Fred Lane is serious when it comes to horsing around.

Horseshoes, that is.

The Stevens Point man has established the Stevens Point Horseshoe Club, which began meeting this month and already has nearly 20 members.

“It’s more the community,” he said. “Horseshoes being that it’s not an easy sport, you’re going to throw a ton of horseshoes and probably not get a ringer, but it’s a family sport and families love doing it.

“It’s a tight knit community, that’s why I love it,” Lane said. “It’s good exercise, it’s good clean fun, and why not get outside and have some fun?”

Lane resurrected the sport last year when he prepared a tournament for Riverfront Rendezvous. It was well-received – reached maximum capacity the first tournament day – so afterward, he and others gathered, did some fundraising and spent last fall and this spring reworking the existing three courts at Mead Park.

Lane and his crew added another, re-sodded between the courts, dug out the old stakes and put in new ones, and changed the pits from sand to clay. They also poured 18-inch concrete walkways down the left and right side of each court.

“It’s pretty incredible,” he said. “We just want to want to grow the sport and bring it back from what it used to be.”

The club already is full for its monthly league, but is accepting registration for the two tournaments it has scheduled during Riverfront Rendezvous this year. Saturday, July 1, will be the singles competition, and Sunday, July 2, will be the doubles tournament.

Cost is $10 a person for singles and $20 per team for the doubles tournament. Participants are placed into a class with others of the same skill level to keep it competitive. Preregistration is required, and the deadline to sign up is June 24.

To preregister or for additional information about the club, contact Lane at 715-347-2507 or via email, [email protected].

Currently, the closest horseshoe clubs are located in Mosinee and Marshfield. Lane hopes this new local one will help resurrect interest in the sport.

“The future of the sport lies in the youth, like anything, so if they’re not provided a nice place or an opportunity to play then it’s (the sport) going to get lost,” he said.

That, in part, is where the drive to add a court and repair the existing ones came from, he said. Lane secured a grant from the National Horseshoe Pitching Foundation and also received support from area businesses, including Green Meadow Turf of Stevens Point, which donated the pallet of sod to fill in between the horseshoe courts. Stevens Point Parks and Recreation Department supported Lane’s efforts to restore the horseshoe courts, and club members put in the time, energy and sweat to get them up and running.

Lane hopes to carry on a tradition that started more than 40 years ago with Pete and Dorothy Schelke of Stevens Point, who in the early ’70s were able to get eight clay horseshoe courts installed at Mead. They ran leagues two nights a week for about 10 years, until Pete died.

After Pete Schelke’s death, no one stepped up to maintain the courts or run the leagues so the sport slowly slipped away, Lane said.

Over the years, five of the courts disappeared, but Lane is regrouping. Already, he has added and cleaned up the courts, he has a league running one night a month – it is full at this point – and the two tournaments set for July.

“I’m sure Pete and Dorothy would be proud that the courts they had put in years ago are breathing new life again,” he said.