The late Harold Blackman is pictured here with various horseshoe books, magazines, trophies and horseshoes.
Harold Blackman, from Brougham, suburb of Toronto, passed away in August 1978 during the Canadian Championships.
He started pitching horseshoes in the 1930s as a member of the famous Riverdale horseshoe club (see picture taken in 1936) .
He was a good horseshoe pitcher especially in the 1950s where he came close to becoming the first Canadian to make the Championship group at the World Tournament!
In 1950, at Murray, Utah, out of 200 shoes he qualified with 456 points, missing the top group by 5 points! He was the first to participate since Fred Harburn in 1935.
In 1956 he qualified with 452 points and finished 13th in the B class. Averaging over 60% three straight years at the Canadians he once took 4th place. His high game in 1958 was 69.2% in 78 shoes against Elmer Hohl (76.9) who won 51-31.
But Blackman made his mark mostly as an exceptional volunteer. He was instrumental in reviving the Canadian association in 1948-49, elected as Secretary-treasurer from 1949-1951. He was considered also Public relations director from 1949-1970. He was in charge of a horseshoe pitching column published in the Toronto Star for many years! He also provided reports on Canadian activities to Byron Jaskulek, editor of NHPA's monthly magazine The Horseshoe Pitcher. He often acted as master of ceremonies and during tournaments took the "mike" to comment on the action.
Blackman was also inducted into the Horseshoe Ontario Hall of Fame in 1998. His involvment in horseshoes cover 5 decades.
Harold Blackman at the Canadian Championships
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1949 Men's B 2nd Harold BLACKMAN, Toronto, Ont. 4-1 56.9
1952 Men's A 9th Harold BLACKMAN, Toronto, Ont. 3-8 53.2
1953 Men's A 5th Harold BLACKMAN, East York, Ont.
1954 Men's A 7th Harold BLACKMAN, Toronto, Ont. 5-6 57.3
1955 not available
1956 Men's A 6th Harold BLACKMAN, Toronto, Ont. 6-5 60.5 432/714
1957 Men's A 4th Harold BLACKMAN, Toronto, Ont. 8-3 60.4 442/732
1958 Men's A 6th Harold BLACKMAN, Toronto, Ont. 3-2 61.4 216/352
1959 Men's A 8th Harold BLACKMAN, Brougham, Ont. 4-7 53.8
1960 Men's B 3rd Harold BLACKMAN, Toronto, Ont.
1961
1962 Men's A 7th Harold BLACKMAN, Toronto, Ont. 3-5
1967 Men's B 8th Harold BLACKMAN, Toronto, Ont. 1-6 47.0
1968 Men's AC ? Harold BLACKMAN, Toronto, Ont. 2-5
1973 Men's C 7th Harold BLACKMAN, Brougham, Ont. 1-6 23.6 67/284
1974 Men's D forfeit Harold BLACKMAN, Toronto, Ont.
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see the previous picture of the month.
