Sandy Janssens was inducted into the NHPA Hall of Fame at Hibbing during the 2001 World Tournament! She is only the 6th Canadian to be inducted. The others have been: Elmer Hohl (1969), Dean McLaughlin (1974), Bert Snart (1976), Arthur Adams (1981) and Jack Adams (1984). A very well deserved honor for Sandy!
The induction speech was given by Steve Hohl and was as memorable as Sandy's speech where she thanked everybody that helped her in the game, from her parents, her brother Kevin, to the late Merv Lichty, Sheila McGrath and Walter Ray Williams Jr... As she said, what else would have we done of our vacations besides playing horseshoes?
Here are some highlights of Sandy's career:General: Sandy JANSSENS was born (Sandra McLachlin) on July 9, 1971 in Wallaceburg (Ontario). She married in 1992 to Dale JANSSENS. They have a daughter born in 2000 (Britney). Sandy is a Certified General Accountant.
She was Ontario women's singles champion 8 times: 1987 (85.4% - an Ontario record which is the also the highest ever recorded in a provincial championship in Canada); 1990 (83.9%); 1991 (72.3); 1994 (74.0); 1995 (79.8); 1996 (80.4); 1997 (78.5); and 1998 (71.2).
She participated 5 times in the Canadian women's championship (including once in the juniors). Her best finish was runner-up in 1987 to Diane Cantin, where Sandy recorded her high average (80.76) and high game (90.6) and set a Canadian record which still stands for the greatest number of shoes pitched at the Nationals (1076). There she also set a record for longest game (116 shoes with Diane Cantin) until it was beaten in 1995.
World championships: she became the first Canadian to win the Junior Girls World title in 1986 (with 7-0 and 67.3%). The next year she stunned the World by winning the Women's world title (with 15-1 and a record 88.24% overall average, out of 1020 shoes pitched). That record for a complete tournament average lasted until 1996 when Sue Snyder averaged 88.38%. Sandy also set a record she still holds with a 89.7% average in the preliminaries of the 1987 world tournament.
Sandy is the only Canadian to have won titles in two divisions. She is also one of only two females who have won the Junior Girls and Women's world titles (the other one is Tari Carpenter-Powell, 1976 and 1984).
Sandy was also runner-up at the World Tournament in 1988, 1989 and 1992. Her overall average in the 1988 tournament (85.02%) was the third highest ever at that time! Sandy's high game at the world tournament is 96.2 (50 out of 52) against Tari Powell, one of 6 games over 90% she shot in the 1987 world tournament.
Sandy stills holds 5 World records in the juniors girls division, all set in her only appearance (1986) and in her deciding game against Debby Bestul. They are: total ringers combined (109), total doubles combined (36), cancelled ringers (90), 57 ringers and 20 doubles for a winner.
Other major tournaments (here are just a few): She won the Elmer Hohl Ringer Classic a record 5 times (1990, 1994, 1995, 1998 and 2001), including the record overall average of 86.6% set in 1990. She also won the Ottawa Silver Shoe singles 3 straight years (1987, 1988, 1989) once again recording the tournament high of 79.6% in 1987.
Sandy won the 1989 Eastern National (7-0 and 78.3%), the only Canadian woman to ever win that prestigious event. She also won the 2nd annual Danville Open in 1990, a major held in Illinois, with an 84.5% average. She won the Governors Open (Ohio State Fair) tournament in 1987 shooting over 88.0%
Special achievements: Sandy shot several perfect games. Four of them were officially recorded by the NHPA. They were all 20 shoe-games played at the Governors Open in Columbus, Ohio. Three were pitched in 1987(two the same day on August 22, and one on August 23), definitely her best year, and one in 1988 (on August 20).
Sandy was (one of 8 pitchers) invited to play horseshoes at the White House for the inauguration of George Bush's horseshoe court in April 1988.
She is one of the rare individuals to have pitched tournaments over 90%. She recorded a 91.2% in March 1988, believed to be the highest performance ever by a Canadian, and possibly by any woman in the world!
Comment by Kevin McLachlin (July 24, 2001): Me being Sandy's brother I have had the Fortune or Misfortune of pitching against her in many tournaments. Of all the times I played her I managed to only beat her once. You would think her being somewhere around 80% and me around 70% (not any more) that I would beat her at some sort of regular pace. Not the case no matter how good I pitched she always beat me. On one occasion at the Khaki Club in Ontario I thought I had her on the ropes just when I was about to finish her off the phone rang at the club. Then I heard "Sandy phone call", somebody heard she was there and just wanted to talk horseshoes get some tips etc.. Needless to say after a 5 minute delay for the phone she came back to the court reversed the flow of the game and put me out of my misery. She apologized many times after the game but it didn't change the obvious another loss for me.
