Ashburnham, Massachusetts
| New England Horseshoes | ||
| Editorial 19 March 2004 | ||
|
by Jim Hanson Sr.,
Ashburnham, Massachusetts |
NHPA Hi 3 / Retired |
| The Greatest Junior Class | ||
| The greatest junior class in New England Horseshoe Championship History. The below results might look like results you might see from a world tourney. A eight man class with the winner pitching in the 80s and the 8th man pitching almost 64% What actuality you are looking at are the results from the 1973 Class A Jr. boys New England Championship held at Keene NH with 184 players. | ||
| CLASS A JR BOYS | |||||
| 1 | D. KIENIA | ME | 6 | 1 | 82.3 |
| 2 | M. PATENEAUDE | ME | 4 | 3 | 73.8 |
| 3 | R. THIBEAULT | ME | 4 | 3 | 71.8 |
| 4 | K. HOLLISTER | VT | 4 | 3 | 70.9 |
| 5 | R. HOWE | MA | 4 | 3 | 69.8 |
| 6 | C. ERICKSON | MA | 4 | 3 | 64.9 |
| 7 | B. SIMMONS | ME | 2 | 5 | 67.6 |
| 8 | R. DAVIS | NH | 0 | 7 | 63.8 |
| While retyping all the results from
all New England Championships for display on the New England Horseshoe
web site I came across a class that was truly outstanding. An outstanding thought about this group of juniors is that most of these are still active (75%) in horseshoe pitching today in 2004 31 years later. The avg. Horseshoe player has only a 20% chance of playing in sanctioned tourneys 10 years later after their first tourney. A little history of some of the accomplishments that these juniors have had in horseshoe through the years. (Please note that I could not find out all the information on these great juniors's players through the years but here is some. Doug Kienia (current HI 3 of 72.79) Maine JR. State Champion 1970,1971,1972,1973 Maine men's State Champion 1984,1985,2001,2003 New England JR. Champion 1970,1972,1973 New England Men's Champion 1987,1988,1989,1996,1997 World Jr. Champ 1974 Also played the world tourney many times (record incomplete) Member New England hall of fame |
||
| Brian Simmons (current hi 3 75.33) | ||
| Maine JR. State Champion 1977,1978 | ||
| Maine men's State Champ 1986,1987,1988,1992,1993,1996 | ||
| New Hampshire men's State Champ 1998,1999 | ||
| Rhode Island men's State Champ 2001,2002 | ||
| New England JR. Champion 1976 | ||
| New England Men's Champion 1992,1993,1994,1995,2001,2002 | ||
| World Champ 2000,2002 Also placed hi in other world tourneys | ||
| Member New England hall of Fame | ||
| Member World hall of Fame | ||
| Rick Howe (current hi 3 71.09) | ||
| Massachusetts JR. State Champ 1974,1975,1976,1977 | ||
| New England Jr. champ 1974,1975 | ||
| Attended many world tourneys | ||
| Member Massachusetts hall of Fame | ||
| Kevin Hollister (current hi 3 66.67) | ||
| Vermont JR. State Champ 1972,1973,1974 | ||
| Vermont Men's State Champ (20)1975,1986,1978,1979,1980,1982,1983,1984,1985,1986,1987,1989,1990,1991,994,1995,1996,1997,1998,1999 | ||
| New England Men's Champ 1983,1984,1985,1986 | ||
| Member New England Hall of Fame | ||
| Ron Thibeault (current Hi 3 39.65) | ||
| Maine JR. State Champ 1975,1976 | ||
| Bob Davis (current hi 3 21.20) | ||
| New Hampshire JR. State Champ 1973,1974 | ||
| Chris Erickson (not active) | ||
| Massachusetts JR. State Champ 1993 | ||
| Mike Pateneaude (not active) | ||
| Maine JR. State Champ 1973 | ||