World Horsehoe Champ From Defiance

Alan Fran­cis is a World Horse­shoe cham­pion… for the 20th time! Fran­cis, of Defi­ance, com­pleted a per­fect week of play on Sat­ur­day, win­ning all five matches to fin­ish the 97th annual World Horse­shoe Tour­na­ment unde­feated. Fran­cis went 15–0 dur­ing pre­lim­i­nary action on Mon­day through Wednes­day, and made it 15–0 over the final three days of action, capped off by a 42–30 vic­tory over Brian Sim­mons. It marked the third year in a row that Fran­cis and Sim­mons met in the last game on the final day. For the tour­na­ment, Fran­cis had an 88.41 ringer per­cent­age, his fourth best ever.

Amy Fran­cis, Alan’s wife, placed 15th in the Women’s A Divi­sion, going 4–11 with a 61.22 ringer percentage.