Horseshoe Club Shares Decades Of History

Each Monday, a group of gentlemen gathers at the east end of the New Holland Community Memorial Park in the 400 block of Jackson Street. They are members of the Lancaster County Horseshoe League, a group that has been meeting in the park to play for more than three decades. Don Troupe, former New Holland chief of police, is among their number. "We come down here to have fun," said Troupe, who has kept careful track of the development of the league since prior to its inception in 1985.

Although the first meeting, attended by Paul Caudill Sr., Vernon Shenk, Jim Lafferty, and Harold Becker, was held in February 1985, Troupe said that the group dates back to 1981, when Lafferty first organized a horseshoe throwing contest for the New Holland Farmers Day Fair.

In April 1985, Lafferty and Becker met with Warren Peachy at the park with a plan requesting that five courts be established in the area where the swimming pool had been located. The Farmers Day Association helped to cover the cost, and by the summer of 1985, the courts were installed and ready for a Farmers Day Fair team tournament on the first Saturday in October. In 1986, several non-sanctioned tournaments were held at the site, with the first National Horseshoe Pitchers Association (NHPA) tournament held in August of 1986.

By the summer of 1988, the organization was holding league pitching on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. It was decided that more courts were needed to accommodate the club members, and in December, construction began, with four additional courts completed in May of 1989. Because many planing mill employees pitched during lunch, the club approached mill president Jay Weber for assistance. "We went to him and asked him if he would finance the construction of (the four courts)," said Troupe. "We went back after (the courts) were done and asked how we would pay off the loan, and he said it was a donation," he recalled.

The courts were all installed to NHPA specifications and authorization, so that NHPA competitions among that national group's members could be held there. "There are national, state, and even world tournaments," said Troupe, who added that Lancaster falls in the Eastern region of the Pennsylvania division. "Almost every weekend all summer, there is a sanctioned tournament somewhere in Pennsylvania," noted Troupe.

Troupe explained that the distance between horseshoe pins is 40 feet for men, but women and anyone over age 65 may pitch from a 30-foot line. The area around the pin is filled with a special clay that comes from the Narvon clay mine. During weekly league play, pitchers will draw for partners or divide into teams depending on how many are present.

Along with Troupe, current members include Norman Jenkins, Ralph Nelson, and Tom Decker, a member of the NHPA Hall of Fame board. A few members travel from Chester County each week to take part. Weather-permitting, the pitchers are in the park each Monday morning at 9:30 a.m., and they welcome those interested in joining them. For more information, readers may call 717-354-7912 or 610-458-5391.