Ralph Palmer, owner of Ar-Jay Building Products Inc. in Cedar Rapids, pitches horseshoes to raise money for Camp Courageous of Iowa and St. Luke's Child Protection Center. Palmer pledged to pitch for 24 hours starting at noon Tuesday. Every ringer adds $7.49 to the total raised, and Palmer says he has no doubt he'll meet his goal of 2,000 ringers.) Ralph Palmer, owner of Ar-Jay Building Products, Inc., pitches horseshoes to raise money for Camp Courageous of Iowa and St. Luke's Child Protection Center. Palmer pledged to pitch for 24 hours starting at noon, Oct. 5, 1999. Every ringer added $7.49 to the total raised. (Zara Tzanev/The Gazette)
CEDAR RAPIDS — Ralph Palmer pictures his late father beaming with pride about the latest of his son’s accomplishments.
After all, it was Harold Palmer who introduced his son to horseshoes while on the family farm in Gilman, a town of a little more than 500 residents in Marshall County.
Palmer worked tirelessly and helped Cedar Rapids land the 2010 National Horseshoe Pitchers Association World Tournament, which begins today 7 a.m. at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena. Palmer is serving as the host tournament director of the event with more than 1,260 competitors competing through Aug. 7.
His father passed on his enthusiasm for the sport, despite never playing competitively himself.
“He was just a farmer who played horseshoes. Once I started playing at the state level I would often take and give him my ribbons and trophies,” Palmer said. “I can just believe how proud he would be this got accomplished.”
Palmer was one of the key figures in bringing the tournament, consisting of throwers from across the United States, Canada and as far away as Norway, to Cedar Rapids. He helped make the initial bid, traveling to Pleasanton, Calif., in 1988, but said they came in last place to host it.
It was almost 20 years before Cedar Rapids bid on the tournament, because the requirements changed. Hosts needed a facility capable of housing 50 courts in an air-conditioned environment. That eliminated sites like the U.S. Cellular Center, Hawkeye Downs and Kirkwood Community College’s Equestrian Center, according to Cedar Rapids Area Convention and Visitors Bureau Director of Sports Tourism Mary Lee Malmberg.
“We toured a number of venues,” said Malmberg, also noting. “It took a long time for our venues to catch up to the event.”
In 2007, Palmer again led groups to bid on the tournament. After coming up short to be a replacement 2008 host when the original site dropped out and being the first eliminated to hold the 2009 event, the next year Palmer, Malmberg and Iowa Hawkeye Horseshoe Pitchers Association President LeRoy Law traveled to York, Pa., and claimed the rights to hold this year’s tournament despite images in the national media of Cedar Rapids being devastated by floodwaters.
“We won it on the first ballot,” Palmer said. “So, this is our year.”
Workers made final preparations this weekend and now pitchers are getting ready to throw their first horseshoe of the event, excitement is filling the air.
“With any event like this there always is kind of an aura. The aura was ‘Wow. We’ve really done well,” Palmer said of the set up last week. “I’m pretty fortunate. We have a tremendous group (of workers). I couldn’t be more pleased.”
Palmer is an accomplished horseshoe player himself. He even used it as a fundraising tool, raising $16,000 for charity in 1999 by throwing for nearly non-stop for 24 straight hours. he did something similar in 2001 when he threw horseshoes along a 4.2-mile course, advancing 40 feet with each ringer. His ability was reduced a couple years ago from the effects of Meniere’s Disease, a disorder of the inner ear causing vertigo with some hearing loss, ringing in the ear, and sometimes pressure in your ear, according to a www.mayoclinic.com.
“Out of that, I don’t any dizziness but somehow I lost some of my fine motor skills in my left hand,” Palmer said. “Instead of throwing 50 to 60 percent ringers, I now couldn’t throw 10 percent.”
Horseshoes just scratches the surface of Palmer’s athletic prowess. He played baseball, basketball and ran track as a prep. He gave rodeo a try the summers after his junior and senior years in high school. Palmer played baseball one season as a walk-on at the University of Iowa in the 1950s before taking a summer job at Turner Mortuary and decided to transfer to Coe College, where he has remained. Palmer said he was invited to go a Major League Baseball tryout at Davenport’s John O’Donnell Stadium in 1958. He received a chance to join a fall league from the Milwaukee Braves, but declined.
“The good news was I stayed in college and got my degree,” said Palmer, who is President of the Ar-Jay Center. “I might have been able to bounce around in low-A, like what we have here, or rookie ball, but you have to have a lot of tools and luck to live through any professional sport.
Palmer stayed active in recreational sports, running competitively and playing softball and basketball. He played fast-pitch softball for 50 years, being inducted into the Cedar Rapids Softball Hall of Fame in 2006. He played YMCA basketball and ran road races for more than 20 years. Palmer ran in five marathons, including the Chicago Marathon twice.
“Horseshoes is an interesting sideline trade between basketball, softball and running. They kept me pretty busy,” said Palmer, adding with a laugh. “You know a jack of all trades and master of none? It’s probably right on the master of none, too.”
Palmer has been a mastermind, locking up an event that could bring almost $1.2 million to the local economy, according to CVB estimations from previous events.
“The economic thing is a byproduct of it,” Palmer said. “We’re going to have 1,268, or how many are going to throw, come and explore Cedar Rapids.
“I guess personal gratification is the best part of it for me personally.”