July 2 – 5, 2009
Exeter Eagles
Exeter, CA
AB Draw (21 Teams)
1st Place | Bob Crum & Grant Watson |
2nd Place | Hal Perry & Dan Childs |
3rd Place | Bob Hunt & John Troyan |
4th Place | Nick Chaffin & Bonnie Trumbo |
5th / 6th Place | Anna Brunskill & Jana Brannen |
5th / 6th Place | Terry Leahy & Joel Atkins |
ABC (18 Teams)
1st Place | George Goldsmith, Duane Maxwell, Willie Vazquez |
2nd Place | JR Noel, Leslie Lankton, Ryan Martin |
3rd Place | Jeff Posthumus, Jim Lowe, Jody Jones |
4th Place | Rick Thomas, Kathy Thomas, Rayla Phillip |
5th / 6th Place | Bob Crum, Joel Atkins, Gilbert Schafer |
5th / 6th Place | Bob Hunt, John Goodwin, Mike Quilla |
Doubles Add to 2
1st Place | Jim Martin & Duane Maxwell |
2nd Place | Jody Jones & Dave Keithahan |
3rd Place | Nick Chaffin & Sam Seminario |
Doubles Add to 4
1st Place | Anna Brunskill & Dan Childs |
2nd Place | Jana Brannen & Bill Landers |
3rd Place | Joel Atkins & JR Noel |
Thursday, July 2 The first event was an AB draw with 21 teams. There was no auction for this event so it started early in the evening. Playing for entry fee monies only, the pot was $840.
Friday, July 3 The auction for the ABC event was held in the morning when the AB event was almost over. There were 18 teams (54 players) with $1350 in entry and $5020 in auction monies.
Saturday, July 4 The auctions for the Add to 2 and Add to 4 Bring Partner doubles was held when there were only 2 teams left in the ABC event. With 6 players left, 1 was playing in the Add to 2 and 4 were playing in the add to 4 event. The Add to 2 entry was $1000 and the auction was $2260. The Add to 4 entry was $1000 and the auction was $2130. There were 10 teams in each of these events.
In the afternoon, Robbie Gann was inducted into the California Table Shuffleboard Hall of Fame. Because her brother Bobby Goldsmith couldn’t pronounce “sister”, Robbi became known as “Aunt Sitter.” Her son Joe composed and performed a wonderful tribute to the “Shuffleboard Queen of the San Joaquin.” She usually made enough money to replace the socks she wore out playing shoeless. Former partners Marion Bailey, Mike Quilla and Troy Tolbert told interesting stories about playing shuffleboard with her years ago at The Hut and Mr. G’s in Visalia and many other places on their road trips. Newer players (those with less then 30 years under their belts) Dave Keithahan and Rick Thomas thanked her for the pioneering work she did in opening up the sport to women players and the many lessons she taught them. Many family members also gave praise and congratulations. Also present to honor Robbie were previous Hall of Fame inductees Marion Bailey, Bob Brunskill, Don Cox, Nick Chaffin, Bob Hunt, Hal Perry, Troy Tolbert, and Paul Weber. Making the presentation was Hall of Fame president Jim Martin.
A thank you to Marion Bailey and Dave Keithahan for each bringing two shuffleboards to the tournament. This makes my bracket job real easy. Thanks also to the Eagles Lodge #3608 for keeping the drinks coming, the donation of the set of weights for the raffle and keeping the air conditioner working. A special thanks to Charlene Goldsmith for the Saturday dinner and the diamond ring she donated for the raffle.
Another great job by Paul Weber on the Auctions. The totals were $9410 for the three auctions, $3350 for the entry monies for a tournament total of $12,760.
Bob Brunskill reporting
Robbie Gann – 2009
Mary Roblean Goldsmith was born in Marmaduke, Arkansas. Robbie was 18 months younger than her only sibling, California Shuffleboard Hall of Famer Bobby Goldsmith. When he was very young, Bobby couldn’t say the word “sister,” so Robbie became “Sitter”, which she is called by many to this day. Robbie says; “We were always very close. Bobby taught me how to swim, drive a car and many other things.”The family moved across country when Robbie was 4 or 5 to the Bakersfield-Visalia, CA area. Later, Bobby married Robbie’s best friend, Charlene Peterson. Robbie married Bobby’s best friend, Pat Scott. Robbie and Pat had two sons together; Jason, who is a teacher and Joe, a musician. Joe wrote and performed the song “Mr. G” for the Bobby Goldsmith CSHOF induction. Robbie and Pat divorced after 12 years.Robbie worked at Southern California Gas Co. in the 1960’s. She also did the books for her father & brother’s card club, “The Hut” in Visalia, CA. She would go there each day on her lunch hour from 11:30-12:30 when no one was there. Robbie laughs: “My Dad didn’t want me coming to the club at night because it was a bar, and I was only 31 years old.”
After awhile, she was able to finish the books in about 20 minutes, so with the extra 40 minutes she would practice on the shuffleboard her father had acquired. “I saw this board and these funny looking things they were throwing down it, so I tried it, and it got to where I could control it pretty well and it really intrigued me. That was the shuffle part of learning the game.”
She started going to the club at night when she knew there was going to be action; Glen Davidson, Troy Tolbert, or any of the better players, but she would just watch. “I would sit on the side and mentally say to myself, ‘I would make this shot or that shot,’ and that’s how I learned what shots to make because I would see if I was right. I knew the better players would be right. That was how I learned the mental part of the game; when to play short weights, block a lag, hit and go, or stick.”
Bobby held a big tournament at The Hut that brought in good players to from all over. The entry was $50, which was quite a bit of money to Robbie 40 years ago. She showed up and got Egghead as a partner (she can’t remember his real name). Her dad and Bobby couldn’t believe she was so foolish as to enter the tournament. Bobby and his partner took 1st place and Robbie and Egghead took 2nd. Bobby and Dad were astounded, because neither had ever seen her play before!