Comments from FSHPA First Vice President

And President, Clearwater Horseshoe Club - Ron Deckard

Hi everyone. I hope you enjoyed yourself while in Clearwater for the state tournament. The week went very fast for me, but I thought the tournament went very smoothly. I was glad to see the good turnout and it was good to see everyone again. I had a great time and I hope you did also. The weather was fantastic the entire week. The week ended with exciting playoff games between Verdell Woollard and Debbie Burrows for the Women’s Championship and Ray Hood and Warren Woolsey for the Elder Men’s Championship. Congratulations to all the State Champions, Special Award Winners, State Class Champions, and the Hall of Fame inductees.

As President of the Clearwater Club I want to take this opportunity to express my appreciation to our club members and volunteers from other clubs who worked very hard to make this tournament so successful. I want to thank Patricia Callis for the excellent job she did on the souvenir booklet. A special thank you to all of the people who worked in the kitchen to provide us some excellent food for the entire week (my wife Gloria, Sally Duquet, Amy Deckard, Bruce Cohen, Marge & Walt Jones, Chuck Johnston, Ray & Alta Hood and their two daughters, Rob & Lou Robison, Jean Stonerock, and Angelina). Gloria said hugs to all of you who donated the delicious desserts during the tournament and double hugs to all that helped with the concession. I want to thank Arlene Jones and Lois Hayden for their outstanding help posting results on the computer, to Mel Daily the bartender of the Budweiser beer truck, to Jerry Huberth and Frank Matusak for doing the 50/50 sales each day, and to Zoomer for handling the shirt sales. Thanks also to the many others that arrived early each day to get things setup and ready for the day to begin, and helped put everything away at the end of the day. Thanks to all of you that kept score during the week. We could not do it without all your help. If you will notice many of the volunteers didn’t pitch horseshoes but provided invaluable help. We can’t thank them enough.

I want to give John Peplinski credit for the excellent job he did in setting up the tournament and all the state officers for helping to keep the tournament running on schedule.

I hope you were at the Thursday evening free fish fry. If not, you missed out on having all you could eat of Zoomer’s famous fried fish and hush puppies with plenty of cole slaw, potato salad, and macaroni salad to go with it. And of course the state association furnished free beer, wine & soda for two hours. Zoomer still had some fish left over, so everyone had all they could eat. Thanks to all of you that helped with the cooking and serving. All of the fish were caught by Zoomer, Paul Kurleman, Ray Hood, Mark Seibold, and Ken Jones, on Paul Kurleman’s boat. I think Zoomer cleaned almost all of the fish by himself. Your donation of the fish is greatly appreciated by all. They might have been able to buy the fish cheaper, but then they would have missed out on all of the fun catching them.

On Friday evening at the motel poolside the Clearwater Club provided plenty of nice finger foods for snacks and the state association provided beer, wine, soda, and cocktails for all to enjoy. It was a great evening to socialize and relax, and I think the cocktail party was enjoyed by all. A thank you to Sally and Ken Duquet for helping Gloria with the finger foods.

The Saturday evening awards banquet went very well. Several people told me the buffet meal was excellent. Each person getting both carved Roast Beef and Monteray Chicken if they wanted it. I’m glad everyone went away satisfied after the banquet and it was a good way to end the week.

Have a great summer and I will see you on the courts again soon.