Bruce Beimesch Succumbs To Cancer

Bruce Beimesch passed away Monday evening, March 24th 2003, after a long battle with cancer. One of the nicest guys ever, he was a pivotal figure at the Central Parkway YMCA and later at the Court House on Ezzard Charles Drive. He is survived by his wife, Mary Beth, and two young children: Fritz, 6 years old, and Elizabeth, who is 4.

Please keep Bruce and his entire family in your thoughts.

BEIMESCH Bruce J., beloved husband of Mary Beth Beimesch (nee Tepe). Beloved father of Liz and Fritz Beimesch. Beloved son of Egbert Beimesch and the late Albertine Schlosser Beimesch. Dear brother of Martene, Tina, Glenn (Therese), Wayne (Barbara), and Roy Beimesch. Monday, March 24, 2003, age 52 years. Resident of Hebron, KY. Mass of Christian Burial, Thursday, March 27, 2003, 7 P.M. at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, 5876 Veterans Way, Burlington, KY. Visitation will be from 4-6:45 P.M., Thursday at Church. Interment, Friday, 11:30 A.M. at St. Mary Cemetery, Ft. Mitchell, KY. Memorials may be made to St. Vincent De Paul Community Pharmacy, 2655 Crescent Springs Road, Erlanger, KY 41018, in care of Rosana Aydt. Middendorf-Bullock, Hebron Funeral Home in charge of arrangements.
(Cincinnati Enquirer, 3/26/2003)

Columbus Loses Charlie Nall
by Steve Dykes

Columbus recently lost an old friend and handball player, Charlie Nall. Charlie was in his mid eighties when he died this March. He gave me many pointers and insights to the game, and encouragement throughout the ups and downs of playing. He had a presence that few will be able to replace.

Charlie was a player, a friend to everyone and a supporter of any one who hit the ball (especially the young ones, rare as they might be). Chas. would want nothing more or less said about him. We will all miss him.

State of Ohio
Handball
Championships

The 2003 Ohio State Handball Championships were held in Newark, OH over the weekend of February 14th - 16th, and winter weather (heavy snow all three days) played havoc with the draw in a number of divisions, forcing numerous forfeits and bracket-shuffling.

Jim Krailler and Will Straw teamed up to win the Golden Masters Doubles Championship, and Casey Mayo defeated Jim Corrigan for the Open Singles title. John Allen and Richard Gregg were finalists in the Open Doubles division, losing a tie-breaker match to the team of Jim Corrigan and Kevin Kupniewski. Ron Rosselot was headed into the finals of the Golden Masters Singles, but was forced out by an injury suffered during a doubles match.

Complete results, with scores, are available.

Jack Prather,
Masters Champion

Akron Open
Handball
Tournament

Cincinnati's Jack Prather "brought home the hardware" by winning the Masters Division in Akron, defeating opponent Kevin Hoag in the finals. In other divisions, Pennsylvanian Andrew Joseph defeated Steve Dykes, from Columbus, 21-9, 21-20 in the Open Ssingles. In the Golden Masters Singles division, John Friedrich defeated Jeff Cattron by the scores of 21-20,21-17.

The 2003 Akron Handball Tournament was held at the Canal Street YMCA in Akron over the weekend of March 21st through 23rd, 2003.

The Greater Cincinnati Handball Association has begun an on-going public service activity through establishment of a donor program through The Hoxworth Blood Center. Working with Hoxworth representative, Dale McMullen, a donor program has been set up to credit the GCHA with donations by its members. Due to the geographical diversity of the membership the usual Bloodmobile concept was thought to be impractical. In its place members can donate in the name of the GCHA at any of the seven Hoxworth facilities in the Greater Cincinnati area and at a time of their choosing to accommodate personal schedules. Individual recognition is provided to donors each time they achieve an even gallon level, with each gallon requiring eight donations. Presumably, there are GCHA members who already donate on an individual basis, and we encourage all GCHA members to participate, .

In the memory of George “Red” Coleman, the months of February and March were designated by the GCHA for blood donations to the Hoxworth Blood Center. Donations can be made at any of the eight centers located around the Tri-State Area. Follow the link to http://www.hoxworth.org for locations and hours, or call (513) 451-0910 to make an appointment. Additional donor information and FAQs are available on the Hoxworth site.

When asked if you are donating for a group or an organization, mention the Greater Cincinnati Handball Association and give the donor code HDB for handball. This program will continue into the future as a community service function of the Greater Cincinnati Handball Association.

Remember: HDB

The results are in for the Fall Doubles League at The Fitness Club @ Waycross. The team of Paul Baker and Jeff Metzger won the A-League, while Tom Gilday and Pat Lunn took first place in the B-League. As this issue went to press (actually the photocopier or website) the Winter League was going into its final week. The results of both divisions will be posted as soon as they become available.

The leagues were a great success -- good competition, some great matches, and a lot of post-game activities, thanks to the wonderful hospitality of Paul and Beth Baker, and all of the Waycross staff.

Sixteen players made up the doubles teams that competed in “The Mather” on Saturday morning, March 15, 2003, at the downtown YMCA. The blue ball was used even though some of the downtown Y players prefer the green thing. Thanks for their sacrifice. That was the only “bump’ encountered by the tournament organizers.

Ohio Handball Hall of Famer, Bob Lohmueller selected, seeded and handicapped teams in the one-game-to-31-point format. Winners in the first round continued in the primary bracket, while those “severely” handicapped losers moved to a drop down bracket.

Guess who won? The big winners were perennial champion Bob Lohmueller (yes, the handicapper) and his erstwhile partner Al Claymon, both downtown Y players. Bob and Al played well, a balanced team, defeating Pat Lunn and George Lehocky in the finals.

The drop down bracket champions were Jim Krailler and Paul Smith who bested Bob Hiance and Dave Laxton. Other teams were Tony Cianciolo/Pat Healy, David Kent/J.D. McLandrich, Pete Smith/Dave Smile, Jack Dean/Chris Lazarovski.

Following play, a few hungry players met at the Apple on Elm Restaurant to eat, tell stories and bask in congratulations from the Apple staff.

Pete Mather would have been pleased to see his tradition continued.

Thanks to all the players and to the downtown YMCA staff for being such fine hosts for the tournament.

The Spring Swing Dance

About 20 handballers with spouses, dates, friends or individually enjoyed this event on Saturday evening, March 15, 2003 at the Businessmen’s Club of Montgomery in downtown Montgomery.

Carl Fisher should be commended for spearheading this event which was scheduled to coincide with the Pete Mather Handicap Handball Tournament played earlier in the day at the downtown YMCA.

Not only was the handball “posse” there, but many of Carl’s friends, business associates, and fans of the band “Chaser” who played great dance music.

Also enjoying the dance were members of the Ireland trip who used this event as a place for their second reunion. Other special guests included members of the of the Peter Mather family.

Food, snacks, beer, wine, soft drinks and setups were provided and the partiers danced until past midnight. Some wore Irish apparel in honor of St. Patrick’s Day. Tony Cianciolo wooed many of the ladies with his offer to apply temporary Irish tattoos to taboo locations.

The GCHA Summer 3-Wall doubles league will again be held on Wednesday nights this year at Veterans' Park. The absolute deadline to sign up for the league is Monday, May 5th as we'll be arranging teams and schedules at the May 1st Board Meeting. The cost of $ 10.00 per person covers awards, postage and an end-of-league party. The league consists of two divisions, A-level and B-level. Players should sign-up for only one division of their choice, and can request to play with a specific partner. League organizers will try to respect these requests; however, we do reserve the right to assign players, as needed.

A team will play every other team in their division once, with matches starting on May 14th and ending in June. The top four teams in each division will then earn a play-off berth in a single-elimination tournament for the championship.

Matches are scheduled on Wednesday evenings in two time slots, 5:00 pm and 6:30 pm. The schedule for the entire summer will be distributed to all participants before play begins. Players are responsible for resolving any and all schedule conflicts with their opponents. If either player cannot make a scheduled game, GHCA will provide a list of substitutes willing to fill in. At least one team member should play each match. No-show teams will forfeit.

Matches consist of 2 21-point games and an 11-point tie-breaker, if needed. All USHA rules apply. Eyeguards should be properly worn at all times. Referees are not provided, but there's usually someone around willing to share their opinions. Rainouts should be made up the following night, Thursday, according to the same time schedule; however, teams are encouraged to contact one another to verify match. Missed matches can be made up at any time, providing both teams agree to reschedule. There will be one extra week at the end of the season for all final make-up games.

In order to encourage teams to play all of their matches, we’re going to initiate a new scoring system for the 2003 summer league to determine standings and playoff participants. Under this plan, each team receives one point for each game they win. If your team wins the match in two games or in a tiebreaker, you receive two points; however, the losing team in a tiebreaker would get one point as well. Total points earned during the league will determine which four teams go to the playoffs. Using this system, it’s conceivable that a team with a 3–3 record could be higher in the standings than a team which is 3–0.

League standings are posted weekly, and final standings will be computed and posted one week after the last scheduled match. Playoff brackets will also be posted. Awards will be presented at the Annual Fall Party to the first and second-place teams in each division.

Sign up now with our web-based entry form.

USHA
Four-Wall Nationals

It looks like a water park, but it's really one of the premier athletic facilities anywhere. And the MAC will be the home of many handball players in early June.

The USHA National Four-Wall National Championships will be held at the Michigan Athletic Club in East Lansing, MI.

Matches start on Monday, June 2nd and continue through Sunday, June 8th.

Entries are due into the USHA by May 12th (mailed entries) and the latest possible date for a phone entry is May 14th.

An on-line entry form is available at the USHA website, www.ushandball.org.