Horseshoe Canada
PHOTO OF THE MONTH

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1958 Royal Winter Fair Team Champions

Pictured above are (from L-R): Reuben Roeder, Elmer Hohl, Elgin Toman and Stan Hohl
after winning the 1958 Royal Winter Fair team tournament and with it the Toronto Star Trophy.
The Canadian Championships were held at the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto from 1927 to 1938. In 1940 they were moved to the Canadian National Exhibition held on labour Day weekend. But horseshoe pitching was still present at the Winter Fair, making a comeback probably in 1953. The annual tournament included a singles and doubles event, but also what Harold Blackman described in 1956 as the "Canadian team championship for the Daily Star trophy". The winning team in 1956 was the Fairmount Club with Norm Black, Perce Ansty, Ralph Littleton and Vern Mathews. Dean McLaughlin won the singles for the 4th consecutive year (1953 to 1956), edging Elmer Hohl for first place.
In 1957, a team from Midland (made of Wray Faint, Logan Cruise, Ellsworth Crawford and George Miles) defeated 17 other teams to win first place, while Elmer Hohl captured the singles.
In 1958, Elmer repeated as singles winner, with Dean McLaughlin as runner-up and Fred Harburn in 3rd place. He was also a member of the winning team with his lefthanded brother Stan Hohl, completed by Reuben Roeder (father of eventual pitchers Gerald and Paul) and Elgin Toman.
In 1960, the Wellesley team captured its 3rd straight title by defeating the Linwood team by a point. Their respective captains were Elmer Hohl (also singles winner) and George Schummer. The 1961 competition was won by Kitchener-Waterloo. We lack information for most of the 1960s, but we do know that Wellesley won the 1968 team tournament at the Royal Winter Fair. The team made of Elmer Hohl, Harold Leis, Clayton Neeb and Stan Leis edged Toronto in an event counting 4 teams (the others were: Kitchener-Waterloo and Stratford).