Locally-built USA quoits team to compete in England
Grass volleyball isn’t the only lawn sport with a place in Ken Kaas’ heart.
“I like doing two things: playing quoits and volleyball,” said the North Coventry resident.
Kaas may be best known locally as the godfather of the annual Pottstown Rumble grass volleyball tournament. But he doubles as the founder and chairman of the United States Quoiting Association, the organizational body of quoiting.
Quoiting (pronounced kwaiting in this region) is a game played by pitching metal discs, traditionally made of steel, across a 21-foot distance toward a pin centrally located in a clay pit. The traditional American version of the sport features fourpound steel quoits pitched at 4-inch pins in dirt or clay-filled pits.
Its roots span back to ancient Greece, but the sport’s origins are first officially documented in the 1800s in England and Scotland. Quoiting arrived in the United States in the 1700s and spanned the country, evolving into the American adaptation now referred to as Traditional American Quoits. It is thriving most in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York today in the U.S.
In May, Kaas and company are taking the sport back home.
Some of the best quoiters in southeast Pa. are joining forces as Team USA to travel to Northallerton, England, to take on a squad of the best in North Yorkshire and beyond in a UK versus USA quoits tournament on May 20-21.
Members of the U.S. team include Kaas, Jerry Reitmeyer (Pottstown), Willie Wandress (Downingtown), Tim Joyce (Mohnton), Dan Carter (Reading), Keith Conrad (Fleetwood), Scott Hall (Reading), and the motherdaughter combination of CC Luckenbill and Joyce Rose, of Schuylkill Haven.
For the U.S. group it is rivals-turnedteammates with a parallel to golf’s Ryder Cup as Kaas sees it.
“The best part is this being like the Ryder Cup. We’re all against each other every weekend all the time, friends but you want to beat them. Now, we’re going to be over there playing together. We’re bonded, many of us playing together over 20 years.”
The tournament will feature the American and English versions of the game, which are considerably different variations. The UK version of quoits features a longer distance (33 feet) and five-pound quoits that are larger in diameter than the U.S. style. Kaas has English-style pits set up in his backyard that have allowed the Americans to get familiar with the alternate version.
Kaas and Wandress, along with Troy Frey, are credited with building the organization of U.S. Quoiting Association in 2003 to what it is today, this year featuring seven official tournaments (mostly hosted in Berks County) between April and September.
Quoits have become a way of life for Joyce, who came to the sport in adulthood and found the tournament world through a newspaper article some 20 years ago. Since, he’s established Fritz’s Island Quoiting Club in Reading and hosts ‘The Quoit Pits’ on Berks Community Television. He was integral in making the connection with the English contingent and Joff Firby, the head of the Lower Dales Quoit Leagues.
“Through Facebook, I found (Joff) over there and we started communicating. I do a public access TV show in Berks County and I’m always looking for angles,” Joyce said. “We started communicating and eventually it became ‘We should come over.’ Willie
(Wandress) has always wanted to go to England to play. We became friends with Joff and said, ‘Let’s do it!’”
The trip was originally slated for May 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced what is ultimately now a three-year delay.
Joyce’s passion has grown exponentially over the years since his first tournaments, which were more than humble beginnings.
“I started playing with my friend Carl, and eventually we made it to the USQA finals,” Joyce said. “But our first USQA event, we went 1-9 that day. And the only game we won was because a guy who had a prosthetic leg had to leave because it was getting stuck in the mud. So we had a walkover.”
Times have changed: Joyce was runnerup with Luckenbill at the season-opening Icebreaker tournament on April 15 in Bethel, Pa.
The quoiting community has seen a decrease in numbers, due in part to the rise of other similar activities like cornhole.
Cornhole is more accessible and more easily playable: pull out the boards and bags and let it fly. Quoits, on the other hand, requires true dedication: one needs a well-worked clay pit, properly placed pins, the strength to throw the weighted rings and willingness to get a little dirty.
The dedication is why guys like Kaas and Joyce have become students and historians of their sport. Plus, there’s the tournament-level competition.
“The number of players is down because it’s hard. But the quality of play is as high as it’s ever been. Judge Marshall wouldn’t believe what he’s seeing,” Joyce said, referencing former Chief Justice of the United States John Marshall, who is historically known as a quoits enthusiast among the founding fathers.
Kaas has tangible connection to the game’s history: he is the keeper of a pocket watch presented to John Coates, of Wreckenton, the 1845 ‘Champion Quoit Player of the World.’
“That’s the biggest link to our sport’s past. That’s before that game Abner Doubleday invented,” Kaas noted, alluding to quoiting pre-dating baseball.
A pocket watch won’t be on the line when the tournament in England begins in two weekends, but a trophy will be. Kaas has every intention of bringing it home.
“We’ve gotta bring it back!” Kaas said.