Every once in a while a great idea comes along. Usually, however, no one knows that it is a great idea until after the fact. Example; RCA records thought Elvis Presley was a passing fad. That’s kind of what happened in Shelton this weekend. Shuffleboard tournaments in the Pacific Northwest have been suffering low turnouts for a while. Promoters are worried about the future of the game and scrambling to find ways to protect their investments. In a simple effort towards that end, they happened upon success. Sort of a Pro-Am type of event where rated players have to find non-rated players to be their partners. The result: Wow!

Everyone was amazed at the number of non-rated players that have an interest in the game. Ernie’s Fir Cone saw numbers it hasn’t seen since the late 90s. All the promoters agree that they were unprepared for this kind of a turn-out. Like RCA Records, they didn’t see the potential. They do now.

Hind sight is 20/20, and rumor has it that more of these type of tournaments are in the works. That’s alright with Mike Waters and his partner Helen Bryant who won the tournament. Ryan Devlin and Jeff Smith settled for second. Ernie’s Fir Cone Owner Ernie Montoya and Northwest hall of famer Frank Mako ended a great weekend in third. Fourth place went to the team of Jim “007” Thorton and Russ Frazier. Tied for fifth place was Carolyn Floyd and Evelyn and the team of Claire Kenney and her daughter Renee. The tournament was masterfully run by Clark Kenney, the best tournament director on earth. Ernie would like to express his thanks to the Promoters, the Tournament Director, and the Shelton Shuffleboard community for their support and dedication to keeping shuffleboard alive. Ernie also went on to express his thanks for the players whom he describes as all winners and wanted to have them all recognized. Players came from Shelton, Olympia, Port Orchard, Gig Harbor, Bremerton, Tahuya, Tacoma, Seattle, Spokane, and Portland.
Here is a list of everyone who played;

* I apologize to all the players who didn’t get their last name listed. I didn’t have them and it would take too long to research.