A Jefferson City man was inducted into a sports hall of fame in September.
On Sept. 3, Steve Johnson entered the Missouri Horseshoe Pitchers Association Hall of Fame.
Born in California, Johnson didn't pick up horseshoes until he was about 10. He said he used to watch the "older guys," his cousin and family friends.
Johnson would watch his cousin competing with others on weekends.
"I never got to throw, but I watched them," Johnson said. "When they were done, there were always four horseshoes -- them four horseshoes laying by the beds. They'd just leave them there. So I just picked them up and started throwing them."
When he got older, he began throwing quality shoes, he said. And when Johnson was 16, his cousin invited him to enter the horseshoes tournament at the Moniteau County Fair.
"That's where I won my first trophy," said Johnson, who is now 69 and boasts more than 250 trophies and plaques. "I still have it."
And he won and won.
Johnson took on another partner, and together they dominated the fair.
"We won it so many times -- not with Lucky, but with another guy. He passed away. We won it so many times they said they didn't have a class for us no more," Johnson said.
Eventually, the Moniteau County Fair stopped holding horseshoe tournaments.
Johnson eventually moved to Jefferson City and began working at Harold G. Butzer Inc., where he ending up working for 40 years.
In the '70s, when he arrived in Jefferson City, organizations held horseshoe tournaments as fundraisers every weekend. Johnson was in heaven.
He joined the National Horseshoe Pitchers Association and partnered with James Driver. Together, they continued winning.
Johnson won the state men's championship in 2015 and 2017. He was a member of the doubles championship in 2021.
"They've got good pitchers in Jeff City," he said. "Me and James are probably the top two."
Johnson participates in league play on Thursday nights. When the weather turns bad, he and others will travel to Wentzville, the home of the Missouri Pitchers Hall of Fame, where 18 indoor courts are available.
"It's really nice -- almost like a bowling alley," he said.
Johnson admits he's aging. If you turn 70, you can play on shorter courts. Technically, he's eligible, he said, because this is the calendar year when he'll age up.
"I don't have a problem. I can compete with the best of them. I have slipped a little. Just a little. I'm not like I was, but I'm still competing with them," Johnson said. "Yeah, I've slipped a little bit. Hey, Father Time gets us all."