JIM BUTLER DAYS: Horseshoes group honors Tonopah founder
Six competitive horseshoe pitchers met in a Nevada town with roughly 2,000 residents and home of the Clown Motel, which is next to a cemetery that dates back to 1901 in Tonopah.
Over the Memorial Day weekend, the Nevada State Horseshoe Pitching Association paid tribute to Jim Butler, who was the founder of the town of Tonopah, where they played a sanctioned singles tournament in his honor on Saturday. This game was split between two classes of players, the A and B class.
With a total of 14 players, there were a total six prize winners, as the top three competitors in each class would be recognized with cash and a medal.
Out of seven players in the A class, Tom Grose ranked in the No. 1 spot with a 6-0 record in the tournament with 248 points. Grose had a big lead in the league, as he was 50 points above the second-place spot with 197 points, Louie Escalante. Escalante has four wins and two losses to Mark Kaczmarek and Grose.
Kaczmarek got third place in the A class after he had three wins and three losses. This was a competitive spot as he ended the tournament with 205 points and fourth-place Lawrence Workman also had three wins and losses but had 200 points.
When looking at the game scoring, Kaczmarek was one of the players who scored closest to Grose with a game of 42-26, but not nearly as close as Don Brown got to beating Grose. Brown was just 10 points away from Grose’s score with a 32-22, while Grose’s other games were won by an average of 20 points.
In the B class, with 238 points, Lance Hahaj won first place with only one loss in the tournament to Natalie Dilger. Twelve points and a win away, Dilger got second place in the class with 226 points, where she lost to Randy Salzwimmer 38-31 and Ken Jose 31-30.
Jose was awarded third place after he won three games and tied 20-20 with Lathan Dilger.
Both Grose and Hahaj received a tournament winning patch for finishing at the top.
The next Nevada State Horseshoe Pitching Association tournament will be held in Las Vegas on June 1 for the June Bug Classic at 9 a.m. To participate, call Neal Schulte at 702-523-0947.
Contact Jimmy Romo at jromo@pvtimes.com. Follow @JimmyRomo.News on Instagram.
