Curt Day
Curt Day
1966 World Champion - 86.2% (86.6% in Finals) at Murray, UT
1971 World Champion - 84.9% at Middlesex, NJ
1974 World Champion - 81.8% at Keene, NH
18 Times Indiana State Champion 1953 * 1955 * 1957 * 1959 thru 1972 * 1974
3 World Champion Tournaments of Curt Day
1966 at Murray, Utah
In the 1966 World Championship,
Curt qualified with 552 points out of 200 shoes. Curt likely
pitched about 90% in throwing his qualifying 200 shoes. 180
ringers (200 X .90) would be 540 points (180 X 3), plus
12 out of 20 shoes close to the stake (within 6") would be an
additional 12
points to make 552 total points. The defending champion
from the
previous year's World does not have to qualify for the World
Tounament. Elmer Hohl (Wellesley, Ontario, Canada) was the 1965
defending champion.There were three groups of 12 pitchers in each group pitching in the preliminaries. Curt Day won 11 matches and lost only 1 with 708 ringers out of 828 shoes pitched at 85.5% in his group. The top six pitchers from each of the three groups advanced to the finals tournament. In the finals, Curt won 16 encounters and lost only 1, while hitting 1443 ringers out of 1666 shoes pitched at 86.6%. In the tournament (preliminaries and finals), Curt Day won 26 and lost 2, while hitting a total of 2151 ringers out of 2494 shoes thrown at 86.2%. He pitched 7 games at 90% or better. In the finals, out of 18 pitchers, the lowest percent average for the finals was 72.4%.
Finishing 2nd in the 1966 tournament was Dan Kuchcinski (Erie, PA) 23-5 (13-4 in the finals) with a ringer percent of 80.6%. Kuchcinski, World tournament rookie in 1965 would go on to win three world titles of his own in the next four years (1967, 1969 & 1970). Kuchcinski would be listed as living in Bryant, Indiana in 1972, 1973 & 1974 and Portland, Indiana from the 1975, 1979 & 1980 World Championship Tournaments.
1971 at Middlesex, NJ
Curt qualified for the 1971 World Tournament with 529
points out of 200 shoes thrown. Dan Kuchcinski was the defending
World Champion from 1970. In this 36 man round robin tournament,
Curt Day swept the entire field with a perfect 35 wins and 0
losses. Curt averaged 85.0% with 2387 ringers out of 2810 shoes
thrown (an average of 80.3 shoes per game). In this tournament,
Curt earned the title of "Mr. Consistency". During his 2810
shoes, there were no ten consecutive shoes in which Curt had fewer than
seven ringers. Curt Day pitched only 3 games under 80% and he
did not pitch any games below 75%.Finishing 2nd in the 1971 World Championship Tournament was two times (1965 & 1968) World Champion Elmer Hohl with a record of 34-4 and a ringer percent average of 83.9%. This championship tournament was within an eleven years era between 1965 and 1975 of Hohl, Day & Kuchcinski; where Hohl won 5 championships and Day and Kuchcinski won 3 each. Hohl won his 6th World Tounament in 1977 after Carl Steinfeldt (Rochester, NY) won in 1976. The last such period of years (1933 thru 1959) dominated by two horseshoe pitchers was accomplished by Ted Allen (Boulder, CO) winning 10 World Titles and Fernando Isais winning 8 World Titles; interupted in 1954 by Guy Zimmerman (Danville, CA) winning one World Title. Fernando Isais won 6 consecutive World Titles from 1947 thru 1952. Isais won his first World Title in 1941 and did not compete between 1942 thru 1946, so he actually won 7 consecutive tournaments that he competed in.
1974 at Keene, NH
1974 was
another 36 man round robin tournament. Curt Day qualified with
535 points out of 200 shoes. The 1973 defending champion was
Elmer Hohl. Mark Seibold (Huntington, IN) had tied Hohl for first
place
in the 1973 World with a 32-3 record and an 80.9% ringer percent.
Hohl defeated Seibold in a best of three playoff in two games for the
World Title (52-27 & 50-46; 83.7%-76.1% & 82.4%-81.5%).
Seibold's rookie year was 1971 where he finished 4th behind Curt Day,
Elmer Hohl and John
Walker (Chula Vista, CA). In 1972 Mark Seibold finished 3rd with
a
record of 32-3 behind Elmer Hohl and Curt Day who both tied for 1st
with a record of 33-2 (Hohl winning the playoff with Day 2 games to 1
with an
84.4% average versus Day's 82.78% average. Mark Seibold went on
to
win two World Titles of his own in 1979 with a record of 27 wins and 4
losses,
pitching an 82.6% average and again in 1986 while averaging 82.2% and
sweeping
the field with a record of 31 wins and 0 losses.Curt's son Paul Day appeared as a rookie pitcher in this World Tournament and finished a fine 10th place with a 77.3% ringer percent. Paul put his college education over horseshoe pitching and halted his World Tournament horseshoe pitching while attending college. The other Hoosier pitcher in the 1974 World Tournament was Dan Kuchcinski, who finished 22nd with 74.3%.
Curt Day won this his 3rd World Title with a record of 32 wins and 3 losses. He hit 2386 ringers out of 2842 shoes for an average ringer percent of 81.8%. The top ringer percent pitcher at Keene was Elmer Hohl with 85.4%, but Hohl's tournament record was 29-6. Curt Day's consistency paid off. Seibold also had a 29-6 record along with Hohl and two other pitchers, but Mark finished 5th place based on his 79.3% ringer percent being less than Hohl's and the #4 man Ray Martin (Philo, IL) at 80.7%. The other man finishing 6th was Glen Henton (Maquoketa, IA) with a ringer percent of 79.1%. Finishing 2nd place was Carl Steinfeldt (Rochester, NY) at 30-5 and a ringer percent of 80.5%.
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Mark Seibold (Huntington, IN) won the 1973 Indiana State Tournament and
has been the man to beat since the Curt Day era.
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| Year |
Place |
Win-Loss
Record |
Ringer
Percent |
Qualifying
Points |
| 1956 |
4th |
28-7 |
77.0 |
490 |
| 1957 |
6th |
22-8 |
81.2 |
506 |
| 1958 |
5th |
19-11 |
77.5 |
494 |
| 1959 |
8th |
28-7 |
80.4 |
540 |
| 1960 |
3rd |
30-5 |
80.9 |
545 |
| 1961 |
5th |
28-7 |
83.1 |
536 |
| 1962 |
2nd |
31-4 |
81.7 |
540 |
| 1964 |
5th |
28-7 |
84.4 |
555 |
| 1965 |
4th |
29-6 |
86.0 |
535 |
| 1966 |
World
Champion |
26-2 |
86.2 |
552 |
| 1967 |
2nd |
32-3 |
81.4 |
Defending |
| 1969 |
4th |
30-5 |
85.3 |
548 |
| 1971 |
World
Champion |
35-0 |
85.0 |
529 |
| 1972 |
2nd
(lost playoff) |
33-2 |
83.5 |
Defending |
| 1974 |
World
Champion |
32-3 |
81.8 |
535 |
| 1975 |
2nd |
31-4 |
81.9 |
Defending |
| 1976 |
2nd
(lost playoff) |
33-2 |
84.1 |
556 |
Beginning with the 1966 World
Tournament, Curt Day competed in 8 World
Championship Tournaments; becoming World Champion in 3 of them, tied
for
1st in two others (losing both playoffs), finishing 2nd in two of them
and
finishing 4th in 1969. A pretty solid performance for an athelete
aged
between 49 years old and 59 years old. During this period of
time,
it was a real challenge to play and try to beat Curt Day! His
win-loss
record in the last eleven years of his World Tournament play was an
impressive
252 wins and 21 losses (or 254 wins and 25 losses if the two playoffs
for
1st are counted). His overall win-loss record for World
Championship Tournament play from 1956 to 1976 was 495 wins - 83 losses
(85.6% winning percent). If the two playoffs are included, then
the win-loss record was 497 wins - 87 losses (85.1% winning percent).
Another accomplishment of Curt Day is to have the top ringer percentage average of all horseshoe pitchers in 4 or more World Championship Tournaments. Curt pitched in 17 World Tounaments, from 1956 to 1976, with an overall ringer average of 82.7%. Go to the NHPA Publicity Records/Stats page: http://www.horseshoepitching.com/publicity/worldrecords/overall.html to see how 99 World Championship Tournament pitchers are rated according to overall ringer %. Other Indiana horseshoe pitchers on this list are #18 Mark Seibold 78.1% (actively pitching since 1971 WT), #34 Clarence Bellman 75.7% (1961-1981), #83 Marvin Craig 72.0% (1960-1977) and #85 Karl Van Sant 71.7% (1961-1987).
Another accomplishment of Curt Day is to have the top ringer percentage average of all horseshoe pitchers in 4 or more World Championship Tournaments. Curt pitched in 17 World Tounaments, from 1956 to 1976, with an overall ringer average of 82.7%. Go to the NHPA Publicity Records/Stats page: http://www.horseshoepitching.com/publicity/worldrecords/overall.html to see how 99 World Championship Tournament pitchers are rated according to overall ringer %. Other Indiana horseshoe pitchers on this list are #18 Mark Seibold 78.1% (actively pitching since 1971 WT), #34 Clarence Bellman 75.7% (1961-1981), #83 Marvin Craig 72.0% (1960-1977) and #85 Karl Van Sant 71.7% (1961-1987).
| Year |
Place |
Win-Loss
Record |
Ringer
Percent |
Ringers
/ Shoes |
| 1953 |
1st |
15
- 0 |
77.1 |
771
/ 1002 |
| 1955 |
1st |
13
- 0 |
76.6 |
734
/ 958 |
| 1957 |
1st |
14
- 1 |
76.5 |
742
/ 970 |
| 1959 |
1st |
19
- 0 |
82.0 |
1007
/ 1228 |
| 1960 |
1st |
15
- 0 |
78.5 |
776
/ 988 |
| 1961 |
1st |
14
- 1 |
80.1 |
796
/ 996 |
| 1962 |
1st |
11
- 0 |
85.1 |
937 /1100 |
| 1963 |
1st |
11
- 0 |
85.8 |
558 / 650 |
| 1964 |
1st playoff game |
10
- 1 1 - 0 |
84.3 89.7 |
740 /878 79 / 88 |
| 1965 |
1st |
9
- 0 |
86.4 |
627
/ 726 |
| 1966 |
1st |
9
- 0 |
82.5 |
476 / 574 |
| 1967 |
1st |
9
- 0 |
85.7 |
610 / 712 |
| 1968 |
1st |
8
- 1 |
81.1 |
522
/ 644 |
| 1969 |
1st |
9
- 0 |
88.8 |
547
/ 616 |
| 1970 |
1st |
8
- 1 |
81.9 |
672 / 820 |
| 1971 |
1st |
8 - 1 |
80.4 |
450 / 560 |
| 1972 |
1st |
7
- 0 |
85.9 |
421 / 490 |
|
1974
|
1st
|
9 - 0
|
86.0
|
544 / 644
|
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Official Web Site of the
Curt Day
Horseshoe Courts. A Web Site for the Horseshoe Courts named
after and in
honor of the career of 18 times Indiana State Champion & 3 times World Champion Curt Day. Located
at Dorner Park, Frankfort, Indiana. |