The weather was the deciding factor for the 75/80 Spa Worlds Sept 10-13 at Dalton, Georgia..
Originally twenty teams signed up for the tournament but the concern about winds, rain and being stranded in Dalton saw all but four withdraw. "I can’t blame them," SPA President Ridge Hooks said. “They were all coming from long distance and the uncertainty of the weather was the factor in them pulling out.”
The four teams who braved the conditions were two Georgia teams (Southeast and East Coast Leftovers, 85’s Center for Sight from Florida and the New York Statesmen.
The down side was lack of teams to play but the up side was everyone won a championship.
Center for Sight was 85 Champs, East Coast Leftovers claimed the 80 Crown, the Statesmen went home with the 75 crown and Southeast Leftovers took the 75 Major title.
The teams played a round robin format.
75 CHAMPS – New York Statesmen, manager Richard Clark
Team members: Al Castaldy. Tony Castaldy, Clark, Larry Deschaine, Carmine DeStefane, John Johnson, Thomas Ladd, James Nugent, Thomas Strickler, Roger Thresher, Robert Wardle, Clarnce Dieter, Jack Westbrook, Doug Hogue, Dennis Leach, Roland Gomez, John Tortora, Robert Magyar, Robert Lowery and William Mulligan.
75 MAJOR CHAMPS – Southeast Leftovers, manager Ken Griffith
Tem members: Jim Bavis, Bill Burger, Glynn Grantham, Harold Hammond, Herman Hydas, Bill Ingram, Dale McCracken, Cecil McLeod, Ron Pfeiffer, Mike Pickett, Thomas Sides, Walter Taylor, Jacob Wood jr, Wayne Yates, Greg Foster, John Ramage, Ron Boyer, Richard Durbin and Griffith.
80 CHAMPS – East Coast Leftovers, manager Ken Griffith
Team members: Ivan Barnes, Mike DeSorbo, Raymond Dupree, Howard Gunn, Philip Johnson, Jay Moyer, Francis Murth, Ron Pfeiffer, James Self, Thomas Sells, Brad Smith, James Stone, Harford Gibbs, Griffith, Robert Martin, Dan Dupree, Clinton Smith, Ray Kent and Donald Manek.
85 CHAMPS – Center for Sight, manager Hugh Brotherton
Team members: Everett Arnold, David Bush, Bob Darnell, Donald Gsell, Jerry Jones, Willard Kittrell, Jose Merced, Al Murray, Harold Oliver, Howard Schoen, Edward Schultz, Forrest Parks, James Thomas, Tom Ingham, Bernard Sciacca and Stuart Sellinger.