Horseshoes draw Jones Hill crowd

By Jason Beck
Staff Writer
Heat, chicken, beer and…clink — horseshoes. In Raeford, droves gather in at least one neighborhood to take part in a traditional summer pastime.
For the past two weekends, nearly 100 people have gathered to play and watch horseshoes in the Jones Hill neighborhood. Though the gatherings are mostly for fun and bragging rights, games are organized and the winners receive huge trophies.
In all, it’s part of living in a small town south of the Mason Dixon line.
“It’s definitely a Southern thing,” said Charles Andrews, one of the organizers of the two most recent horseshoe tournaments. “This is what people do down South. There’s not much to do; you go in the back yard, throw horse shoes and talk trash.”
That talk, known as ‘smack’ to many in the crowd, is all in good-natured jest. Competitors constantly try to get into each other’s heads and break the concentration during the highly mental game. The regular players can wrap their horseshoes around the steel stobs in the ground with impressive regularity.
Roger Ferguson is one of the best in the area. He traveled from further down N.C. 211 to play in Saturday’s Jones Hill tournament.
“It’s a fun game,” he said. “Everyone enjoys themselves. The trophy is something good. You always have it around the house and people see it.”
It’s not hard to see the sought after ‘King of the Hill’ trophy given to the best horseshoe player of the day. The trophy stands nearly six-feet tall and inspires some serious trash talk for those trying to capture it.
Ferguson brings his 17-year-old son, known simply as Junior, to tournaments and the pair has become quite successful. Ferguson said the hobby is a good way to keep his boy out of trouble.
“I’m teaching him the ropes as a young man, hoping he can carry this on as an adult,” he said.
The recent tournaments have been held at the home of Bennie ‘Gogo’ Powell — a talented player for more than 30 years before recently retiring.
“The doctor won’t let me throw. They told me I’m getting too old… told me to leave it for the young folks,” Powell said. “Before my time they was doing it.
“I enjoy having it out here,” he said. “I get a lot of fun out of it, keeping the kids out of trouble. We won’t have no problems out here, we aren’t going to have that.”
Donald Cunningham is one of Jones Hill’s best players and another tournament organizer. He said games are entertaining and a good way to stay out of trouble in a sleepy small town.
“Everyone will be playing horseshoes and having a good time… some food and drink…in the evening when we get off work we throw shoes until dark,” he said. “There’s nothing much goin’ on except trouble, but you leave that alone. You hear birds chirping on Jones Hill.
Birds, and the occasional clinking noise when one of the area’s best players gets another ringer.