Marble enthusiasts will gather in Moss Saturday for the Fourth Annual Malcolm and Wanda Marble Tournament.
Malcom and Wanda’s Marble Club Trustee Larry Denton said the game of marbles that will be played is called Tennessee Square. Teams of two will shoot marbles with their thumb to try and knock out nine bigger marbles out of a square. Denton said the tournament will be played at the “Strong Yard” which is a building Malcolm owned and transformed into a marble yard so the local marble community had a place to play.
“He just converted it over and every Thursday night for many years now we played Tennessee Square,” Denton said. “And a lot of friends from Lafayette, Glasgow, Thompkinsville, Celina, and the Moss area usually come and play on Thursday night.”
Denton said the tournament is dedicated to Malcolm and Wanda Strong who were important people to the Moss community. Denton said Malcom Strong passed away last year but donated the building to a group of trustees under the stipulation that they continued to play marbles. Denton said he hopes hosting the tournament every year will pass marbles on to the next generation.
“You know as you get older your hands don’t operate the way that they did when you were younger,” Denton said. “So the younger guys if we can keep them going hopefully, because it takes a pretty good thumb to shoot these marbles. These marbles are big marbles.
Denton said the competition is stout during the tournament. Denton said marbles is more than just a kids game.
“It ranges probably from 17,18,19 year olds to some of them are even close to their early eighties,” Denton said. “So it’s not a kids game.”
Denton said the Strong family has quite a few excellent marble players including Malcolm’s grandson Josh Strong who has already won the tournament twice. The tournament will take place at 35 Lafayette Court, Moss, TN. The tournament will begin at 9:30am.
