The glory years come for most athletes when they are fairly young. They tend to reach their athletic peak in their early 30s and enjoy their “glory years” before or during that period.

Don’t tell that to James Davenport of Bangor. At 52, his glory years have just begun.

Davenport won the championship for his class during the 74th annual World Horseshoe Tournament at the Columbus Fairgrounds in Ohio last week, and he is already talking about next year.

“This was the best time I’ve had in a long time,” said Davenport. He is a self-employed carpet-installer. He and his wife Berna have three children.

Organizers of the world championships used 43 courts to accommodate the 1,953 horseshoe pitchers who competed. The meet, held July 11-26, attracted competitors from every state in this country as well as from such countries as Norway, Japan and Sweden.

“They’re holding it in Spearfish, S.D., next year,” said Davenport. “I can’t wait to go.”

Davenport has caught competitive horseshoe fever after attending the Worlds for the first time this year. “I just wanted to go down and have a good time,” said Davenport. “I had a great time and I got a little extra for it in the bargain.”

By winning his division, Davenport pocketed $300.

Davenport racked up a score of 49.6 percent. That means that almost half of his throws were ringers.

“I had it in mind just to go down and hit my average (40 percent). I was real nervous,” he explained.

The nervousness didn’t show. Davenport’s score was almost 10 points higher than his average and his class – Class D, 39-40 percent.

“I guess if I keep that up I’ll have to move up a class next time,” he said.

Although he has been pitching horseshoes for the last eight years, Davenport had not entered any major competitions until about five years ago.

Once he decided to take up serious competition, the extra space in his trophy case began to shrink rapidly. Davenport won the Maine Horseshoe Pitchers State Championship in 1989 and 1990. He won the New England Championship last year.

At the World Championships, Davenport began competition as one of over 1,000 pitchers trying to win their divisions. There were three sections of 12 players in each division.

The first two days of competition were used to qualify for the finals. Five games were played the first day and six games were played the next. Davenport went 3-2 the first day and 6-0 the second.

He saved his best performance for the finals. He breezed to his division title with a 7-0 record and a comfortable six-point percentage margin.

Despite his relatively easy victory at the Worlds, Davenport is not allowing himself to become too complacent.

He plans to keep practicing his pitching technique in his backyard pits every day. “I just love to play,” Davenport said. “I don’t look at it as practice because I enjoy it.”

Perhaps that’s why he’s so good at it.