ANNA MARIA – Every Wednesday and Saturday, a few dozen men gather to pitch horseshoes in a small park located on the Anna Maria City Hall property.
According to longtime horseshoe pitcher and former Anna Maria City Commissioner Tom Skoloda, this local sporting tradition has taken place in the same general location for at least 109 years.
On Feb. 14, Skoloda and five of his horseshoe-throwing friends dressed in suits, ties and hats and reenacted a 1915 photograph taken of men throwing horseshoes in front of the former community hall building that’s now the Island Players theater. The men in the 1915 photo stood in an area that’s now a public parking lot located next to city hall property and a small city park that contains five horseshoe pits.
The 1915 photo was featured in a 2006 story written for The Sun by then-active horseshoe pitcher Bill Bartlett. His story noted that in the early 1900s, steamship passengers who arrived at the City Pier walked down Pine Avenue to the bathhouse pavilion at the ends of Spring and Magnolia avenues, but some of the men stopped at the tourist center/community hall instead to play horseshoes and smoke cigars.
“This is a reenactment of the photograph with guys pitching horseshoes here in 1915. They’ve been pitching horseshoes here continuously since 1915,” Skoloda said after the new photos were taken.
Skoloda served as a city commissioner from 2000 to 2002 and he’s been pitching horseshoes on the city hall property for 20 years.
“This is an activity people love and have taken care of for many years. We’re trying to make sure this continues and we’d like to protect this site. Mayor Dan Murphy, the city and the public works department have been really good about helping us,” Skoloda said.
“We have 30 to 35 players on a given day. The guys are really fun to be around and we enjoy each other’s company. It’s all about camaraderie. We get together socially too and a lot of the guys play golf together as well. We have a number of women who pitched in the past and right now we have two women who come on Saturdays. Anybody can come, even new people who’ve never pitched horseshoes before,” Skoloda said.
When asked what the trick is to being a good horseshoe pitcher, Skoloda jokingly said, “I don’t know. I’ve been coming 20 years and I don’t seem to get much better.”
Dave Means is a former Senior Olympics horseshoe champion. He’s one of the Anna Maria group’s newest members and he participated in the photo reenactment.
“I’m a snowbird from Indiana. I started doing this last year and I really enjoyed it. I’ve made friends and we go out for a hamburger and beer afterward. I love this and I hope the city keeps this. It’s a good way to meet other people,” Means said.
INFORMAL ORGANIZATION
The twice-weekly matches on Wednesdays and Saturdays take place year-round and participation increases during peak season. The matches begin at 9 a.m. and most players arrive around 8:30 to warm up. The day’s two-person teams are determined by drawing colored chips and winners are crowned for each day of play.
There’s no entry fee or registration required and newcomers are always welcome. Most players donate $1 each day they play. The donations are used to purchase equipment, arrange an annual social gathering and fund an annual championship. The remaining funds are donated to a local charity or non-profit organization. The group recently donated nearly $800 to Meals on Wheels.
The Anna Maria horseshoes group has no formal name and its leadership is informal and voluntary. For the past several years, Jay Disbrow has served as the pit boss, who helps determine the teams and coordinate the matches. He also maintains the equipment and serves as the group’s media liaison.
Disbrow began playing horseshoes with the Anna Maria group about 20 years ago and eventually became the pit boss.
“I read about it in the paper. I started coming out and I met a lot of great guys. Ron Pepka ran it for a number of years and then Sam Samuels started doing it. Everybody plays three games. We’ve got room for 20 people to play at one time and when you have more than that you have to keep the crew moving,” Disbrow said, noting the Anna Maria group also sometimes competes against other groups, including a group from the Trailer Estates mobile home community in Bradenton.
As for what makes a good horseshoe pitcher, he said, “A good smooth follow-through.”
Samuels started pitching horseshoes with the group in 2000 and on Feb. 14 he returned to play after a three-year absence.
“I’m 86 years old and I had a few birthdays while I was gone,” Samuels said. “Jay’s doing a fantastic job. We have good pitchers and the guys are winning tournaments.”
Fifty-five-year-old Minnesota resident Dan Belden may be the group’s youngest regular pitcher. During his annual Florida vacations, Belden’s been throwing horseshoes in Anna Maria for more than 25 years. As a National Horseshoe Pitchers Association-sanctioned pitcher, Belden also throws with a sanctioned horseshoe club at G.T. Bray Park in Bradenton while visiting. Each summer he competes in the annual World Horseshoe Championship and his best finish so far is third place.
80-year-old Bradenton resident and former Island resident Adin Shank participated in the photo reenactment. He’s been throwing horseshoes in Anna Maria for 35 years and believes he’s the group’s longest-tenured active member.
“The camaraderie of the guys and the competition is great. I’ve always been a sports guy so I keep doing it,” he said.
89-year-old Gene Bobeldyk has been throwing horseshoes in Anna Maria for 20 years and he said, “I like the atmosphere. It’s a bunch of friendly guys and we have a good time.”
On Feb. 14, two teams went 3 and 0 and met in the final, with Tom Farrington and Bob Mason edging out Adin Shank and Ron Gagon 23-17 to claim the day’s bragging rights.
On Feb. 12, the Anna Maria group welcomed pitchers from the Tri-Par-Estates mobile home community in Sarasota and the Tri-Par pitchers prevailed in the first meeting of the two groups. On Feb. 17, Tim Sofran and Bob Rowley defeated Farrington and Ron Hooper by a 21-13 margin in the final match.
