The winners at the Knucklers Rolley Hole Tournament held at the Standing Stone Park (Trevor Norrod, Jeff Kimmell, Andrew Walker, and Molly Kimmell).
More Photos:
Trevor and Reecie.
Special Note:
We raised $100 for the Knucklers marbles group. A special "Thank You" to Brian and Beverly Cherry, and Shawn Hughes. The kids had a wonderful time and appreciate all your hard work.
Reecie gets the Rolley Hole yard ready for play Sunday afternoon.
My Rolley Hole buddies (Chase, Shawn, Paul, me, Mitchell, Ed, Dylon, Larry, and Wes).
More Photos:
Wesley and Mitchell Thompson 1st Place and Larry Denton and Russell Collins 2nd Place.
Shawn Hughes and the 3rd Place team of Paul Davis and Jeff Kimmell.
My two buddies Paul McKeone and Rick Mawhinney!
Results from US Marbles Championship held in Pittsburgh, PA
Men Division:
Ralph Dillion from Clarksburg, WV. defeats Paul McKeone from Reading, PA. 50-29.
3rd-4th Place = Doug Watson (Clairon, PA.) & Jeff Kimmell (Baxter, TN.)
1st Round Semi-Finals = Rick Mawhinney (Cumberland, MD.), Scott Walker (Deep Creek Lake, MD.), Chris Miller (Pittsburgh, PA.), and Danny Denillo (Pittsburgh, PA.)
Women Division:
Carly Miller from Pittsburgh, PA defeats Amber Ricci from Pittsburgh, PA 50-38.
3rd-4th Place = Molly Reecer Kimmell (Baxter, TN.) & Stephanie Zlokas (Pittsburgh, PA.)
Most Sticks:
Paul McKeone (3 Sticks)
Sportmanship Award:
Danny LaGamba
British Marbles Champions:
Team Knucklers (Ralph Dillion, Scott Walker, Molly Kimmell, and Jeff Kimmell)
Special Memory:
Jerry Majors (1962-2008) 1994 US Marbles Championship Runner-Up.
Special Thanks:
Maureen & Ed Ricci, Dan & Danny LaGamba, Mr. Bauer, Referees, Allegheny County Parks & Recreation, and the city of Pittsburgh for making this tournament possible. What a tournament!
Ralph Dillion from Clarksburg, WV. game winning shot at the US Marbles Championship.
6-time British Marbles Champions "Team Knucklers" (Ralph Dillion, Scott Walker, Molly Kimmell, and Jeff Kimmell)
| By Debra Erdley TRIBUNE-REVIEW Sunday, August 3, 2008  |
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The 40-year-old computer network administrator wiggled his fingers, blew on his shooter, and bounced it back and forth on the wooden ring at the North Park Ice Rink Saturday morning as he prepared to display his skill at the 16th Annual U.S. National Marbles Championship.
Kimmell of Baxter, Tenn., is the tournament's godfather. He first organized the annual event 16 years ago to give adults a venue for play and provide former youth champions an opportunity to strut their stuff on a bigger stage. Yesterday marked the first time the two-day event has been held in Allegheny County. The Allegheny County Department of Parks long has sponsored a marbles program for youngsters.
"It was one of my dreams. It took a couple of years to put it together, but eventually we came up with this tournament. You'll see some of the best shooters in the world here today," Kimmell said.
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Molly Kimmell, of Baxter, Tenn., lets her shot fly during a preliminary game. Keith Hodan/Tribune-Review |
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Amber Ricci,12, of Shaler takes careful aim during a preliminary game yesterday in the 2008 U.S. Marbles Championship. Ricci is the 2008 Girls National Marbles Champion. Keith Hodan/Tribune-Review |
Tournament rules at the U.S. National championship limit play to those 14 or older, but past champions from the National Marbles Tournament, a Wildwood N.J., youth event, are permitted to play in the adult tournament regardless of age.
That meant both John Leffakis, 14, of Lawrenceville, who won the boys division in Wildwood last month and Amber Ricci, 12, of Shaler, who took the girl's division, were both permitted to play yesterday.
Ricci, a fourth generation player, relished a chance to hone her skills in the adult world. She collected a $2,000 scholarship when she won the girl's division at the Wildwood tournament in June. The only drawback to winning is she's barred from future competition at the Wildwood tournament.
She grinned, flashing her braces briefly as talked about her passion. The great-granddaughter of Pittsburgh marbles legend Walt Lease, Amber began playing marbles when she was 3. Next year, she's planning to coach her 4-year-old sister, Sierra.
But yesterday, she was on to bigger things. Dark hair bobbing in a pony tail as she stalked around the 10-foot ring in flip-flops, shorts and a T-shirt, Ricci held her own in the adult world of marbles. She easily bested Kimmell's wife, Molly Kimmell, 26, another former Wildwood champion, in her first two rounds.
The male and female champions will be determined today in final play at the North Park Ice Rink today.
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Dan Denillo, 30, of the South Side, lets his shot fly Saturday during a preliminary game in the 2008 U.S. Marbles Championship at the North Park Ice Skating Rink. The top 8 winners of Saturday's games advance to today's finals. Keith Hodan/Tribune-Review |
Debra Erdley can be reached at derdley@tribweb.com or 412-320-7996.
There's nothing frivolous about a game of marbles in North Park this weekend.
The 16th Annual U.S. Marbles Championship is under way in Allegheny County for the first time, bringing together 28 top shooters from the East and South.
These are the people who can bend their wrists like contortionists, then launch a marble that has more spin than a political convention. In the small circle of marbles, most of the good shooters know one another from years of tournaments.
"I love the game, and it's good to see my friends," said Paul McKeone, 48, who's been playing for keeps since his boyhood in Reading, Berks County, where he won four city championships in the 1960s and '70s.
The U.S. Marbles Championship is for anybody older than 14, or for recent champions of the National Marbles Tournament, a youth event that is held annually in Wildwood, N.J.
Amber Ricci, of Shaler, was just 12 when she won the national tournament in June. Rules of that competition bar champions from seeking a repeat, so her new venue is the U.S. Marbles Championship, a tourney without age limits.
Amber is among seven girls and women competing for the female championship. Twenty-one people are in the male division.
Rick Mawhinney, 51, of Cumberland, Md., is among the older competitors. He won the 1971 national marbles championship as a boy of 14 and now is director of the Wildwood tournament.
At North Park yesterday, he dismantled a teenage opponent in a preliminary round, proving he can still shoot. Mr. Mawhinney, though, says he is not the marksman he once was. He spends his days working for UPS so, he says, his game is not as strong as when he devoted himself to marbles the way so many kids today do to video games.
The U.S. Marbles Championship traditionally was held in Middletown, Md., but organizers decided to move it to the Pittsburgh area this year.
Allegheny County is a hotbed for marbles talent. It has produced 34 preteen or teenage champions of the National Marbles Tournament since 1927.
In this weekend's competition at North Park, the game is Ringer. It's played in a ring 10 feet in diameter. Thirteen marbles are arranged in the center, in the shape of a cross. The object is to shoot these marbles out of the ring.
Mr. Mawhinney said he has used the same "shooter" -- the large marble he fires at the 13 smaller ones -- for at least 15 years. Made of stone, it feels just right. That is important, as marbles requires the fine shooting touch necessary for billiards or putting golf balls.
Mr. McKeone still had it yesterday, as he defeated Ed Ricci, 42, Amber's father. Mr. Ricci said it was the third time Mr. McKeone had bested him over the years in the U.S. Marbles Championship.
Even those who no longer shoot still take an interest in the game they played as boys. Event organizers said Doug Opperman, the 1940 national champion, plans to attend the final round today in North Park.
