the concessions. There were also bean bag boards set up for anyone brave enough to play in the last of summer's heat wave. 

I look forward to getting to know each cadet and junior throughout the winter and in the 2024 season. 

3 cadets and 4 juniors participated in the 2023 State Tournament. 

Cadets: 1st- Elijah Strandquist, 2nd-Beau Dehkes, 3rd-Kylianna Piguet

Juniors: 1st - Tristan Dehkes, 2nd- Marshal Swenson, 3rd -Thomas Kremer and 4th place going to another 1st time participant Cooper Devine. 

Junior Championship Class

Marshall Swenson, Tristan Dehkes, Thomas Kremer, Cooper Devine

Cadet Championship Class

Beau Dehkes, Elijah Strandquist, Kylianna Piquet

2023 State Class Winners

Women's Class A

Janet Larson, Pat Stumpf, Michelle Foard

Women's Class B

Anna Pierce, Michelle Foard, not shown - Janet Roubinek

Women's Class C

Jenny Lammers, Carolyn Brigner, Robin Holien

Women's Class D

Sue Pierce, Kelli Hanson, Hayley Engebretson

Elder's Class A

Al Larson, Jerry Hokkala, Bill Danielson

Elder's Class B

Tom Prokop, Tim Brigner, Bill Danielson

Elder's Class C

Stan Barney, Dick Dvorak, not shown-Peter Heltinen

Elder's Class D

Arnie Johnon, Jeff Lawrence, not shown- Art Longen

Elder's Class E

Mike Creech, Larry Brabec, not shown- Al Springer

Elder's Class F

Mike Slininger, Phil Rodenberg, not shown-Mike Gustofson

Replacing stakes

Judging ringers

Men's Class A

Eric Dehkes, Nathyan Dehkes, not shown - Tracy Seppelt

Men's Class B

Tracy Seppelt, Eric Dehkes, Steve Ziegler

Men's Class C

Andy Olson, Rich Bialek, Matthew Henning

Men's Class D

Zen Albrect, Jon Van Ryswyk, Robert Ciaciura

Men's Class E

Al Blumer, Art Lammers, Anthony Stach

Men's Class F

Terry Clementson, Ron Ruch, Tim Schmalz

2023 State Banquet

Top Ten Pitcher of the Year

L/R Tom Prokop, Josh Olson, Marlys Timm, Jeff Washburn, Pat Stumpf, Rick Wright, and the

Frank Stinson Award Winner

Jerry Werk

President's Award

Josh Olson

Rookie of the Year

Cooper Devine

Appreciation Award

Ringers of Rice

40 YR Member

Longevity

Rick Wright

10 YR Member Longevity

Ryan Pierce

Sue Pierce

Edi Holland Award

Eric Dehkes

Tournament Participation Award

Jerry Werk

Banquet Dancing

Rosie and Erwin Tischer and Helen Hawkinson

Lip Sync Contest

Garth Brooks

aka Ray Pierce

Dolly & Kenny

aka Tom Prokop & Helen Hawkinson

Ray Pierce

aka Kelli Pierce

Brotherly Love on the Courts

Stan and Rich Bialek

Nathan and Eric Dehkes

Ryan and Rory Pierce

Random State Tournament Memories

Broken Stake? The Pierce crew made quick work of replacing it.

The Genola Horseshoe arena is a fantastic venue for our State Championships.

Dehkes Family of Winners

Eric, Beau, Tristan, and Nathan

Future winner Lincoln held by proud grampa

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