At the Tuckahoe Equestrian Center in Queen Anne on May 24, the Eastern Shore Jousting Association held the Mid Atlantic Joust Tournament. People came with campers and RVs to settle on folding chairs and watch some enthusiastic horse riders tilt at small rings with their handmade, steel-tipped lances. The participants were named Knight of the Little Woods or Maid of Rabbit Hill Road or something else equally colorful.

When the announcer called out, “Ride, Dear Maid (or Sir Knight), ride,” the competitor galloped down the 80-yard dirt track beneath three arches, from each of which was suspended a metal harness ring wrapped with white cord. The rider had eight seconds to charge through the arches and try to spear the metal rings that varied in size from 1/4″ to 1-3/4″ in diameter, depending on the skill level of the knight or maid.

One of the announcers for the event was Karen Callahan, the secretary of the ESJA. She had started riding in horse shows as a child.

“A lot of my family members would joust,” she explained, “so I started going to the different tournaments held on the Shore to watch them and support the state sport. I would participate in different skits put on by the members at the tournaments back in the late 80s, early 90s. In 2015, I started jousting in the Leadline Class here locally and on the state level.”

Callahan is involved with an activity that has a storied tradition. Jousting is, in fact, the oldest equestrian sport in the world. Its creation is usually credited to a Frenchman named Geoffori de Pruelli. It spread from France to Germany and then England between the 10th and 12th centuries. During the Middle Ages it was used in waging war, but with the invention of gunpowder the art of jousting a man from his horse became an outmoded battle strategy.

The tournament field became a place of sport, and the knights turned their lances to the more sophisticated task of spearing small metal rings, making jousting a civilized game of skill and sportsmanship. When Cecil Calvert, the second Lord Baltimore, founded the colony of Maryland on the shores of St. Mary’s County in 1634, he introduced jousting there, and tournaments became a favored pastime of the settlers. This sport has survived wars and flourished in times of peace.

Over the past 100 years jousting has evolved from private contests to public competitions aiding civic and church organizations and raising funds for Civil War monuments. Rather than just being popular among the “landed gentry,” the sport is now enjoyed by suburbanites, city dwellers, and rural landowners.

In 1950 some dedicated jousting enthusiasts founded The Maryland Jousting Tournament Association, which was instrumental in establishing riding rules adopted throughout Maryland. The organization has members in every corner of the state as well as neighboring states and the District of Columbia.

During the February 1962 session of the Maryland General Assembly, the Honorable Henry J. Fowler, a St. Mary’s County member of the House of Delegates, introduced House Bill No. 80, which would recognize jousting as the Official State Sport. It was passed through both chambers of the Maryland Legislature, and on April 6, 1962, Governor J. Millard Tawes signed the bill into law to become effective on June 1 of that year.

On December 11, 1969, a group of local jousters met at the Queen Anne Fire House for the purpose of organizing the Eastern Shore Jousting Association; officers were elected and a membership fee of $1.00 was established. At a February 2, 1970, meeting, the purposes of the organization were defined and a standard set of riding rules were adopted. It represented riders from Caroline, Kent, Queen Anne’s and Talbot Counties.

The first ESJA Championship Tournament was held on September 27, 1970, at Herman Callahan’s field off Route 404 in Queen Anne. The first banquet was held at the Talbot Agricultural Center on November 14. ESJA holds nine tournaments from May to September, and they also participate in local parades. The banquet is held at the close of every jousting season.

Members of the ESJA, approximately 28 families, proudly promote jousting on Maryland’s Eastern Shore as well as in Delaware and Virginia. They show a genuine interest in the Associations well-being and that of jousting itself. Karen Callahan is among them, helping with fundraising and promotion.

“Jousting is a fading sport as not many people participate anymore,” she said, “so I try and promote it as much as possible to educate people.”

Indeed, the audience at Queen Anne on May 24 was not large, and the atmosphere was at times sadly quiet. There wasn’t the pageantry of old, and the riders’ outfits were not elaborate or stylish. Rather than horns announcing the triumph of a knight or maid, country music blared over scratchy speakers when someone lanced the rings. But it was obvious that the skilled participants loved what they were doing, and a good time was had by all. It’s a tradition worth maintaining.

 

After decades of starting and running lucrative businesses, John Wyatt could have easily retired and enjoyed his spoils. But that wasn’t his style. Following the sale of his sixth business, he turned to his spouse, Janice, for ideas about what to do next.

“Our children had just graduated from college or were well on their way, so we knew they would be fine,” he explained to this writer once. “And [Jan] said, ‘Well, what about all the kids who haven’t had the advantages?’”

By “advantages,” she meant educational ones. John had always been grateful for the excellent education he’d gained at James Ruse Agricultural High School and the University of New England in his native Australia. That’s why, when he came to the United States in the late 1970s, he was so shocked by the substandard quality of our schools.

Eventually, he would be able to afford to help change that in his own modest way. One of the places he would concentrate on was Dorchester County. So, when John Wyatt died on May 5th, children of all ages in Dorchester lost a significant advocate and friend.

After moving to the U.S., John became involved with a number of successful technology concerns, including Cohen & Wyatt (president), James Martin & Co (CEO), Ariel Research Corp (president & CEO), and Cigital Inc (president, CEO, and chairman). In June 2018, he and his spouse invested that success in the John & Janice Wyatt Foundation.

J2W’s central goal was to create educational equity for disadvantaged children so they had a stronger chance of going on to be contributing citizens. It began providing grants to public education institutions and non-profits for specific programs in Winchester and Fairfax County, Virginia, and in Dorchester County, Maryland. The reason those locations were chosen was that J2W’s executive director lived in Winchester while the Wyatts had homes in Fairfax and Cambridge.

John wasn’t just an “angel investor” who provided money and stayed out of the way. In 2018, he started Wyatt Consulting, which was dedicated to improving the effectiveness of education & social programs. He joined the board of the organization Moving Dorchester Forward. He attended meetings of the Cambridge Association of Neighborhoods. He talked to the press at length about J2W and his beliefs in childhood learning. And he personally contributed to the campaigns of Dr. Susan Morgan and Dr. Theresa Stafford when they ran for the Board of Education (and won).

“He approached me asking probing questions as to what I wanted to achieve,” remembered Dr. Morgan. “Since I loved talking about ways to improve education, we struck up a conversation. He ended up contributing to my campaign. But that wasn’t the end of it, he would contact me regularly after my election to see if there was anything he could do to help.”

Despite decades of living in America, John still had an Australian accent and said, “Cheers, mate.” He was a nice guy with a passion for what he was involved in. And he will be missed.

“His warm laugh and laid-back personality made him an easy person to talk with,” said Dr. Morgan. “His death has left a large hole in the community of Cambridge and Fairfax. I will certainly miss him greatly. My heart goes out to his family and all who had the pleasure to have known him.”

“John was simply a wonderful human being,” remarked J2W Executive Director Matthew Peterson, “incredibly wise and determined to ensure excellence in all things: himself, his team, and in the performance of the work. At the same time, he was so full of life, he was kind, and he met every day with a broad smile and inclination to laugh. Every community, around the region and the world, in which John was a part of lost something real and true with his passing.”

Three years ago the Spy sat down with John to learn more about his commitment to education.