Parker Eshelman photo

Carol Howell competes in the shuffleboard doubles competition at the Missouri State Senior Games yesterday at the Hearnes Center. She and her husband, Carl, part-time Macon residents, have traveled across the country playing in competitive events.

Carl and Carol Howell never expected shuffleboard to take them around the world.

But ever since they started the sport, the Howells have been crisscrossing North America, and even venturing to South America to play.

Still, the Howells, who are from Macon, make sure to come to the Missouri State Senior Games each year for a rare chance to play shuffleboard in Missouri.

"It’s for fun," Carol Howell said. "It’s just an excuse to be out and play shuffleboard for two days."

Yesterday morning the Howells were one of five teams competing in the shuffleboard doubles competition at the Hearnes Center. Carl and Carol will also take part in the singles competition today.

The Howells won the doubles competition last year to qualify for the 2007 Summer National Senior Games held in Louisville, Ky., and will compete July 4-7.

The National Games will be just one of their summer shuffleboard excursions. Carol qualified for U.S.A. shuffleboard team that will play in the International Shuffleboard Tournament from Aug. 12-19 in Midland, Ontario, by winning the Arizona State Women’s Tournament.

When the Howells decided to make Apache Junction, Ariz., their winter retreat in 1996, neither played shuffleboard nor had much interest in it. Carol Howell said she thought it was something for old people to do.

But Carl’s mother introduced the couple to the sport, and Carl, 67, quickly took a liking to it. Carol, 66, didn’t come around quite as quickly, but she has been playing now for nine years, while Carl is in his 12th year.

Now for six months a year, Carl and Carol play shuffleboard almost daily, including weekly tournaments and league play.

What has happened in the years since the Howells started playing has surprised even them. The couple, who has been married for 47 years, discovered the competitive side of the sport.

"You start getting into tournaments and when you get into tournaments you meet the really skilled players and you really have to sharpen up your skills to play and get anywhere in these tournaments," Carol Howell said.

Carl joined a team called the Arizona Rattlers and is now the captain. The team plays in the Western Tournament, which is the largest shuffleboard tournament west of the Mississippi River. The Rattlers’ best finish has been third.

Carl is also the captain of another team he created called the Desert Howlers. The Howlers,of which Carol is also a member, have won the California Invitational two years in a row.

"It just sneaks up on you and grabs you," Carl Howell said. "I really don’t know how we got this involved with it."

The Howells have even established a 4-board league in the RV park where they make their winter home, and their neighbors have also fallen in love with the sport.

"I’d think they’d rather play shuffleboard than eat," Carol Howell said. "It’s a close call."

Carl and Carol have also represented the United States in shuffleboard. They both participated in the International Shuffleboard Tournament in Mesa, Ariz. in 2004 and then in Brazil in 2005.

"Next year they’re going to Australia," Carol Howell said. "We’re hoping to make the team and go to Australia."

While shuffleboard in Arizona is a major event, the Howells are trying to bring that fervor for the sport back to Missouri. Carl has gotten a court painted at the county park in Macon, which is the only place for the couple to play when they’re not on the road.

"There’s not a Missouri organization, and he’s wanting to get a Missouri organization started," Carol Howell said. "We’re working in our hometown to get people interested and to play."

Advertisement