Joe Daniel, 75 passed away back in late September of 2012.
Joe was from Russellville, Ky. and was a KHPA member from 1995-2000. He primarily pitched at the Joelton, TN. courts back when Kentucky hosted two out of state events per year there. When I first started pitching horseshoes around 96, Joe was one of the very first sanctioned pitchers I met and competed against. Joe was a "fair/festival" event regular locally and usually the one to beat. In singles competition he beat me head to head and this gave me the desire to keep pitching because I wanted to get good enough to win and beat him. Joe was soft spoken and confident as a player. He threw Deadeye Clydesdale Drop forged horseshoes with a very slow methodical somewhat high delivery. A very pretty 1 1/4 turn. Joe took his horseshoes very seriously and was very knowledgeable about the game and shared some of the ins and outs with me when I got started pitching.
I dug up a Class result from the archive of a KHPA event Joe pitched in, in Joelton Tn.
OUT OF STATE OPEN 2/28/98
CLASS D
Joe Daniel 6-1 48.2%
Lou Murphy 5-2 50.0%
Bobby Brooks 5-2 43.7%
Huck Hudnall 4-3 42.6%
Brian Winkler 4-3 41.1%
Robert Taylor 2-5 43.6%
R.O. Harris 2-5 33.9%
I also dug up this pic. Not a very good quality one but it is the only pic I have with Joe in it. It is the top 4 teams from the Western Ky. State tournament in 1996. My first REAL taste of solid competition was this very tourney and year. This was a huge tournament back in the day and would draw all of the top local players. I enjoyed pitching in this event every year until it finally went by the wayside. Joe would pitch in it about every year. It was always excited anticipation to see each team of players arrive because they had to walk a long distance up a gravel entry road to get to the courts. You could see them coming from a ways back and you'd say to yourself or to your doubles partner. "Ah-oh, here comes _____ and ______, boy they'll be tough to beat!" That ws fun. Horseshoe chatter. Eventually as time and years wore on, you would look down the road waiting for the tough teams to arrive and there would be no one coming. Sadly, the tourney just went away due to the drop off. Joe was a diabetic and eventually it slowed down and put an end to his pitching days but I sure do remember competing against all of the players from that era and those fair/festival days fondly. It was some of the best pitching!
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