The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-01-13
IT'S AN Old GAMEtTO YE HICHBROWS
Horseshoe Pitching Dates Back
to Days of Cave Men.
1t Is Now Becoming a Great
Sport in Kansas.

Golf. baseball, bowling, checkers,
chess and all other games that Kansas
| enthusiasts are wont to boast of be-
cause of their growth, popularity and
following, are all right in their way,
but there are many Sunflower sports
/ men who will tell you that none of
/ them amount to very much and that it
/ is only matter of time until the more
enticing, more invigorating and more
ancient game of horseshoe pitching
( will push them all off the boards and
/ become the only sport a real sport low
! ing Kansan will give tinker's dam
aboutA
/ Any horseshoe pitcher will tell you
! that the game is one of the oldest in
/ the world, dating back beyond the
/ time when the ancient Greeks thought
more of their pentathlon contests
than Americans now think of their
| annual worlds series.
Many Changes.
| However, like all things that sur
vive the centuries, the game has
undergone many changes since it first
J sprung into the Hmelight as a popular
( pastime, and it is possible that De-
mosthenes, Plato, Ulysses and the
other good sports of the old days
would not recognize it were they to
come back to earth and attempt to
play a few sets.
Horseshoe pitching is supposed to
I
the cave men amused themselves aft
er supper by throwing round boulders
at the entrances to their caves. And
from this pastime discus throwing
sprang. From the discus came quotts
and from quoits the game as it is
played today
There may be some who doubt the
early history of the game as 1t Is told
above, but there can be little doubt
that 1t is a direct descendant of
uuoits, and it is absolutely certain
that quoits had it's origin in the discus
throwing of the ancients.
Close Relationship.
To become familiar with the close
relationship between quolts ana
horseshoe pitching it is only necessary
to compare the rules of the two
games The pins are planted IN a
similar manner in clay beds, the
method of pitching is very similar as
/ is the method of scoring and counting
nOints The term ringer used by
| horseshoe pitchers is also USED IN
/ And now horseshoe pitchers believe
that their sport is going to become one
of the greatest in America. rms De-
lief is especially prevalent in Kansas.
which is the center of the horseshoe
pitching activities or the world Just
now The champion pitcher OF the
world is a Kansan and a butcher ana
in some parts of the state matches ana
:
baseball and football games.
The game has grown so rapidly In
the past few years that Henry Meaoe,
president of the American Horseshoe
| pitchers association, which has head
quarters in Kansas City, has just an
nounced the establishment of a
farm for beginners at the game. -he
purpose is to provide instruction for
those who are not expert, and with
the establishment of the Kansas
Grand league plans also are being
made for the formation of minor
league.
/ Not a "Rube" Game.
A great many horseshoe pitching
enthusiasts predict tnat the game will
soon have as many followers in the
state as golf and tennis and they hope
that it may, in time, become rival OF
baseball. The old notion that horse
shoe pitching was a 'rube" amuse-
ment is passing, as is shown by the
fact that tournaments are being held
in the larger cities regularly. A large
city in Ohio recently held a horseshoe
pitching tournament and Kansas City
has been holding one for some time.
The game has always been more or
less of an all-year sport, and when it
was largely confined to the rural dis
extent during the winter months, be-
ing usually played in a convenient
/ blacksmith shop or a barn. And
now, that the sport is invading the
cities, the modern conveniences make
indoor pitching almost as attractive
as the outdoor pastime.