Features

December 1, 2008

Games bringing friends together

By Terrie Morgan-Besecker tmorgan@timesleader.com
Law & Order Reporter
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Donna Kaufer peers down the 22-foot wooden table and contemplates her strategy.

Holding a 12-ounce metal puck – locally known as a “quoit” – in her hand, she has to figure a way around another quoit that’s blocking her path.

With a smooth motion, she gingerly slides her quoit the length of the table, only to watch it careen into her partner’s quoit, knocking both off the side and netting a big zero.

“Arrgh! I didn’t want to bump you!” Kaufer says with disgust.

It’s 7:45 on a Saturday night, and the weekly shuffleboard league at the Amvets Post 59 in Hanover Township is in full swing.

The league is among dozens of indoor recreational leagues that meet weekly in bar rooms and social clubs across the Wyoming Valley.

Whether the activity is shuffleboard, darts or billiards, the leagues provide participants a fun night out and help the businesses and non-profit clubs they patronize survive in today’s tough economic climate.

Joe “Jed” Nealon Sr., 71, knows a little bit about survival. He’s the president and founder of the St. Leo’s Church dart league, which has been in continuous operation for 36 years.

The league, now with 16 members, has moved to a number of different locations over the decades. Members now shoot on Friday nights at the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 36 in Hanover Township.

Exactly 103 people have taken part in the league over the decades, according to the meticulous records Nealon keeps. For many the league has become a family tradition, he said.

“We have kids of the original members playing now,” said Nealon, the sole remaining original.

Pat Connelly, 44, of Ashley, has been playing in the league for 15 years.

“Our family was in it for years and years. Each family member would get the next generation involved to keep the league going,” he said. “It’s a nice night out and lets you keep in touch with everybody.”

Dues are $4 per week and cover the cost of prizes awarded to the top scoring teams and a pig roast at the end of the season.

The league utilizes the “baseball” scoring method. Each section of the board is broken into nine “innings.” Shooters throw three darts with the potential of scoring nothing, or one, two or three points per dart, depending upon where it lands on the board. Their points are then added up for the nine innings and they’re assigned an average.

A good average for a typical bar game shooter is in the 28 to 34 range for nine innings, Nealon says. In his prime, Nealon had an average of 38. That’s dropped over the years as age caught up to him.

“Just so I get the dart in, that’s all I care about,” he said with a laugh. “Arthritis set in and sort of took away from my game. They fly all over the board now.”

Shuffling off to the Amvets

At the Amvets club, the shuffleboard league has been in existence about eight years. The league, which consists of six teams of four people each, draws a diverse group ranging in age from people in their 20s to a few in the 70s and 80s.

“It’s something to do on a Saturday night,” said Linda Brown, who along with her husband, Dave, has been playing for several years. “I didn’t know anyone in this room when we started. Now sometimes we’ll get a group of people together and go out for dinner.”

On this night, Kaufer’s team, which includes Dave Brown, Matt Reddick and Gabe Metric, is taking on the team of John and Denise Styczen, RyAnn Link and Bob Carey.

Kaufer soon makes up for her earlier scoring gaffe, sliding her last quoit a fraction of an inch past all others on the board to score a “two” for her team.

The league uses a “knock off” scoring method. Opposing teams glide their colored pucks – red or blue – down the board, trying to land them in scoring zones. The team whose pucks are closest to the end of the board scores. The first team to hit 21 wins.

Participants pay dues of $2 per week. Just like the dart league, teams compete for prizes that are awarded at the end of the season.

“It’s a good time. No one bothers you. And it’s good to support the Amvets,” Kaufer said.

The club, established in 1946, relies on leagues like this to drum up business that supports its charitable work, said Metric, president of the club’s home association.

The club participates in a number of charitable projects, including donating money to several youth sports organizations. Members volunteer at the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center and hold military funerals for club members, Metric said.

The main draw of the league is the fun and fellowship it provides, they say.

“It’s like ‘Cheers.’ Everyone here knows your name,” said Jackie Boyle, who belongs to the league with his wife Eileen. “You’re a stranger when you come here. When you leave, you’re a friend.”

Terrie Morgan-Besecker, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 570-828-7179.

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