Bert Snart and Butch Fleury are two Manitoba horseshoe pitching legends. Both were Manitoba provincial champions: Bert in 1952 and 1954, and Butch in 1974 and 1976.
Bert Snart, also an outstanding promoter, was inducted into the NHPA Hall of Fame in 1976. He organized many provincial championships in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.
He was also responsible for bringing the Canadian Championships to Dauphin in 1970 in conjunction with Manitoba's Centennial.
All previous Canadian championships had been held in Ontario.
Butch Fleury, who last played in the 2006 Manitoba championships, comes from a horseshoe pitching family. His brother Wallace (Wally) Fleury rarely practiced but once defeated Clayton English with his beautiful 1 and 1/4 turn.
Together as a duo, the Fleury brothers won many tournaments. Their father, Louis Fleury of St.Lazare, was 1974 Manitoba Senior Men's champion. But the name Fleury is also well known in other sports, especially hockey.
Wally had the talent to reach the NHL and was signed by the Rangers in 1959. But he was expecting a call-up in 1963 when he broke his leg playing baseball.
Wally played in the Manitoba Senior Baseball League (see picture here). But his son Theoren Fleury did become a famous NHL hockey star, playing more than 1000 games, scoring over 1000 points and winning the Stanley Cup in 1989 with the Calgary Flames.
Perhaps few people know that Theoren Fleury pitched horseshoes in an official sanctioned tournament at the 1981 Yorkton Fair in Saskatchewan. He placed 4th in the Juniors A behind Brian Friesen, Darcy Spilchen and Terry Spilchen. As a kid, Theo played hockey against Randy Fisher (son of Ivan and Horseshoe Canada Hall of Famer Shirley Ann Fisher),
Randy being considered one of the rare boys carrying enough speed to match Theo...
see the previous picture of the month.
