Horseshoe pitching got its start in Kansas. The first World Horseshoe Tournament happened 106 years ago in Bronson. The tournament is making its way back to Kansas — Topeka, to be exact — this year.
Bronson Days, taking place this Saturday and Sunday, coincides with the 106-year anniversary of that first tournament.
Bronson recently built six new courts and will have the official ribbon-cutting ceremony at 9 a.m. Saturday. Dave Mathewson, Gas, is a local horseshoe pitcher and historian of the game. Mathewson helped get a $1,500 grant from the National Horseshoe Pitchers Association and other donations to help construct the new courts. They were built in January, and the first tournament was held April 4.
Back at the first World Tournament in 1909, a man by the name of Fred Jackson won. At Saturday’s ribbon-cutting his great-great-granddaughter, Joann Scott, Independence, and his great-great-great-granddaughter, Crystal Eisele of Frontenac, will be in attendance.
When Jackson won the tournament, he received $2.50 and a belt. Col. Ld. D. Long, started the tournament to coincide with his horse auction. It drew around 1,000 people, significant for a town of 400. The tournament didn’t have set rules like horseshoe pitching does today.
Three years after the first tournament, in 1912, a group of lawyers met to create a standardized set of rules, regulations and equipment. This became the National Horseshoe Pitching Organization. Every state is represented in addition to 23 countries.
Amazingly, 95 percent of the rules created then, are still in tact.
“Some of the laws don’t make sense,” Mathewson said. “For example, you had to wear a particular uniform that doesn’t exceed $2. Well, you can’t even get a pair of socks for that anymore.”
Mathewson has been horseshoe pitching in the area for the past 13 years and is in four clubs — including Bronson and Riverside Park in Iola. He says the membership at Iola in 2007 was at 31. Today it has six members.
As a member of NHPA, Mathewson is eligible to participate in national and international horseshoe pitching tournaments or clubs. If in Europe, organizers can look up his percentage of ringers, allowing him and other members to play against competition at their level.
The World Horseshoe Tournament is in Topeka from July 13-25.
Bronson celebrates local history of horseshoe pitching
