At St. Pete

Ten years ago shuffleboard was taken ashore, made a major sport at St. Petersburg, Fla. Most of St. Pete's winter visitors are middleaged, middle-class U. S. citizens, too churchgoing for horse racing, too homespun for golf. Shuffleboard suited them to a P and Q. From early morning till late at night, they shoved little discs over Mirror Lake Park's 103 shuffleboard courts. Every visitor tried the game at least once. Gradually they abandoned horseshoe pitching, the sport that first brought fame to St. Pete.

Last week St. Petersburg staged its eleventh annual shuffleboard tournament. Lined up to compete for the four national titles--Men's and Women's Open (open to anyone), Men's and Women's Closed (closed to anyone under 50)--were nearly 200 crackerjack shufflers. Unlike most national championships, this tournament was marked by fun and frolic. Spectators and contestants chatted back & forth, on every subject from the blizzards back home to next summer's crops. A stray dog scampered on to the courts, gave the players a merry chase. When a shower started, everyone adjourned to a covered grandstand, spent an hour singing old favorites.

Oldest shuffler was 82-year-old Edward Ranney, retired postal clerk from Kenmore, N. Y. Youngest was 17-year-old Dick Townsend of Grand Ledge, Mich. But the player who attracted the largest crowd was Open Champion Dwight K. Hubbard, 51, of Janesville, Wis. Champion Hubbard, onetime football coach, has been shuffling for ten years, has won the national championship six times. He already has more medals and ribbons than he can shake a shuffle-stick at. At week's end, it looked as if he might win another--if it would ever stop raining in Florida's famed Sunshine City.

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