Back in the late 1970s, a work friend of Ron Weiss’ tried to get him to join a horseshoe pitching league in Mount Oliver.

“He kept bugging me for a couple of years — ‘You’ve got to come up and pitch’ — and I said, ‘Well, that’s an old man’s sport. I’m still playing basketball,’ ” Mr. Weiss, of Brentwood, said.

When he finally relented, it didn’t take long for Mr. Weiss to become hooked. The current head of the Western Pennsylvania Horseshoe Pitchers Association, he not only became a “pitcher,” he established a club in Dormont and later in Carnegie.

The state championships were hosted by the WPHPA at the Horseshoes of Pittsburgh Enterprises (HOPE) club in Carnegie over the weekend, with titles going to men, women and juniors in 10 categories.

Randy Zeiders of Denholm in Central Pennsylvania, near Lewistown, won the men’s title with Robert Faidley of Rockwood, Somerset County, finishing second. Cindy Hoffman of Dormont won her eighth state title and Jean Olsen of Russell, Warren County, finished second among the women.

With soft rock from the ’70s and ’80s playing in the background, and cookout smells in the air, the atmosphere resembled any Labor Day weekend festival. But the pitchers moving back and forth from end to end on the nine, fenced-in courts were tuning out everything while they tossed toward the metal stakes.

“I play at Dormont, with [Banksville] road next to us. You get used to all the traffic, so this is nothing,” Ms. Hoffman said.

There are roughly 500 league players in the Western Pennsylvania charter, and about 12,000 in the U.S. and Canada, according to Mr. Weiss. Although horseshoe pitching is a natural family sport, he said, it’s tough getting newbies involved. The WPHPA had one junior competing at the state event: third-place finisher Grace Drinkhall, 11, of Fayette Township, Juniata County.

Many of the participants were introduced to the sport through family members, including a top “elder” category pitcher, Kurt von Kleist, 73, of Russell. He knew little of pitching in his native Germany until his new father-in-law introduced him.

For Ms. Hoffman, 54 and the 2013 world champion, pitching was therapy.

“Twenty years ago, I was leaving my husband.” Going to Dormont’s courts ”was something for me to do without going to a bar and getting drunk, and getting away from my kids,” she added, with a smile.

She turned out to be a natural, and currently carries a 75 percent average, which means 3 out of 4 pitches are ringers. When she began, playing in a league with friends, Ms. Hoffman was at 30 percent, remarkable for a novice.

Pitching is tougher than it appears. There are various ways of “turning” the horseshoe in launch, and then there is the straight-on “flip,” a style adopted by Ms. Hoffman because it reminded her of pitching softball.

The courts are 40 feet long for men, 30 for women, juniors and elders. At each end are 15-inch-high metal stakes embedded in a square of gray clay that must be misted down to keep it soft.

Each player takes turns launching two metal “shoes” weighing between 2 pounds, 8 ounces and 2 pounds, 10 ounces. A direct score on the stake is worth three points, other attempts within 6 inches of the stake are worth a point. But indeed, close does count in hand grenades and horseshoes: Only the closer of the two pitches is scored.

There are also cancellations; should both pitchers toss ringers, no one gets points.

There’s a slow, methodical rhythm to playing horseshoes. Following each round of pitches, the players strolled to the other end to retrieve the shoes and pitch again. In the mid-day sun, it was a scene with very little talking other than the calling out of points.

Scattered on camp chairs, picnic tables and under tents were little wooden boxes with handles, or padded nylon bags resembling small snack coolers. These were carrying cases for the horseshoes. Then there is the pick-up hook, a device resembling a long metal stick with a curved end to scoop the horseshoes out of the clay.

Definitely not something to take with carry-on luggage, Mr. Weiss said.

Horseshoes is believed to date back to the Roman Empire, when soldiers, out of boredom, created a cheap version of quoits. In this country, lore has it that Civil War soldiers passed the time pitching shoes.

“The mechanics are pretty simple, but your mental attitude and your mental toughness in this game is what makes it a tough sport to be good at,” Mr. Weiss said. “You’ve got to practice. A lot of people come out and see people throwing ringers here and say ’Oh, that’s easy.’

“Well, it took them a long time to get where they are.”

Maria Sciullo: msciullo@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1478 or @MariaSciulloPG.

First Published: September 7, 2015, 4:00 a.m.