Local legend

The legends are true.

When Sue Gillespie was back home in October for the Jay County Historical Society's celebration of the county's eight former high schools, some who had never met the gymnast and world champion horseshoe pitcher had difficulty believing some of the stories they heard.

But the legends are true.

Did she really learn to pitch horseshoes by reading a book?

Yes.

There was plenty of practice involved, but it's true that Sue's father, Jack Gillespie of Portland, bought a book called "How to Pitch Horseshoes" after the family attended the world horseshoe pitching championships in Muncie in 1960.

She was 12 or 13 years old when they attended the Muncie event. In addition to buying the book, her father also installed horseshoe pits in the backyard at home.

Two years later, in 1962, Sue would win her first world title, followed by women's world championships again in 1964 and '65.

"I just happened to be good at it," she said in a telephone interview from her home in Murrysville, Pa., last week.

"She had no coach to coach her," said Mark Stump, who was Sue's gymnastics coach at Portland High School.

Did she really win the state championship on the balance beam two weeks after she first put a foot on the apparatus?

Yes.

"That is a truth," said Stump.

"I practiced on straight lines on the floor," Sue said.

Gymnastics was a young sport at PHS in the mid-1960s. Stump was its first coach.

"I would have loved to have had a better background in gymnastics in all-around," she said. "I was invited to work with the Olympic team and did so one time, but it just wasn't in the cards. I enjoyed the gymnastics at least as much as horseshoes."

Did she actually do a gymnastics stunt that involved standing on two chairs and bending over backwards to pick up a handkerchief with her teeth?

Yes.

"Not with her hands," Stump noted. "With her mouth. That is physically impossible to do. But she did it."

Gillespie performed the stunt at PHS pep sessions, where she was a cheerleader.

"I did that on the (Johnny) Carson show too," she said.

In fact, she added, she was able to do the stunt at age 40. That was the last time.

"I thought I'd be able to do it at 80," she said.

Sue made four appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, performing with her partner and then-husband Dan Kuchinski.

The two met in the world of competitive horseshoe pitching; Dan won three world titles in 1967,'69, and '70.

After finishing their educations - Sue at Purdue and Dan at Penn State - they performed internationally for several years then returned to Jay County about 1980. The Kuchinskis, who later divorced, operated Total Fitness Health Spa in Portland until 1990.

Today Sue is married to Clyde Martz, whom she first met when she was a teenager pitching horseshoes competitively. Clyde was the manufacturer of the Imperial Horseshoe, the highest ranked pitching horseshoe at the time.

A physicist with Westinghouse, he was also three-time state champ in horseshoe pitching in Pennsylvania.

"Our paths crossed many times throughout the years," said Sue.

She and Clyde live in western Pennsylvania, where he does some human resources consulting and she operates a personal fitness studio for women ages 45 to 80. As active as ever, the couple sails and hikes. Sue is taking up archery as well.

And does she still pitch horseshoes?

"Truthfully, not much," she said.[[In-content Ad]]