CLINTON TWP — John Lefevre is serious about horseshoes.

Building an indoor horseshoe pit next to his house, naming a winter league after his family and trying to host National Horseshoe Pitching Association tournaments is living proof.

Lefevre, 45, of Clinton Township owns a catering business and built a storage facility designed to house the equipment for the firm.

"When I saw we had the room and capability to put pits in there, we went for it," Lefevre said.

Lefevre has been a member of the Butler County Horseshoe League, a summer outdoor circuit, for six years. His sons, Jeremy and Justin, join him on the defending league champion H.T. Spillway team.

All three now compete in the Lefevre Indoor Saxonburg Horseshoe League, a six-team league that debuted on the new indoor pits last week.

"We didn't advertise the start of this new league because I wasn't sure we'd have the pits done in time," Lefevre said. "Within a week, though, we had 24 players. We're hoping to get about 40."

The only other indoor horseshoe pits in Butler County are in Hooker. Longtime Butler County Horseshoe League pitcher Larry Steiner owns them and runs a 10-team, 40-person winter league.

Hooker has two indoor pits. An indoor facility must have at least three pits to qualify for NHPA tournaments.

"That's why I put three in," Lefevre said. "(NHPA official) Bob Mathews is coming out here (today) to sanction these pits for tournament play. There's no other facility around here that can host national tournaments, and it'd be nice to get a few."

Lefevre's pits were measured precisely to meet NHPA specifications, including the size of pits, amount of space separating adjoining pits and the tossing distance.

Each type of horseshoe — again meeting NHPA specs — is available for use at the facility.

"I feel like I've got all the bases covered," Lefevre said.

Lefevre's league is held every Thursday night for 10 weeks. Practice time is available from 5 to 9 p.m. Tuesdays.

The league will finish play shortly before the beginning of the outdoor season.

The cost of the entire indoor horseshoes facility is $60,000 so far "and I want to really deck the place out," Lefevre said.

"We just love to play the game," Lefevre said. "We had our outdoor pits, and on a nice summer night, we'd have 15 to 20 people pitching shoes out there until 3 a.m. at times."

Carl Ealy, 58, has been a member of the county outdoor league for 22 years. He joined Lefevre's new league.

"I was glad to see this," Ealy said. "Horseshoes are becoming a year-round activity around here. The summer league consists of mostly older people. This winter league is mostly younger ones.

"It's good for the sport to get younger people involved."

Jeremy Lefevre said young people toss horseshoes in the winter "because there's not a whole lot of other things to do around here then."

John Lefevre bought 6,000 pounds of clay — divided into 50-pound bags — from a manufacturer in Canton, Ohio.

"You have to replace the clay in the pits from time to time as it gets beaten down or chipped out a little bit," he said. "But I've got plenty.

"I can store more catering equipment in here after winter, but these pits should be available for use all year. We may even move our H.T. Spillway matches here.

"One thing would be certain: We'd never get rained out," he added.