She's a ringer

COEUR d’ALENE — It had been a few years since Carlena Shove had tossed horseshoes. But Sunday afternoon, she lined up, took aim, and let one fly.

It thunked into the dirt near the 14-inch stake some 40 feet away.

“That felt good,” she said, smiling.

So good, in fact, the 82-year-old wanted to try again at the horseshoe pits next at Winton Park.

Same result. It plunked into the ground next to her target, and she walked briskly over, reached down and pitched up the two-and-a-half-pound horseshoe.

“Not too bad,” she said happily.

Shove began playing horseshoes about 40 years ago. She was good. A four-time state champion, frequent winner at local tourneys in her class, sixth in the 2004 world championships in Pocatello, with a ringer percentage of about 45%, Shove was a tough competitor.

“I love pitching horseshoes,” she said. “It’s my favorite things to do.”

But it’s what the Coeur d’Alene woman did for horseshoes beyond winning and ringers that earned her an induction in the Idaho State Horseshoe Pitchers Association Hall of Fame.

Sunday, before a crowd of about 25 people, including her children Cliff, Ken, Donnie and Lorena, Shove was honored with plaques, pictures and a certificate.

She was thrilled as she accepted the awards.

“Wow. Wow. That’s beautiful,” she said.

Then, she looked closer at one of the pictures in a frame and laughed, grinning proudly.

“That’s me,” she said.

David Spears, chairman of the ISHPA, said Shove has done much to promote the game in North Idaho.

There are fewer than 10 people in the hall of fame he created in 2011.

“People that go in and out of their way to promote the game of horseshoes, whether it’s horseshoe playing itself, organizing, promoting or whatever it takes, hours and hours if not years and years of their time because of their love for the game,” Spears said.

Carlena and her late husband, Don, played and introduced young people to the game, often visiting schools. They also were instrumental in construction of a horseshoe complex in Kellogg, and Carlena was the driving force behind the Elmer Currie Classic.

Carlena organized tournaments for two decades. In 2001 she was key in restarting the Kootenai County Horseshoe Pitchers Association. She was club secretary, treasurer, director and designer of hats and shoes, too.

“They did what they could to build the sport,” Spears said.

Cliff Shove, Carlena’s son, picked up his parents' passion for horseshoes and competed at a high level, including the state tournament.

Her late son, Duane, was a junior state champion.

“They’re the reason I got into it,” Cliff said.

His parents, he added, devoted many Saturdays horseshoes.

For his mom, Cliff said, horseshoes “was her life for a long time before she couldn’t see any more to pitch.”

Carlena recalled that she came to the game after reading an ad in the newspaper about pitching shoes at the fairgrounds. She called Elmer Currie, an organizer, and he told her to come out and toss some.

A highlight was competing at the world championships and holding her own against more than 50 women in her class.

“That was an experience I’ll never forget,” she said. “I met a lot of nice people, too.”

Sunday she proved she could still pitch a horseshoe, and pitch it well, at that.

“I like it because it’s an individual achievement,” she said. “And people that pitch horses are really friendly and great. It’s just a great sport and it’s something I personally could do well.”

The key to ringers, she said, was simple: “Concentration and just being able to hit the peg.”

Asked if her latest awards will find a nice spot in her home, Shove nodded.

“You better believe it,” she said.