Wayland man pitches at world horseshoe tournament

LANSING, Mich. — Almost 1,000 competitors converge on the Lansing Center in mid-July, all vying for titles in a sport that others might consider antiquated or obscure: horseshoe tossing.

One of them, Wayland resident Steve Miller, doffs his sponsor-provided “uniform,” a light blue Hawaiian shirt covered in prints of horseshoes and hand grenades, which is stylish, but too loose to comfortably throw in.

Wearing a more closefitting white undershirt instead, he steps into the pitching box for his sixth game of the week, surrounded by the sharp, echoing dings of metal hitting clay, concrete and stakes throughout the convention center. He takes a deep breath, then throws two horseshoes from 40 feet away. Both land within six inches of the stake, flanking it, earning a total of two points.

The next few moments are suspenseful, to say the least.

His opponent, a man from Wisconsin named Larry Fettes III, can keep things tied by landing his two shoes equally close to the target. Or, he could pull ahead with three points by throwing a “ringer,” a shoe that "comes to rest while encircling the stake,“ in the words of the 51-page National Horseshoe Pitchers Association Rulebook.

Fettes throws once. It’s dead shoe, missing its mark, for zero points. His only way to pull ahead now is a ringer, a tie is off the table. Someone will win this inning, the other will lose. He stands up straight, re-evaluates his distance, makes the toss: a precise throw right across the stake to win the inning by a point. It’s a somewhat rare accomplishment against Miller, who at this point is undefeated in the international tournament.

  Buy Photo

“I had a couple nail-biters,” Miller said. “In the world tournament, there’s a lot of pressure just because it’s Worlds. I had to focus myself to keep telling myself, it’s just another tournament … If you let the nerves get to you, they’ll get to you. You’ve just got to relax and concentrate on what you can do.”

Miller went on to win that game against Fettes, as well the entire Men’s F-2 class, a subgroup of the men’s open division, with 16 players whose pre-competition accuracy rates ranged from 27.02 to 27.97%. His finishing record was 14-1, according to the official tournament results.

In his day-to-day life, Miller is a mechanic working 12-hour night shifts at Silgan Containers. But on the local horseshoe-throwing scene, he’s the competitor to watch out for, with a handful of county and state fair competition wins already under his belt.

While he’s far from the top of the latter at big tournaments like Worlds, his nearly 30% accuracy rate is nothing to scoff at in Coppock, Keota or Washington.

Miller started throwing shoes on family camping trips as a child, though he only took up the sport competitively in 2017, leaving motocross for something more affordable. Since then, he said he’d grown to love the community that came with it, which he describes as “kind of like a brotherhood,” despite the competitive element.

“I just like the camaraderie, the people that I meet are very interesting, it’s a nostalgic game,” Miller said. “It reminds me of my childhood because I remember going to camp-outs and seeing all the elders pitching shoes … it’s a real nice feeling to be able to take this to the next step.”

  Buy Photo

There’s some money involved. The prize payout to 27-time World Tournament champion Alan Francis was $4,200 this year, according to the NHPA website. Miller himself won a more modest sum of $500 as champion of his 16-member class.

Miller said competitions were usually affordable to enter, although sometimes expensive to reach. His solution is to build vacations around the travel.

“It costs more to get there and stay there than it does to pitch there,” he said. “Whenever I go out-of-state or long distance to a tournament, my wife and I make an event out of it. We go see different historical sites and things. (During Worlds) we went to Detroit, we went to Canada, we went to a zoo in Lansing.”

The sport is dying out, according to Miller, who said the participant demographic was aging, as few young people joined. Still, he hopes to see that trend change during his time on the circuit.

“There’s not anybody advertising about it,” Miller said. “I’d like to see more people do it, I’d like to see younger kids get involved because it’s really an older sport.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com