“May the Force Be With You”

By Mike Garrett

I had the privilege of playing in Hemet Municipal’s Bonspiel
Tournament, Hemet,CA the brainchild of Marty Boyajian.  It is an
invitational tournament restricted to 64 players in the District 7
area, therefore it is not a CSA sanctioned tournament, but, boy, its a
lot of fun and everyone had a rollicking great time. There have been
aforementioned articles written for this website by Dean Grattidge on
how it is conducted with its points system, brackets, and how the
winners are determined, frankly it is as complicated as playing with
Rubic’s Cube.

2015 marked the 20th anniversary of this tournament, and Carol
Anderson, Hemet Muni’s club president summoned Marty Boyajian from his
airy in Pueblo, CO to play the tournament he founded. As a neophyte,
Marty is a legend in District 7 for founding the “Bonspiel” and the
Soboba Casino Classic Team tournaments. I have heard over the past 2
years countless stories about Marty and how he cajoled and hoodwinked
in the beginning, volunteers to help start these tournaments that have
become so successful today. Many of the volunteers then have become
the principle organizers of today, Lois Deprecynski, Helen Bell, Nelda
Lichtwald, Marie Patterson, etc., and they regale in telling hilarious
stories about Marty.

I asked Marie Patterson to point Marty out to me and introduce me. I
saw a diminutive man walking with the aid of a cane, now in his 9th
decade.  When I gazed upon his genial face I noticed the deep the
horizontal and vertical lines in his forehead where the Sun had kissed
him. His ever present smile is easily returned by strangers and first
time acquaintances. His brown eyes are a glow when he talks of
shuffleboard and the friends he has made through shuffleboard.  He
reminded me of Yoda the Jedi-Master in “Star Wars,” dispensing advice
to me on how to play the game, as if I was Luke Skywalker.  Don’t let
his appearance deceive you, as evidenced by his winning record in the
“Bonspiel” he handles his shuffleboard cue as Yoda handles his light
saber, with sublime dexterity. Even though there has been a long
interval years since he played at Hemet Muni, he remembered every
sinuous curve of the its 8 boards. Like Yoda, Marty has an indelible
memory and a “steel trap for a brain.” I asked him, to consider
playing in the Soboba Classic in March of 2016 for it will celebrate
its 10th anniversary, he replied, “God willing (and he winked at me
and chuckled)……I will be there.” So, Marty, “Let the force be with
you!”

There is a long list of volunteers who made this tournament possible
and their efforts deserve recognition, first the “Bonspiel” was
sponsored by our hometown bank, the Bank of Hemet, a stalwart and long
time sponsor of District 7 and CSA shuffleboard tournaments; second,
the tireless and ubiquitous Carol Anderson, Hemet Muni’s club
president; third, the fastest fingers on a calculator belong to Sharyn
Dichiro and Linda Goggin, the ATM’s who had to tabulate all the point
totals of the games by player and bracket; fourth, unflappable head
referee George Hayner, and scorekeeper Karla Winget. Fleece vests and
pins were awarded to the top 3 finishers in each of the 4 brackets and
door prizes from local merchants were given away, courtesy of Dean
Grattidge.

Editors note: As many of you know, Mike is in the hospital in San Diego after being run over by a bus. Ha has several broken ribs and if the Doctors can keep pneumonia at bay, he will have a long recovery period.