Lakewood Croquet Club

LAKEWOOD, WA –  Lakewood Croquet Club Officials recently announced plans for the third annual Gary Coleman Memorial Team Challenge, to be held in mid-May in Lakewood, WA. The event will crown the 2000 LCC Doubles Champions. Although an exact date and location are still under consideration, an announcement is expected in the coming weeks.

The Coleman Challenge has been held each May (since it’s inception in 1998) to decide the Lakewood Croquet Club Doubles Champions. It’s the only such team event officially sanctioned by the LCC during the year.

The inaugural Coleman Challenge in 1998 ended in a seventy-five minute time limit draw, with no winner being decided (LCC President Brian S. Johnston III later named himself and Tom Carmony as the first Doubles Champions, despite the fact that the two had never played together!). In 1999, Andy Cooper road the coat tails of young phenom Emily Smith to victory, besting a field of ten competitors.

It is currently unknown is Cooper and Smith will return as a team to defend their championship. Although teams were formed individually for the 1998 event, President Johnston instituted a random drawing prior to last year’s Coleman Challenge to “fairly distribute the talent.” Johnston has given no word regarding the format by which teams will be formed for this year’s Challenge.

This year’s event will be the first Coleman Challenge not held on the grounds of Jeff Gepner’s estate. Gepner has hosted the event, as well as the last two post-Champions Cup barbecues, but the home has been sold in the interim. A number of locations in and around Lakewood, Washington, are being considered by the Course Design and Event Implementation Committee, which is headed by Gepner. A site and date for the Coleman Challenge is expected to announced within the next two to three weeks.