This week marks the start of Constitution Week at Marshall University, a tradition started by The John Deaver Drinko Academy.

As tradition follows, Marshall will celebrate Constitution Week by holding its annual Marshall Quoits Tournament.

“Quoits was John Marshalls favorite game,” Said Kristen Pack, Program Assistant at The John Deaver Drinko Academy. “We come out here every year and just celebrate what he’s done for the United States in general and especially our namesake.”

Locally, Chief Justice John Marshall is remembered as the namesake for Marshall University but arguably, he was most famous for the role he played in the Supreme Court case, Marbury vs. Madison in 1803.

Marshall declared that the power of the Supreme Court to invalidate an act of Congress if that act was in conflict with the Constitution.

This ruling gave the Supreme Court the power of judicial review, meaning that the Supreme Court has the power to interpret what the Constitution of the United States means.

Although loved by various figures in Marshall’s past, the common student might not have ever heard of quoits. Quoits is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as “A ring of iron, rope, or rubber thrown in a game to encircle or land as near as possible to an upright peg.”

Many people describe the game as a combination of horseshoes and cornhole.

The Encyclopedia Britannica goes into more detail about quoits. It describes the game as a “game in which players toss rings at a stake, called a hob. The ring that encircles the hob scores two points for the thrower; a ring closer to the hob than an opponent’s scores one.”

The game was brought to the United States when the British colonized the U.S. but the game wasn’t originated in the United Kingdom.

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, “it has been said that the game was played in Roman-occupied Britain (1st–5th century), or it may have been developed in medieval Britain, perhaps when peasants heated and bent horseshoes into rings and tossed them at iron pegs driven into the ground.”

“The competition is very fun,” Pack said. “The game itself is fun but watching the teams interact and get competitive out there and joke around with each other is fun.”

The Marshall Quoits Tournament begins Wednesday, Sept. 9 and ends on Friday, Sept. 11.

The team that wins the tournament gets a trophy, gift cards and the opportunity to play in the 10^th annual President’s Media Quoits Challenge against the President of Marshall University, Gary White, the Mayor of Huntington, Stephen T. Williams, and members of local news stations WSAZ and WCHS.

There will be free cake, kettle corn and punch served at the President’s Challenge as well.

As for any rumors about the best team, Pack said, “You’ll just have to come and see this year.”

The Marshall Quoits Tournament on Buskirk Field will take place this week between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.

Riley Mahoney can be contacted at [email protected].