Bill Keener's wife, Lois, passed away last week. Bill, "the bricklayer," is a long-time member of the GCHA and the downtown Central Parkway YMCA. Our condolences to Bill and his family.

Ralph Weil of The Athletic Club at Waycross, last year’s winner of the 75-year-old masters handball championship held in Cincinnati, successfully defended his title in Laurel MD.

The bracket had nine of the countries best in this age group participating including perennial champion Sonny Schaefer of New York, California champion Dave Thoreson, and former National Champion Al Crosat of California. Weil easily defeated Maryland’s best, Tony Merlene, then faced Ed Ellett of Knoxville TN who played strongly in the first game (21-17) but faded in the second (21-5). In the championship match, Weil faced Dave Thoreson who had defeated Sonny Schaefer in the semi-finals. The first game Weil easily won by using an effective lob serve to the right which Thoreson had trouble returning. Thoreson stormed back in the second game and took a commanding lead of 17-13 at which time Weil changed tactics and used a combination of serves including a power serve to the left and let up a little on his powerful returns during the rallies in order to keep the ball from reaching the back wall. Weil tied the game at 17-17 and Thoreson made one more point. When Weil again won the chance to serve, he ran off four points for the victory (21-18).

March 10, 2006

Email received announces another new local tournament.

March 10, 2006

The Ohio "BlueBook" Player Directory has been completely revised and is now available. For greater speed, the directory has been divided into four sections, A - E, F- K, L - R and S - Z. Check your listing for accuracy, and if all items are not correct, please use the Online Feedback Form to submit the corrected information.

March 10, 2006

After a few days at the Christ Hospital Tropical Oasis Retreat, your webmaster is back on his feet and back on the job. Thanks for the calls, the visits and the good thoughts. Special thanks to the hundreds of offers to play during my first week back after the experience.
Jim Krailler

February 27, 2006

Congatulations to Ohio 's 50+ Singles Champion, Jack Prather, who defeated Columbus' Ray Mayo in a tie-breaker. Ron Rosselot was the runner-up in the 60+ Singles, in a tough loss to Kent Fusselman. Bob Hiance used the tag-team approach, pairing with both Ron Rosselot & Steve Cirino to win the A doubles championship.

The UC handball club also participated in the Ohio Handball State Championships, and managed their best performance in the last two years! Congratulations to Mark Schuette & Sam Ma. They won the C Doubles division in a close tie breaker over UC teammates Adam Baron and James Dennis.

In the C Singles, UC's Mark Schuette won three matches over some very experienced players before losing in the final. Mark had to overcome some serious adversity to achieve his successes. In the first game of his semi final singles match against the #1 seed, ahead 15 - 6, he injured his right foot. He was in a lot of pain but after a short rest he decided he wanted to continue. He won the match in two games, then played the singles and doubles final. The day after the tournament mark went to the emergency room and learned that he had broken the large bone on the side of his foot. Wow!!! What an effort!!

Congratulations to all of the members of the UC handball club. Most of the students in the UC club just started playing last year and they really love the game.

February 17, 2006

The following email was received at GCHA.org on Sunday, January 29th, 2006.

Handball Players: We have finished the tournament and below are the winners and runner ups. Brackets and scores will be forth coming. Thanks to all that help during the tournament and thank you to those that made cash donations and to those that provided goods which were used during the tournament. Open winner and runner up received $250 and $125 respectively. All other division winners and runner ups received a nice navy blue windbreaker embroidered with 2006 Dinosaur Open around a dinosaur head.

Finally, thank you for all that played, especially those from out of town.

Jeff Patterson

Ken Rosenzweig sends an update from the Dayton area, with photos.

The following email was received from Ron Rosselot on Monday, January 16th, 2006.

Carl Topie sent a note to GCHA to report the death of Robert Bierbaum, who passed away on December 25. He was 93-years-old. He played handball for many years at the Williams YMCA and at several other courts.

Dear Fellow Handball Enthusiast:

Thank you for your support in the recent election for the USHA Board of Directors position for the Mid American Region. I will be attending my first board meeting in January, 2006 and would like your feedback. Listed below are six subjects relating to Handball. Would you please take a moment and prioritize these items by assigning a number from 1 to 6 to each, with 1 being the most important to you and 6 the least important.

Please e-mail your response to me at wrcantwell@ccccpa.com

• Player Development
• Facilities
• Ball
• Professional handball
• Tournaments
• Other (specify) ___________________

Thanks for your input.

(Received 12/15/2005)

Please express my thanks to all of the members of the GCHA for making my birthday party so wonderful. I wish that all 200 members could have been there to share in the fine food and drinks. We had a nice turnout of the players from the tournament and my friends and family.

The cakes that Elma Dupps made were outstanding. Jim Wohl went beyond great to have so much good food. The Waycross Club was an excellent setting for a handball gathering and Paul and Beth Baker were fine hosts.

Sincerely,
Ralph Weil

(Received 12/13/2005)