BOWERS CORNER
1st MONTHLY "SHUFFLER" SPOTLIGHT!
MARCH 1999
"SHY DI"
NEW SECTION - March 1999 - Send us a SHUFFLER SPOTLIGHT submission for future months and let us know how you like this new section. Your comments and submissions are greatly appreciated!
We have picked the below 1989 "SHY DI" reprint as our first MONTHLY SPOTLIGHT (article shared with BOWERS CORNER by: Don Valk, Tx) to give some history on those women that broke the ice in joining the World of Shuffleboard .. such as Diana Hagen, Chris Danke, Debbie (Sommers) Voorhis, Peggy (Richards) Whatley, Cheryl Collins, Brenda Moore, and etc.
For those that did not read this article from 1989, we thought you might find it quite an interesting bit of history for women joining the shuffleboard pro play! This article also has some interesting history on the prior shuffleboard player POINT STANDING. MANY THANKS TO DON VALK FOR SHARING THIS ARTICLE WITH BOWERS CORNER VISITORS!!
SHY DI
Excerpt/Reprint from
TAVERN SPORTS International
JULY 1989 Issue, page 18
"Weighing the possibilities:
Diana Hagen already has won an open title.
Is mixed doubles to be her next quest?"
"She's not of British royalty, but this Texas lady is revered by the subjects of shuffleboard.
Diana Hagen's face isn't plastered all over the supermarket tabloids -- yet. But shuffleboard's newest celebrity did have to seek sanctuary in her bathroom to complete this interview.
Her voice echoed off the tile as she dragged the telephone into a much-more private lavatory in her Houston home - away from the mock press conference family and friends were holding at Hagen's expense. Former president Ronald Reagan -- retreating from Sam Donaldson to his helicopter waiting on the White House lawn -- could have done no better.
So just what did Hagen do to deserve all this?
She has won more women's tournaments than any other, holds the No.l spot in the point standings which she frequently duels over with rival Chris Danke, currently No.3.
That's not it, though. They are reason enough, granted. But Hagen eclipsed those facts by joining the ranks of the first women to ... in the sporting spirit of Janet Guthrie (race in the Indy 500) Billie Jean King (defeat and humiliate tennis' most-vocal chauvinist Bobby Riggs) and Lynette Woodard (join the Harlem Globetrotters).
Add this to your trivia files, sports fans:
The place: Great Arizona Open in Phoenix; the time: late March 1989; the event: open doubles; and the outcome: Diana Hagen/Sam Summers over Frank Blade/Dale Koteras.
Hagen wasn't even going to team with her eventual significant other, Summers of Oklahoma. She was set to play with Hal Perry of California. Then, he couldn't make it because of an injury. John McDermott, Summers' scheduled parner, had to drop from the tourney because of other commitments.
And a match was made.
Hagen won her first women's division title just six months after she learned to play four years ago in a local Houston bar under the tutelage of shuffleboard pro Howard Mouton (currently ranked No. 11).
'I never knew there was such a game,' confessed the 39-year-old Hagen, who attributed her naivete to growing up in a small town named Fairfield, 150 miles outside Houston, that didn't house a single board.
'I used to watch the guys play and play (after moving to Houston). I'd never seen anything like it. It was fascinating,' she recalled. 'Then once, nobody was in, and I asked Howard to teach me right then.'
Hagen entered her first open event either months later. In draw partners, she paired with fellow Texan David Wiliams; they took second.
She also enters open singles events - when there's no women's division.
'And there used to hardly be one,' Hagen attested.
That changed at the 1987 Michigan Open when The Shuffleboard Federation, the game's national organizing body, implemented a separate event. In 1989, women players now have a separate list of point standings from the men as well.
Prior to the current point system based on accumulated accomplishments that determines an overall champion at the end of the year, only women who entered men's events -- and placed high consistently -- could earn a berth. In 1988, Danke of California was the sole woman player to break into the top 20, finishing 18th. Overall, women's skill levels simply were acknowledged in general terms: superior, good, average, etc.
Under the current system, Hagen's points earned in an open doubles event will carry over to the women's standings. Doubles teams earn a single point value for their finish, and partners divide the sum between themselves.
Should a woman ever win an open singles event, those points will earn her a place in the open standings and not be applicable to the women's division.
But most women players don't enter open singles -- at this point, only Danke (currently women's No.3) and Hagen venture to Boystown occasionally.
A lot of the ladies, though, like to enter open doubles -- there being no women's doubles category, Hagen said.
Women can pair with one another in this event, but they do have some trouble convincing top male players to team with them, Hagen continued. 'it's hard for girls to get a real good player ... they (the men) know we're good, but we don't have the experience,' she said.
The male/female coupling of sorts may be more palatable to the men in the very near future.
With Hagen's win behind her, experience, of course, still will be a factor, but not the all-important determinant over talent in men accepting women as partners.
Citing her relative inexperience of four years playing shuffleboard to that of Danke's eight or Cheryl Collins' (women's No.5) dozen or so, Hagen then pointed to a now-established women's circuit, annual rankings and a new event scheduled (again) at the Michigan Open Memorial Day weekend: mixed doubles.
(At press time, this tournament just got underway. Look for complete coverage in the August/September TSI.)
This first-ever category gives the ladies a bonafide showcase to throw their weight(s) around.
'It finally gives all women the chance to play with the men -- they've gotta take us,' Hagen exuded.
Hagen and Williams will join forces once again, although Hagen said she'd prefer to forget their last joint effort: a third-place finish at the 1988 Board Talk tournament.
'We were re-e-e-al lucky to get that 'cause we both played terrible,' she recounted. 'It was just a bad trip -- real hot; I couldn't sleep. And David was off, too.'
Hagen believes their games will go better this time out; however, she doesn't discount their formidable opponents -- the likes of men's No.l Bill Melton and No.5 Collins or No.3 Summers and No.9 Brenda Moore.
'Of course,' she added, 'I have to think my and David's chances are the best.'
And if that holds true, maybe the supermarket tabloids really aren't too far off.
But for now -- the coast is clear, Diana. You can come out of the bathroom."
1989 POINT STANDINGS
Following the article on "SHY DI" (reprint above), the TAVERN SPORTS INTERNATIONAL gave the 1989 MEN'S and WOMEN'S STANDINGS, as follows:
MEN'S: 1st Bill Melton, OK (583)-------> Still active in 1999
2nd Bobby Voorhis, IN (499)-----> Still active in 1999
3rd Sam Summers, OK (468)-------> Still active in 1999
4th Rick Boyer, TX (325)--------> Still active in 1999
5th Earl Kelly, TX (317)--------> deceased since 1989 article published
WOMEN'S: 1st Diana Hagen, TX (266.5)-----> Still active in 1999
2nd Debbie Sommers, IN (248)----> Debbie (Sommers) Voorhis/still active 1999
3rd Chris Danke, CA (233)-------> Missing since Halloween 1997
4th Peggy Richards, AZ (160)----> Peggy (Richards) Whatley/still active 1999
5th Cheryl Collins, MI (149)----> Still active in 1999
In addition, Don Valk (of Austin, TX) sent in a copy of an early The Board Talk, November 1988 issue, where on page 14 the following were listed by The Board Talk as being the top 50 players in the U.S.A., as follows:
ATLANTIC DIVISION:
1) John Lukas, Maryland
2) Scratch Todd, Maryland
3) Don Casula, Delaware
4) Chuck King, Delaware
5) Mickey Mickens, New Jersey
6) Dallas Hayman, Delaware
7) Bill Lally, Pennsylvania
8) Milt Benedict, New York
9) Dick Losee, New York
10) Jim McDaniel, Maryland
PACIFIC DIVISION:
1) Darrol Nelson, Oregon
2) Don Cox, California
3) Jim Allis, Washington
4) Hal Perry, California
5) Al Pease, Washington
6) Bill Maxwell, California
7) Karl Spickelmier, California
8) Fred Thumann, California
9) Leroy Ledford, California
10) Billy Chile, California
MID-EAST DIVISION:
1) Bobby Voorhis, Indiana
2) John McDermott, Michigan
3) Glenn Young, Arkansas
4) Jim Long, Indiana
5) Jerry Knox, Indiana
6) Jerry Warr, Indiana
7) Dave Boaz, Indiana
8) Larry Massie, Indiana
9) Lee McDonald, Michigan
10) Buddy Broka, Ohio
MID-WEST DIVISION:
1) Glen Davidson, Oklahoma
2) Dave Williams, Texas
3) Howard Mouton, Texas
4) Bill Melton, Oklahoma
5) Sam Summers, Oklahoma
6) Billy Mays, Texas
7) Eric Waldman, Montana
8) Sam Sweatt, Oklahoma
9) Diana Hagen, Texas
10) Earl Kelly, Texas
WOMEN: (Nationwide):
1) Diana Hagen, Texas
2) Chris Danke, California
3) Janet Cook, Texas
4) Brenda Moore, Texas
5) Peggy Richards, Arizona
6) Debbie Somers, Indiana
7) Rita Yank, Pennsylvania
8) Cheryl Collins, Michigan
9) Fritzi Broka, Ohio
10) Georjean Monnarez, Oregon
So, you can see from above November 1988 TOP 50 PLAYERS IN THE USA, SHY DI (Diana Hagen) is listed twice: in the top 10 of the women's division and in the top 10 players for the MID-WEST Division which had 9 men and 1 woman (Diana). So, looks like Howard Mouton was an excellent mentor and teacher for Diana!
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