WILDWOOD — Even the marbles were hot.
But that didn't stop the 89th annual National Marbles Tournament as it crowned the new king and queen of marbles.
The competition, played on 10 concrete rings on the beach at Wildwood Avenue, comes to town each June, some hotter than others.
Thursday's temperatures were in the 90s, which made the concrete surface more of a challenge, but the 24 boys and 20 girls who played coped with the heat with their eyes on making it to the finals.
Two Tennessee girls, Makynlee Sims and Logan Mayberry played for the coveted queen of marbles title, while Jordan Narr, of Allegheny County, Pa., and Caleb Isaacson, of Gunnison County, Colo., competed to become the next king of marbles.
Champions must win 8 out of 15 games to earn their respective titles.
Logan won the girls championship after 15 games.
"It was hard," she said of the game played on a hotter than usual surface.
Logan, 11, practices every Saturday for about three hours, and this week's trip to Wildwood for her third.
Her mother and stepfather, Tracey and Jack Tinsley were on hand to celebrate the win along with coach Hugh Brian Cherry.
'I'm tickled to death for both of them," Cherry said, adding he is also Makynlee's coach.
Caleb, 13, won the boys' title after 14 games.
The new king of marbles has been playing marbles since he was in second grade.
"It's just fun," he said as friends came up to shake his hand and hug him.
His parents, Donna and Willie Isaacson, smiled as he celebrated.
"He got third three years in a row," Donna Isaacson said of her son's win on what was his fourth trip to the championship competition. "This was his year."
"He's been working on this all year," she said.
Winners receive $2,000 scholarships, $500 sportsmanship awards, trophies and bragging rights. And each year, champions are inducted into the Hall of Fame, housed in the Greater Wildwoods Chamber of Commerce building on Pacific Avenue.
Caleb's coach, Jerry Piquette, became teary-eyed as he congratulated his student.
"It's unbelievable," Piquette said, who celebrated his 76th birthday the day before Isaacson’s big win.
After the games, the players received a variety of awards and the day was capped off by the traditional kiss between the queen and king.
Caleb planted one firmly on Logan's cheek, and the new king and queen began their reign.
Contact Trudi Gilfillian:
609-463-6716
