Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 2, 1994 TAG: 9410030076
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: D-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SARAH HUNTLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BUENA VISTA LENGTH: Medium
Denny Davis stood in the practice pit he built in his neighbor's yard and prepared for the pitch.
"Now I haven't really warmed up yet. I usually have to throw 20 or 30 horseshoes before I can get the right height," he warned, looking a tad nervous as he rolled back and forth on the balls of his sneakered feet.
Davis took a stride forward and lifted his left arm, straight, from his side. With a flick of his wrist, he sent the 2-pound, 8-ounce, cast-iron horseshoe soaring, right on target. The horseshoe made a quarter-turn in the air before it clinked against the metal post. A ringer.
"When you're in a tournament with rows of pits, that's all you hear: `Clink, clink, clink,'" Davis said. "That's what you want to hear."
He smiled - and pitched another ringer.
With throws like these, it's no wonder Davis, a 41-year-old utility worker who has lived in Buena Vista his entire life, captured the title of state horseshoe pitching champion at the Crozet Horseshoe Club in Albemarle County on Labor Day weekend.
For Davis, horseshoe pitching began as a backyard barbecue kind of pastime. "When I was a kid, my father played a little. Back then, though, we played with real horseshoes, you know, like the kind you find on the bottom of horses' hooves," he said.
In 1978, Davis' mother-in-law asked him what he wanted for Christmas. Eager to try his hand at the sport again, he asked for a pair of horseshoes, and pitching became his passion. He entered his first competition about that time, starting in the novices' D class. "I think I won one out of five games," he recalled with a laugh. "It's come a long ways."
Pitching in these parts is more than tossing the occasional shoe. At least 14 clubs have sprung up in the western part of the state - in Blacksburg, Radford, Bluefield and Buena Vista. The leagues sponsor weekly competitions; and some companies, such as General Electric in Salem, have pits on their property for employees. Competition is cutthroat.
"I know all the other pitchers are out to get me, because I always wanted to beat the champions," Davis said, chuckling. "Yeah, I'll be top seed [at next year's tournament]. I'll have to go and defend it. They'll be after me."
And there's merchandise: lucky horseshoes, T-shirts (Davis' has his name emblazoned in green script across the back) and trophies - tons of trophies.
"Oh my goodness, I don't know. I've got maybe 50 or 60," Davis said, showing off his newest acquisition, the black faux-marble plaque that declares him the 1994 champ. "My wife made me move a lot of them to the attic."
More than 100 competitors turned out for this year's state tournament, which lasted two days. Davis wasn't the only winner from Southwest Virginia. Amy Monday of Thaxton earned the title of state champion in the women's A class, and Thomas Burchett of Roanoke came in first in the E class.
In his division, Davis not only upset last year's state champ, but also beat out Alvin Perry of Powhatan, who has held the title 13 times.
He threw 406 ringers out of 610 shoes, averaging 66.6 percent. That's an unusually low average for a state champ, but he scored when it counted most, winning nine out of 11 games.
"I threw my good games when I had to," Davis said. "They just seemed to come."
Davis had dropped out of the horseshoe circle for a year and a half, when his work schedule interfered with practice times. He only recently returned to the sport, not quite a dark horse, but not a feared opponent, either.
His victory took some enthusiasts by surprise, said Garland Peck of Winchester, president of the Virginia Horseshoe Pitchers' Association.
"Denny hadn't pitched for a while, but I guess it was the practice. He belongs to a Churchville league, and he's there at least once a week. He got his percentages up and up," he said.
To compete in the A class in next year's state tournament, Davis will have to requalify, but Peck said that won't be a problem.
"Unless Denny falls flat on his face," Peck said, "he's a shoo-in."
by CNB