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Brown fills the pitcher’s box with dirt.
For the first time in years, Jacob Tyson, a frequent horseshoe player at DeGale Field, could make a throw on an even concrete surface.
Tyson, now in his 70s, grew up pitching shoes in the park. He was the first African-American member inducted into the National Horsehoses Hall of Fame. He plays with fellow serious horseshoe tossers in a club at DeGale Field, where people take the sport seriously.
The pits themselves, on the other hand, seemed rather unprofessional. There was no proper pitching platform except for rough, dirt-covered ground. After several failed attempts to urge the city to renovate the playground, horseshoe enthusiasts gave up, and put up with the bumpy field, sometimes stumble and fall into holes.
Then a newcomer stepped up and turned it around. Neighbor Deserie “Auntie Ish” Brown joined the regular players in September 2014. And she decided they need to give the pits a new face.
The original pit has an uneven pitching platform.
“We looked horrible,” Brown compared Goffe Street’s pits to the other venues. “I got sick of the pitching from an uneven pit.”
She bought bricks, a leveler, wood, and cement from the Depot. She emailed several alders as well as the Mayor’s Office, notifying them of her reconstruction plan. After receiving no reply, she proceeded to lay down the bricks.
The new pit.
Brown also put wood around the pitcher’s box, filled in the area with dirt and installed score balls. Since she started in April, Brown has finished furnishing two pits. She still has four more on her plate.
Goffe Street horseshoe players warmly welcomed the change.
It’s better because we now have a solid foundation [to pitch from]. We really like it,” Bruce Aulston, who has played in the area for a decade, said. “It’s much better because she did all of that herself, without any help.”
The Goffe Street horseshoe club.
Despite accolades from her fellow players, Brown is not entirely happy. She said she spent about $400 on the materials and hoped to get reimbursement from the city. She also asked that the permit fee for her two upcoming tournaments be waived, to compensate for her labor.
City parks Rebecca Bombero turned down her request, as Brown did not obtain prior permission for her work.
“Improvements must have prior authorization and conform to standards. Even then someone would not get reimbursed,” Bombero told the Independent.
She said her staff inspected the work done by the horseshoe crew. While it was “not how the work should have been done,” she said, “it is not unsafe, so we will leave it.”
Brown pitching a horseshoe
Brown said will consider her work “community service.”