If you’ve never pitched horseshoes, you’ve probably played a variation of the sport.

Washers. Bean bags. Cornhole toss. It’s a common activity at a picnic, family reunion or tailgate party. It can be extravagant — do a Google search and you’ll find websites and companies that specialize in cornhole boards and washer squares and octagons. It can be as simple as a coffee can, a few pieces of wood and a handful of washers.

But have you ever played with a trophy on the line?

In the Salazar family, there’s more at stake than bragging rights. My wife and I recently went to Texas for her family reunion, and with family and friends combined, there were more than 90 people gathered at a family ranch outside of Dallas for a weekend of food, music and fun. Among the highlights of the annual reunion is the holeyboard contest. You don’t just pick a partner, line up and play. It’s much more serious than that.

Like washers or bags or horseshoes, it’s a game of skill and luck. Two boards, each with three holes drilled out, are placed on a flat surface a set distance apart. Two two-person teams — one man and one woman — face off by tossing 2 1/2-inch washers into the holes. Each team receives points based on the holes the washers land in — one point for the closest hole, three points for the middle hole and five points for the furthest hole. Games are played to 21 and the winning team must hit the number exactly. Go over 21, you bust and you’re eliminated.

And like I said earlier, this is serious business. There is a trophy where the names of the winning team are engraved each year. Teams are decided by a random draw. The men have their names written on the bracket sheets, while all of the women’s names are put in a hat and drawn to fill out the teams. Spouses aren’t allowed to be teammates. Neither are siblings.

Trash talk is welcome. The deeper you get in the tournament, the more the pressure mounts, too.

There are some old pros who seem to be in the championship mix every year. Kenny Salazar (pictured above) had the shot of the day. With his team leading 17-11 and one washer on the edge of the one-point hole, Salazar used his final washer to knock the washer into the one-point hole and got a ricochet into the three-point hole to win the game. However, he wasn’t around at the end. The championship ended with Doni-Lee McCullough and her partner (sorry, I forget who that was) putting their name on the trophy. It’s the third time Doni-Lee has been a part of the winning team.

As for me, my partner and I were first-round casualties. The days of pitching slow-pitch softball and tossing washers didn’t pay off. I could use the excuse of the Texas heat making me sweat and the washers slipping from my hands, but I won’t. There were no excuses. I couldn’t make a shot.

Oh, well, that’s OK. Like Cubs fans know so well, there’s always next year.

For Eric Orne, there was a moment of awe when he saw what had happened to The Backyard.

Following last Sunday’s storms that blew through the Tri-States, Quincy Notre Dame’s head softball coach and assistant athletic director bore witness to how damaging 80 mph winds can be when he saw a double-decker set of metal bleachers had been lifted and tossed into the softball complex’s backstop. The pile of twisted metal and fencing — there was other damage to the complex, including interior damage to the concession stand/pressbox from a backed-up sewer — didn’t leave anyone injured.

“It’s fortunate we were all in a position where nobody got hurt,” Orne said.

An insurance adjuster has examined the damage, which included the outfield fence getting knocked down, a broken flag pole and fallen trees beyond the fencing, and a decision on how to fix everything could be made by the end of July. Orne has already started the cleanup, removing the protective covering from the top of the fence and getting the bleachers pulled back.

“It’s a step-by-step process,” Orne said. “We’re trying to line up the right people to get estimates and the right people to do the work.”

Stuffy McInnis won’t be confused with the power hitters of today, but the Deadball Era first baseman holds a distinction no current slugger can match.

McInnis homered with no one playing the outfield.

Monday was the 100th anniversary of McInnis’ fluke home run. Playing for the Philadelphia Athletics in just his third of 18 seasons in the big leagues, McInnis took advantage of American League president Ban Johnson’s effort to speed up the game. Johnson implemented a rule no pitchers were allowed to threw warm-up tosses between innings. But on June 27, 1911, in the eighth inning at Boston’s Huntington Avenue Grounds as the teams changed sides, Red Sox pitcher Ed Karger tossed a couple warm-up pitches.

Aware of Johnson’s ban, McInnis jumped in the batter’s box and smacked one of Karger’s tosses into center field. Here’s the catch — no outfielders were in place.

According to various accounts of the event, the Athletics outfielders weren’t to the dugout yet and Red Sox outfielder Tris Speaker was talking to A’s second baseman Eddie Collins when McInnis took his swing. No one chased the ball and McInnis raced around the bases with an inside-the-park home run.

Red Sox manager Patsy Donovan protested the play, but the umpires upheld the call and the Red Sox lost 7-3.

It was one of only 20 home runs McInnis hit in a career defined by his stellar defensive play at first base. In 1921, he played in 152 games with the Red Sox and committed only one error in 1,651 chances for a .9993 fielding percentage. Between May 31, 1921, and June 2, 1922, McInnis set a record with 1,700 chances without an error over the course of 163 games.

The story behind his nickname is equally entertaining. His given name was John, but as a kid he played on teams with his older brothers and when he made plays in the field, people would shout, “That’s the stuff, kid.” After a while, every just started calling him “Stuffy.”

Rochester quarterback Wes Lunt, who led the Rockets to the Class 4A state championship last fall and a 23-21 victory over Quincy Notre Dame in the state quarterfinals, made a verbal commitment to play collegiate football at Oklahoma State, according to the Springfield State Journal-Register.

Last season, Lunt passed for 3,136 yards as he completed 65.6 percent of his passes (212 of 323). He threw 30 touchdowns and just four interceptions. One of those inteceptions came against QND. Lunt tossed a 25-yard touchdown pass late in the first half against QND, giving Rochester a 13-0 lead at the time. He finished 19 of 34 for 206 yards in the quarterfinal game.

Illini West made it 2 for 2 when Chargers first baseman/pitcher Dylan Van Fleet was named the 2011 Herald-Whig Player of the Year. Last year, the Chargers’ Michael Lafferty was named the Player of the Year. To read Van Fleet’s story, click here.

WGEM Sports Director Ben Marth put together a Van Fleet highlight package to accompany the story. Here is Marth’s production:

Thursday, the Illinois High School Association announced changes to its enrollment multiplier waiver policy and classifications for the 2011-12 school year. It had limited impact in this area with Quincy Notre Dame boys golf and volleyball the only programs affected by the changes. However, across the state it had a bigger impact. In the Quad Cities, for example, the Rock Island boys basketball team is getting bumped to Class 4A. It means the Rocks won’t be able to defend their Class 3A state championship.

To read more about the impact to Western Big Six Conference schools, read Sports Writer Steve Tappe’s article in the Moline Dispatch by clicking here.

Reaction was mixed in the Galesburg area according to Todd Rudolf’s article in the Galesburg Register-Mail. Click here to read it.

The changes caused confusion in the Springfield area as Rochester is now Class 2A in girls basketball and Class 3A in boys basketball. The State Journal-Register’s Dave Kane tried to sort it out. Here is his article.

At some schools, it’s even worse. Canton will have athletic teams in three different classifications next year. The Peoria Journal Star’s Dave Eminian tried to explain it. Read his story here.

The changes were felt throughout the Bloomington-Normal area as well. The Bloomington Pantagraph’s Randy Sharer explained in his article. Click here to read it.

This page taken from Sports Illustrated features Quincy native Chris O'Connell in a picture with PGA Tour member Matt Kuchar. O'Connell, a swing coach living in Texas, is credited with helping Kuchar improve his swing and vault into the top 10 in the world rankings.

Chris O’Connell’s fame is growing.

The Quincy native and member of Quincy High School’s 1990 state championship golf team, O’Connell is fulfilling a dream of being part of the game as a swing coach. And his star pupil is bringing O’Connell notoriety as well. Matt Kuchar, who is currently ranked in the top 10 in the world and is the reigning PGA Tour money leader, credits O’Connell with overhauling his swing and helping him rise to stardom on the PGA Tour. Kuchar was languishing on the Nationwide Tour in 2006 when O’Connell helped him revamp his swing and earn his way back to the PGA Tour.

Since then, there have been three victories and a Ryder Cup appearance.

Not bad for a guy who lost his tour status six years ago.

How much of a factor has O’Connell been? Well, in a recent Sports Illustrated article, O’Connell talked about how he worked with Kuchar to improve his swing. There is even a picture of O’Connell and Kuchar messing around during the photo shoot and interview. Above is the page from Sports Illustrated featuring O’Connell’s picture.

To read the article, click here.

Pirates pitcher John Candelaria sported one of the classic Pittsburgh caps.

Each Tuesday on WGEM SportsCenter, Josh Houchins and I ask the listeners to offer their opinions about the best of a certain subject. This week, Tuesday’s Best category was best baseball team cap. There were several mentioned, although one seemed to stand out above all others. Some considered it the best. Some put it on the list of the worst. Either way, it had them remembering a talking.

The Lookouts cap (top) and the Mudcats cap (bottom) sports great logos.

That cap was the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Civil War-style cap that was worn in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The round cap had a flat top with a “P” stitched on the front and two colored rings. The black hats had a gold “P” and gold rings, while the gold caps had black letterings and rings. It was distinctive. It was different. It was one of a kind. The Pirates were the only team of the modern era to wear something so unique.

It’s not the only cap I like or would put on my list.

Some of the others would be the Stan Musial-era caps worn by the St. Louis Cardinals, where were navy blue with a red bill and a red STL stitched on the front. Simple yet classy. The other two are from the minor leagues — the Chattanooga Lookouts and the Carolina Mudcats. The savvy, eye-catching logos set them apart.

Some of the other caps mentioned include the Chicago White Sox and the New York Yankees for their classic simplicity and timeless nature.

As time passed, fewer and fewer people remembered seeing Jack Gower on television.

Those who did knew it was something special.

Gower, a 1952 graduate of Quincy High School, is the only player who could say he played in the first televised Illinois high school state championship game and the first television NCAA Tournament championship game.

It wasn’t something Gower talked about frequently. If it came up in conversation, he obliged and recalled about his memories of the two games—the 1952 state title game when Quincy played Hebron and the 1954 NCAA title game when Bradley played La Salle.

“I’m proud of it, quite so,” Gower once said.

Gower, a member of both the Quincy Blue Devil Sports Hall of Fame and the Bradley University Athletics Hall of Fame, died Saturday. He was 76.

When I was writing the book “Stand Up and Cheer: A Century of Blue Devils Basketball,” I approached Gower for an interview. He was engaging, colorful, witty and surprised I knew of his one and only distinction of playing in the two televised games.

“There are not many people who know it,” he told me.

Nor are there many people who know how talented a player he was.

Named to the all-tournament team by the Champaign News-Gazette in 1952, Gower scored 11 points in the overtime loss to Hebron and averaged 12 points in the four state tournament games. He also was part of Quincy’s third-place team in 1951.

Having earned the chance to play collegiately at Bradley, Gower was a sophomore coming off the bench in 1954 when the Braves finished the regular season at 15-12 but made a magical run to the Final Four in Kansas City. They lost 92-76 to All-American Tom Gola and La Salle.

Although he was on the losing team in both televised events, Gower held the memories dear.

“I feel very honored by having done that,” he said.

It was an honor to tell his story.

Pass it on

With their lead increasing in the second half of Saturday night’s McDonald’s/Herald-Whig Classic, the Illinois boys team seized the chance to put on a show.

Ace Henricks led the way.

On a drive down the middle of the lane, the Brown County guard delivered a nifty behind-the-back pass to Central’s Zac Main for a layin that kickstarted a 15-2 run. Pittsfield’s Brad Hamilton got into the act in the final five minutes of Illinois’ 104-71 victory, throwing a no-look pass to Liberty’s Wade Murfin for a layin. It was part of a 62-point second half in which Illinois had 14 assists on 23 field goals.

Path to JWCC

Deciding to play at John Wood Community College means good things for the Illinois all-stars. Hamilton, who had 22 points, 12 rebounds and six assists, become the third straight Illinois Most Outstanding Player who had signed with JWCC. In 2009, QND’s Ryan Stuckman earned MOP honors, while in 2010, it was Southeastern’s Regan Bruenger.

Actually, eight of the last nine Illinois MOPs have played or will play at JWCC. Those players include Marcus Medsker (2003), Evan Busen (2004), Shawn Emerick (2005), Brock Edris (2006) and Josh Babb (2007).

Doubly honored

Hamilton also joins a select list of Herald-Whig Players of the Year who also were named Most Outstanding Player in the Classic. That list includes Palmyra’s Greg Church (1985), Quincy’s Kyle Cartmill (1995), Warsaw’s Bill Heisler (1997), Quincy Notre Dame’s Brian McNeil (1999), Griggsville-Perry’s Nathan Emrick (2002), Quincy’s Marcus Medsker (2003) and Brown County’s Evan Busen (2004).

A look ahead

The 29th annual McDonald’s/Herald-Whig Classic boys game will be played at June 9, 2012, at Quincy University’s Pepsi Arena.

Who will be playing in it? One probable choice was in attendance Saturday night as Illinois won for the 26th time. Pittsfield forward Dalton Hoover, who is being heavily recruited by Quincy University, watched the game with his parents. A first-team all-area selection, Hoover is one of six Illinois juniors to make first- or second-team all-area last winter.

The others are: Quincy High School forward DeAngelo Dean, Pleasant Hill guard Matt Gunterman, Illini West forward Evan McGaughey, Central forward Alex Walter and Payson Seymour guard Aaron Edwards.

On the Missouri side, Marion County’s J.J. Chatfield and North Shelby’s John Stoneburner headline potential Classic participants. Keep your eye on Hannibal forward Christian Williams, who could develop into one of the area’s best players.

A little bling

After the Pittsfield boys basketball team finished fourth at the Class 2A state tournament, the players and coaches were fitted for rings commemorating their run. Saturday night, Saukees coach Brad Tomhave and his assistants, Steve Rylander and Ben O’Brien, put those rings on display. The rings are complete with a Saukee red stone.