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Pies in the sky Two records fall at World Cow Chip Throwing Championship
04/24/2001
By Arnold Hamilton / The Dallas Morning News
It's no bull – two records were shattered last weekend at the 32nd annual World Cow Chip Throwing Championship.
On a postcard-perfect Saturday in the tiny Oklahoma Panhandle town of Beaver, Robby Deevers, a student at Seward County Community College in Liberal, Kan., captured the men's crown by hurling a dried cow patty 185 feet, 5 inches – more than 3 feet farther than the record set in 1979.
In the women's division, Dana Martin, a Beaver native who teaches and coaches basketball in Goodwell, Okla., claimed the crown with a record throw of 146 feet, 6 inches – 14½ feet longer than the mark set in 1989.
The defending men's champion, Don Slotty of Sauk City, Wis., did not finish in the top three, but his brother-in- law, Greg Neumaier, the reigning Wisconsin state champion, finished second. Mr. Neumaier's toss of 184 feet, 8 inches set a record – but it lasted only a few minutes.
It was Mr. Deevers' first cow chip competition. He was a last-minute entry who traveled to the event with a classmate from Beaver. He took off his sandals to get better footing before firing his two chips baseball-style to claim the world title and record.
"There was some discussion about the fact he was barefoot," said Kirk Fisher, the master of ceremonies. "You have to be barefisted, but there's nothing in the rules that say you have to have your shoes on.
"He came along kind of for the fun of it and ended up being the world champion cow chip thrower his first time down the chute."
The chip-throwing championship is the highlight of the weeklong Cimarron Territory Celebration in Beaver, a town of about 1,500 residents 236 miles northwest of Oklahoma City.
More than 2,000 people lined the streets for the parade Saturday, Mr. Fisher said, then attended events at the Beaver County Fairgrounds including the cow chip-throwing competition.
Three-time men's champ James Pratt, the Beaver fire chief, didn't finish in the top three, but his daughter, Teri, a Beaver High School senior, finished third in the women's division with a throw of 109 feet, 9 inches.
Alberta, Canada, resident Richard Hiebert finished third in the men's class.
Each contestant was allowed two throws. They used chips gathered by contest organizers around Beaver during the fall. Only chips – they must be at least 6 inches in diameter – gathered by organizers are allowed.
The contestants, Mr. Fisher said, were surprised that the men's record fell twice in four throws – especially considering that the previous record stood for 22 years.
Moreover, he said, none of the contestants seemed distraught that they were upstaged by a rookie.
"I was just especially impressed with this Greg Neumaier," Mr. Fisher said. "Here he'd come a long distance and just beat a 20-something-year-old record, and four cow chip throwers later, it went down. But he was philosophical about it. He just said, 'Chips happen.'"
>>>Robby Deevers, the Tiger Williams of cow chip tossing. Hey, those Community College undergrads are studs.
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