A Friend to remember

Jim Ostrander
1943-2007

Jim was a member of the Greater Lansing Area Horseshoe Club.

James L. Ostrander James L. Ostrander DeWitt, MI Age 64, died December 19, 2007. Jim "Jimmy" served in the Air Force and had a love for his country family and Horse Shoes. Surviving are his Mother, Irene; wife, Vickie Stewart, of 5 years; 3 sons and wives, Tracy and Lisa, Derrick and Jody, Aaron and Tere; 3 stepdaughters, Ginger, Cindy and Holly; and 17 Grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his Father, James A.; brother Roger; and wife Jeannie Ostrander. A celebration of life will be held 11:30 a.m. on December 29, 2007 at Church of Jesus Christ of LSD, 431 E. Saginaw St., East Lansing. Published in the Lansing State Journal - December 21, 2007

Comments from a friend
Jim Ostrander taught me, in 1966, how to throw a 1 and 1/4 and my delivery hasn't changed since then. I remember many days behind the fire barn here in Dimondale pitching against his dad and him and the great cutthroat games we used to play, some that would last for hours. Jimmy and I were the "kids" of the game back in the day of Roy, Doc, Ken, et al. Neither of us showed any fear of all those great pitchers and we used to upset them. I remember Doc once saying to me that me and that Ostrander kid would win games neither of us had any business of winning. (Then why did we win them, Doc?) In one of the state tournaments in the mid-1970's Jimmy was leading it and cruising through it knocking off the big boys. Then he got a phone call and was told that one of his sons had fallen from the top of a slide in Potter Park. Needless to say Jimmy couldn't finish the tournament and had to forfeit all of his games. His dad was right behind him in leaving and Jim had to forfeit all of his games, too, and he had just one loss. Jimmy was also the first junior boys state champion back in 1960 and played in several championship groups at the World Tournament at that time, being one of the few 40-foot juniors in those groups.

Jimmy was one of the great storytellers, if not the greatest, of Michigan horseshoes. He could make the dull game of horseshoes exciting with his talent. My favorite, and I made him tell it over and over, was about Ken Jensen winning a prestigious tournament in Ohio in the late 1950's. He would go through all the motions that Ken did, from how he moved his lips, to how he snuggled the glove tightly on his hand, the slow deliberate motion of Ken's, everything. It was a classic. Jimmy was probably the last link to the 1950's and early 1960's the WSHPA had.

I remember when Jimmy would come back to horseshoes after long absences. He was a member of Chief Okemos and when we had tournaments there Pat Smith always assigned him to kitchen duty, which Jimmy hated. Pat's reasoning for that was since Jimmy was a cook in the Army he could cook for tournaments at Chief Okemos. And to tell you the truth I do miss those hamburgers and french fries. They were the best I ever ate at a horseshoe tournament.

Jimmy was like a horseshoe pitching brother to me. I know that Jimmy and his dad are finally together once again and are playing a game right now behind the old fire barn in Dimondale. I hope that they can wait a while before it is a game of cutthroat.

I'll be putting something together about Jimmy for the next edition of the Ringer Report. The WSHPA lost a great one and I want to make sure that everyone in the association knows what Jimmy meant to horseshoes here in Michigan.

Fred Smith