This is how good Shifflett is: Some years ago, a sports guy from a Washington TV station came out to Frederick to do a piece on Shifflett. It's a feeling like you're never going to miss again.'

'You see nothing around you, only the peg. 'They call it 'the zone,' and it really is,' says Shifflett of the incredible ringer streaks he's had. Two years ago, at a tournament in Nashville, Tenn., he threw 38 ringers in 40 pitches. In one tournament, he threw an astounding 35 ringers in a row. 7 in the world - the world, in this case, basically being the United States and Canada, where most of the sport's serious devotees reside.Ĭurrently, he lists a ringer percentage of 78. A central office technician for Verizon who lives in Damascus with his wife, Bonnie, he's been pitching for 20 years now. The kids coming home from school will walk through here and see me and say: 'What're you doing?' They don't even know what this is.'īut for Elbert Shifflett, horseshoe pitching is life itself, his passion. 'There aren't enough young people taking up the sport. 'Most people don't even know that horseshoes exists,' Shifflett says sadly, throwing another of those assembly-line ringers.

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