Inductees

You can almost imagine the quaint rural setting: A dad who loves playing horseshoes teaches his daughter all about the sport, and the clang of horseshoes hitting stakes becomes their sound of summer.

Naturally, Vicki Chapelle Winston enjoys telling this story.

“He loved horseshoes,” Winston said of her dad. “The house where we lived in Portland, Oregon was on a 50 by 100 lot. There was not enough space for a horseshoe court, but there was a vacant lot behind our house. Dad put a practice court in the vacant lot, and that is where he first taught me to pitch horseshoes.”

And from there emerged one of the country’s best horseshoe competitors. It’s some story, and certainly worthy of the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, which proudly inducted Winston with the Class of 2021.

After all, she is a 10-time world champion in the Women’s Division of the National Horseshoe Pitchers Association. The titles cover 1956, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1963, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1975 and 1981.

The 10 titles also are a record in the Women’s division, and seven of those came after Winston moved from Oregon to Missouri in 1960, when she married her husband, Earl, who also was president of the Missouri Horseshoe Pitcher Association.

Additionally, Winston served a term as NHPA Vice President in the 1960s, and was the Vice President of the Missouri state association (1978-1987) and then secretary/treasurer. For several years, she also chaired the annual State Officers meeting held during the World Tournament. She also assisted her husband in leading the Hall of Fame committee of the NHPA before chairing the organization.

Overall, Winston has competed in events in at least 27 states and Washington, D.C. and, along the way, became a pioneer of women’s horseshoe competitions by helping to create a women’s division in the Missouri State Tournament.

“It was God-given talent,” Winston said, downplaying her success in the sport. “People don’t get to the level of Alan Francis (24-time men’s world champion) or myself, without some natural ability. In my case, I think God wanted me in Missouri, and He used horseshoe pitching as a means to get me here.”

Winston won her first world title the summer before her senior year of high school and would have been the favorite the next year had she been able to attend. Instead, she had taken an office assistant’s job and had no vacation time.

Regardless, she kept at it, sharpening her techniques ahead of the world championships in Utah. Early on, she used the three-quarters turn but eventually settled on a 1 ¼ turn – meaning she had to hold the iron by one of its two shanks, rather than at its curve.

Of course, it helped that her dad, Cletus, knew the sport well. He had risen to NHPA President.

In the late 1950s, she met Earl, a young Missouri farmer. Eventually, they married and made the Show-Me State their home.

“Without Earl in my life, my horseshoe career would have died (in Oregon),” she said. “At the time, I wasn’t allowed to pitch in Oregon in a (men’s) tournament and there were no women’s tournaments.”

Because Earl ran the state competition, she was allowed to compete against men in the Missouri state tournament. That allowed her to ready for national competitions.

“I wasn’t quite up to the level to compete in the men’s top class at that time, so was in a lower class and not contending for the state championship,” Winston said.

Her passion for the sport had a positive impact, as she and Earl’s connection to the NHPA and their annual trips to the world tournament sparked interest.

At one point, a victory led one men’s competitor to end his career. She briefly backed away from competing in men’s events but couldn’t stay away.

“I liked the individual competition,” Winston said. “I bowled for decades on a team. But I liked to be responsible for what I was doing. If I lost, it was my fault.”

Winston assisted in creating a women’s division for the state tournament in 1976. Eventually, about 200 women joined clubs and leagues and competed annually across the state. And, in 1989, President George H.W. Bush invited her and a several top pitchers to the White House to participate in the inauguration of his personal horseshoe court.

What a career it’s been. She and Earl raised sons Keith and Carl and made wonderful memories – all with something simple as a horseshoe.