By Dwayne Dibley

Amateur Tournaments at the Fir Cone are still going strong after the change of owners. The Fir Cone Tavern 114 W. Cota Shelton, Washington has been known for a long time as the starting place of champions. The Fir Cone probably has a better alumni than any other shuffleboard place on the planet. This strong tradition has lived on through 3 different owners, a testament to the strength of the Shelton Shuffleboard Community.

On July 22, 2005 Ernie’s Fir Cone hosted a 2.0 thru 5.0 Open Draw which turned out, as all tournaments in Shelton do, to be a huge success. New players from around the area flocked to Ernie’s Fir Cone for a chance to have their picture among the greats. From a reporter’s prospective it is hard to tell a pro event from an amateur event, the format is the same, the tension is the same, and the challenge on every shot is the same, only the names have changed. However, many of the top pros and hall of famers from around the state showed up to support the future pros and, of course play in the Friday night draw.

The Friday night single elimination A-B Draw came down to a battle for first place between the winners Clark Kenny & Joe Smith and the second place team of Vern Gonzales & Jeanette Hohn. After the draw the hardcore shufflers hung around and practiced until Ernie had to make them leave. Go figure, shuffleboard players being last to leave a bar.

The Draw started on Saturday with plenty of tight games and a lot of actions for the fans. Carolyn Floyd from Tacoma and Joe Smith from Shelton claim the title with locals Penny Jorgensen and Frank Givens grabbing second place. Third place went to Gloria VonBargen and Bill Renskers.

If you would like to see more Amateur and Division II tournament at Ernie’s Fir Cone call Ernie. He is open to all suggestions. The next tournament at Ernie’s Fir Cone is scheduled for November and it is the 21st Annual Mixed Doubles.

Ernie and the players would like to thank all the members of the Shelton Shuffleboard Community for the wonderful feed put out Saturday Night.