Brief History of NCHC
The New Castle
Horseshoe Club was formed in 1965. Ted
and Opal Corbett had a lot to do with getting it started along with Merle
Brightshue and Joe Mancini. The club
hosted its first tournament in 1965. Back
then, the courts were located on a lot owned by the George Washington High
School. Seven years later, in 1971, the
courts were moved to Scotland Meadows Park in the outskirts of New Castle. They have remained there ever since. The courts no longer exist at the George
Washington School, but if you look closely, you can still see the cement
walkways peeking through the grass.
Dave Baker was a
very dedicated member to the club. He
donated many hours of his time to the club.
He helped to build the red shelter by the courts to keep the shovels and
other equipment inside. His dedication
to the sport of horseshoes and to the NCHC will never be forgotten.
Ted and Opal
Corbett were the tournaments directors at New Castle for many years. They went to the local businesses and got
sponsorships and donated prizes to give out at the tournaments. After the Corbett’s, Clair Bruce and Joe
Mancini took turns being the director.
They did a fine job. Then Clair
quit pitching for a while and took up running.
Joe gave up the director job to Rudy Kwiat. Rudy had it for several years before getting tired at the
task. Gerald Jackson took the job for
one year after Rudy quit. Tom Brown
took it the year after that. Then Steve
Morris took the job and has had it ever since.
It became
tradition for the tournaments at New Castle to be named the Spring Fling and
the Fall Ringer Roundup. Then, the
directors got away from calling them by those names. Some members of the club passed on so some of the tournaments
were named after them. Then, Steve
Morris brought back the tradition in the Summer of 1999 by naming the
tournaments the Spring Fling and the Fall Ringer Roundup once again.
There was never a
bathroom close by the courts. Everyone
had to walk a mile to the nearest one.
Then, in 1998, the club got together and built a restroom right next to
the courts. This made it a lot easier
on the pitchers who came to pitch in the tournaments.
The year 2000 will be the NCHC’s 35th
year. The courts at Scotland Meadows Park
are 28 years old. Soon, the club hopes
to build a fence around the courts so they can host the state tournament
sometime in the near future.
©1999 Steve Morris