Players use more than just luck
League is a Monday night tradition
By Caitlyn Kelleher
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER Every Monday night more than 50 men

Members of the Townsend Men's Horseshoe League compete every Monday night outside the American Legion Post and the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post. (l-r) Rudy Maki, Norman Beausoleil, Jim Updyke, all of Townsend, all compete on July 31.

continue a tradition that is more than 60 years old as they compete as part of the Townsend Men's Horseshoe League.

Teams of two men each compete weekly for bragging rights in the league founded by Tommy Tommila. Though the teams are ranked and score is kept many of the men only have a rough idea of their standing.

"We really don't get any better from year to year," said Rudy Maki, of Townsend. "We have fun and it's competitive."

Maki joined the league about 25 years ago.

"You can't just work, work, work all the time," he said.

That is the sentiment of many of the players who range in age from 18 into their 70s.

Richard Koivu, 74, has been playing for more than 50 years. He joined the league

when he got out of the service and played with his father and uncles.

Rick Miller throws the horseshoe during Monday nights game in Townend.

"It's a family tradition," the life-long resident of town said. "We used to play all the time back at the shop."

Koivu doesn't think he has improved significantly over the years, calling himself a "middle of the road" player. He said the main skill needed is concentration.

"You have to be able to throw it straight and far enough but not too far," he said.

The league scores shots by giving three points for any shoe that makes it around the pole and one point for any show with in a "shoe's width" of the pole.

Frank Blanchard said he was "just learning" after 40 years in the league. He said practice doesn't always make perfect.

"Sometimes you practice too much; sometimes you practice too little," he said.

Each game is 15 throws - 30 shoes - a player and each team plays three games against that night's opponent. Throughout the season the teams rotate and play each other.

The longest-player of the game was Tommila, who is now 91, stopped competing last year when he was struggling to get the shoe the 40 feet across the "field."

"No one has ever been turned down," said Greg Shattuck, one of this year's organizers.

Shattuck and his brother, Dana, are responsible for ranking the teams, scheduling the matches and organizing the groups.

Teams are handicapped based on their members individual scores.

"The handicap makes it more competitive," Greg Shattuck said.

The league is not limited to Townsend residents but includes men from many of the surrounding Massachusetts and New Hampshire towns.

It runs from the first week in May to the middle of September. Dana Shattuck said the sign and organizational meeting happens in April.

There are five courts outside the American Legion and three outside the VFW, so games start at 6:30 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Koivu said the league has gone through it's ups and downs in terms of participation, but it has always existed.

"It's the cribbage league in the winter and horseshoes in the summer," he said.

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Caitlyn Kelleher can be reached at (978) 827-3386, ext. 15, or e-mail: caitlynkelleher@ aol.com