1940 Canadian Singles Horseshoe Pitching Championships
August 26-27, 1940 • CNE, Toronto
Total entry: ...

Singles:                                W-L     Pts      R%
1.  Fred HARBURN, Cromarty              7-0      350   77.9
2.  Dean McLAUGHLIN, Oshawa             6-1      349
3.  George CRAGGS, Toronto                       297
4.  Jack LOVETT, Oakwood Club                    291
5.  Jim DANIELS, Toronto                         280
    Claude GINN
    T. GINN (or Pat Ginn?)
    D. McCASKILL

Consolation Singles:
1.  Norm BLACK Jr, Toronto Beaches
2.  Len SPENCE, Oakwood club
3.  M. McDONALD, New Toronto
4.  G. GINN, Riverdale

Note:  Exact positions from 6 thru 8 are unknown in the A class.
Harburn, trailing 49-42, rallied to beat the defending champion Dean McLaughlin 50-49.
Dean shot the high game with 88%, while Fred’s 77.9% for the complete tournament is a new record.
Between 25 and 30 pitchers tried to qualify.  High qualifier was James Daniels with 84%.
Of those, only 12 names of participants are known for sure (the 12 mentioned above).
However, it is probable that many of the participants who pitched in the Ontario team championship
also played (the next day) for the Dominion singles.

The Ontario team championship results were found in The Toronto Star (Sat. Aug. 24, 1940).
Toronto’s horseshoe aces won first place.
Here are the results with team members and high averages reported (they were possibly high games):
1st:  Toronto (J. Daniels 76%; J. Lovett 86%; G. Craggs; N. Black, captain).
2nd:  Hamilton (Dan Moriarty 68%; Frank Corbin 72%; J. Stubbs, K. Christmas, F. Mooney, captain).
3rd:  Scarborough (P. Ginn 50%; R. Mawson 59.4%; L. Spence; C. Ginn; P. Ginn, captain.
1940 Canadian Open Singles Championship
C.N.E., Toronto - August 28-29, 1940 
                                          R     Pts     W-L    Pct.
1.  Larry Mahoney, Lincroft, N.J.         84     264   10-1    74.1
2.  Vito Fileccia, Brooklyn, N.Y.         75     238   10-1    75.1
3.  James O’Shea, Brockton, Mass.         69     224    8-3    74.6
4.  Ken Hurst, Providence, R. I.          76     247    7-4    67.0
5.  Norm Black, Canada                    75     248    7-4    60.8
6.  Fred Harburn, Canada                  71     235    6-5    68.7
7.  Jack Lovett, Canada                   65     224    5-6    65.2
8.  George Craggs, Canada                 73     230    4-7    60.1
9.  Art Scolari, Paterson, N.J.           69     226    4-7    62.0
10. James Daniels, Canada                 79     250    3-8    63.9
11. Pat Ginn, Canada                      66     200    2-9    49.2
12. Henry Christy, Corona, L.I.           65     205   0-11    42.8

Play-offs                                 P       R      SP    Pct.
    Mahoney                               50      75      96   78.1
    Fileccia                              35      70      96   72.9

    Hurst                                 50      58      84   69.0
    Black                                 41      58      84   69.0

    Craggs                                30      37      56   66.1
    Scolari                               24      29      56   51.8

HIGHLIGHTS: Fred Harburn who was crowned Dominion Champion on Tuesday night has the distinction of having defeated each and every member of the team from “The States”. In the team match play he defeated O’Shea 50 to 39 ; triumphed over Fileccia, 50 to 41 ; conquered Hurst by a total of 50 to 23. In the Canadian Open he scalped Mahoney by a tally of 50 to 23 ; Scolari lost to him by 50 to 40, and Christy tasted defeat by a count of 50 to 12.
Mahoney in his game with Daniels in the Canadian Open, was trailing by a score of 43 to 19 at one stage of the game, but was able to come through with a victory by a score of 50 to 49.
The qualifying rounds of pitching 200 shoes for a point score and selecting the best 100 was something new to the Canadian boys. Their system has been to draw numbers out of the hat and assign players to groups and engage in round robin play with the winner and runner-up of each group to play off in the final. The Canadians have improved from 10 to 15 per cent in their pitching since they have been using a hooked shoe. Last year the horseshoes they were pitching had no hooks. On Friday evening at 6 o’clock a banquet was tendered to the members of the visiting terms and their friends at the Automotive Building within the Exhibition grounds.


Back to Main Page