A painful yet rewarding hobby

5/1/2024

Perhaps being born and raised in the medieval era would be more likely to lead to a life of jousting, but it’s clearly still a possibility — and for some, a reality. That life, unexpectedly, became the reality for Des Moines native Dane Gramball.

Alex Lundy, a close friend of Gramball’s, connected him with Kevin Coble, who is the owner and operator of Joust Evolution. 

Eventually, Gramball was called upon to help build Coble a new horse pasture, where Gramball was able to get his foot in the jousting door.

“From noon on a Saturday to 6 p.m., I’m just pounding T posts into the ground and running wire to build a big pasture. That’s when he’s like, ‘What do you want to do with this company?’ ”

Gramball said he told Coble he would love to learn how to joust. Coble told him to buy a good pair of riding boots and to come back in two weeks. And he did.

“I was riding with a pair of dirt bike boots, and I came out there and got on a horse — the first time I had ever ridden a horse, and the first I had ever seen a horse up close,” Gramball said.

Gramball started coming out to the stable to practice riding horses while wearing armor every other week until he became experienced enough to work at the renaissance faire as a jouster. 

The armor Gramball wears while jousting weighs 100 pounds with the helmet itself weighing 20. However, he says the weight isn’t cumbersome. From the breastplate to the helmet, the armor is tailored to him. Think of it as a custom-fitted suit. 

“If it’s not made to fit you, you get stuff that we refer to as armor bites. It’s where the armor and your skin pinch together. Under your arms, under your thighs. If you gain weight, it’ll pinch the sides of your side fat. So, it can be uncomfortable. But, normally, it’s not,” Gramball said. 

As time has progressed, so has Gramball’s role in the renaissance faire. Where once he played a good guy, Gramball now is the villain.

“Everything is performance based. Think of it like WWE but medieval style. We are hitting each other with real steel weapons. My armor is steel. My sword is steel. My shield is made out of aircraft grade aluminum. But it’s all choreographed. So that’s why we have heavy emphasis on practice, practice, practice, practice,” Gramball said.

Gramball, who has been involved with the joust team since 2011, has had his fair share of spills. Two of them come to mind.

“One of them, I lost the tip of my finger. And then the other one is just that I’ve had a couple of bad falls off the horse. Nothing that’s going to be life threatening. The armor does its job,” Gramball said. 

Gramball says he’s fortunate to not have any major injuries in his 13 years of jousting, which he attributes to the training. 

Gramball, who goes by Sir Joseph during the renaissance faire, also gets into character for the Scream Park at Sleepy Hollow. His character, “Bonk,” is a clown with a giant hammer. From Bonk the clown to Sir Joseph, his jousting persona, Gramball gets many reactions.

“It’s similar and different. I love scaring people. It’s so much fun. You don’t know how many people — how many girls AND guys — are afraid of clowns,” he said.

“For jousting, I love that I’m the bad guy. I love when the crowd hates me and boos me. That’s also so much fun because I get my energy from the crowd. If the crowd is into it, I’m going to put more effort into what I do,” Gramball said.

He and his wife, who he met through the joust team, work together with Flix Brewhouse during major movie premiers. For the recent “Ghostbusters” movie, they wore proton packs to get into character for the event. They did the same for the recent “Dungeons and Dragons” movie that premiered.

Gramball and his wife now also host an encampment-style event where they dress as “Sarge’s Heroes” and educate attendees on World War II, including talks, demonstrations and cosplay. ♦