ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, November 6, 1996 TAG: 9611060021
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-10 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
COLUMN: community sports
DATELINE: DUBLIN
SOURCE: BILL RAY STAFF WRITER
After 17 years as a top-notch pitcher and tireless promoter of horseshoe pitching across the state of Virginia, Earl Linkous was inducted into the Virginia Horseshoe Pitching Hall of Fame earlier this year.
At 65, Linkous is the ninth person to be inducted in Virginia. At the annual state tournament, Linkous was presented with a personalized plaque and had his name added to the official Hall of Fame plaque.
The honor is not only awarded to those Virginians who excel at the sport, but also to those who have helped promote it. Linkous has done both.
"When I first started pitching, I would hit ringers about 30 to 40 percent of the time," Linkous said. "At my best I got up to 85 to 90 and at times would hit close to 95 percent."
With age beginning to take its toll, Linkous said he doesn't hit those high marks as often. However, he did manage to win the annual league title at the Big Oaks Horseshoe Club last summer.
In 1977 Linkous founded the club with five courts on his property near the New River Valley fairgrounds. Since then he has seen that expand, with 12 new lighted courts being installed at the fairgrounds by members of the club in 1980. He said that the courts constructed there are quite different from the typical "barn-yard" style pits most people are familiar with.
These courts have a special clay, rather than sand as the landing surface. The consistency of this surface, which according to Linkous is similar to mortar mix and gives truer results for a good pitcher.
Included in Linkous' long list of accomplishments are numerous trips to state, and international competitions. In the 19 years the Big Oaks club has been having tournaments, he has won 10. In addition, he has won more than 90 trophies from competition in eight states and several international events.
"I guess one of the best games I ever pitched in a big tournament was in Winston-Salem," Linkous said. "I threw 23 ringers out of 24 shoes pitched. I ended up skunking my opponent 40-0. The only one I missed was on the last shoe of the match."
Another of Linkous' favorite memories was against World Champion Jim Kinsley in the same tournament. In this case, Linkous jumped out to a 18-0 lead but let his mind get the best of him.
"I got to thinking about what I was doing," Linkous said. "That was the worst thing I could have done. I only lost two games that day and averaged 80 percent all day long."
Linkous, who has been battling cancer over the past few years says he still hits 80 percent every now and then. Despite his failing health, in 1990 he took over the presidency of the Virginia Horseshoe Pitchers' Association at its request. Linkous had held the position from 1982 through 1987 but left office because of his illness.
"I was chosen to take over the reins because membership in Virginia was dropping off," Linkous said. "I only accepted to help restore our organization."
Linkous said that these days around 20 or so pitchers come out every Thursday in warm weather for league play. At its peak, the Big Oaks league had to hold two sessions each night to accommodate all the pitchers.
Although he may not get out to the courts as often as he would like (at the time of a recent interview, it had been almost a month), he was still more than willing to put on a display. And on a "rusty" day, he managed to ring about 70 percent of the tosses he delivered.
LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: GENE DALTON\Staff. Horseshoe-pitching champion Earlby CNBLinkous.