Fundamental Handball

inclusive.

PART I · AN INTRODUCTION TO THE SPORT

HANDBALL COMES TO AMERICA TO STAY*

PLAYING with a ball seems to have been a popular pastime of both sexes from time immemorial for archeologists have brought to our attention crude balls of leather and wood used by the Egyptians over 4,000 years ago.¹** We do not know that these were batted about with the hands but the theory is certainly a logical one. We know, from Homer’s Odyssey that this sport was popular among the fairer sex later on, for he speaks of handball as an adjunct to dancing which was accompanied by music.² The Greeks and Romans are known to have used a small ball, the harpastum, which was made of strips of leather sewn together and stuffed with hair. It was quite hard and could very well have been the harbinger of the Irish hardball used for handball.

Since ball play was suited to both sexes, it naturally took an important place in the life of the palaestra in addition to the more competitive types of athletic sports. In this game where the player bounced a ball against the floor or a wall, the element of competition was lacking. The chief object was to see how many times one could bounce the ball without missing. Special rooms were found for ball playing not only in the palaestra but in private villas as well, and this type of sport proved very popular for those later Romans who disliked the heavier forms of athletics. They usually played ball for one of two reasons, either to develop an appetite for the evening meal or to work up a sweat before bathing.³

Forms of handball, played outdoors and on the order of today’s game, seem to have been in vogue during the Middle Ages in France, Italy and Spain. The French called it palm play and during the reign of Charles V the game was one of fashion. As early as the twelfth century, players had started using gloves to protect the hands. Later, the hands were bound with thongs and from these experiments emerged the bats or racquets used today in tennis, squash, jai-alai and other court games.⁴ The time came later on, however, when in England and France special edicts were issued from the thrones which barred the playing of such vain sports by the common peoples for fear they would retard the progress of military training.¹

Mr. Egan, a former World’s Champion in the sport, would have us start with Ireland and work East in tracing the history of this oldest game played with a ball. He claims that the game was undoubtedly of Celtic origin and that it was introduced into Greece at about the time of the first Olympian games.⁵

Just when handball (the game as we know it) became formulated into a game with a definite set of rules is not known. As played in America, it was introduced from Ireland around 1840, and although it is commonly considered the Irish national sport, it is played more on this continent than anywhere else on the globe.

John Cavanaugh, an Irishman, was the first great fives, or handball, player that we know much about. In his obituary, found in the London Examiner sometime in the ’20s of the nineteenth century, we read the following: When a person dies, who does any one thing better than anyone else in the world, . . . it leaves a gap in society. It is not likely that anyone will now see the game of fives played in its perfection for many years to come—for Cavanaugh is dead, and has not left his peer behind him.⁶

Probably because he was known as a handball and not as a fives player, William Baggs, of Tipperary, is to most authorities today known as the father of the hardball game. He is credited as being the first scientific player developed for it was he who originated new ways of striking the ball so that it would hop or stay close to the floor surface, impossible to return. During the early ’50s he made extensive tours of the Emerald Isle and played all challengers without meeting defeat.⁷

The period covering the last fifty years of the nineteenth century down to the days of James Kelly, last of the hardball title holders (1909), beams with interesting Irish personalities. One of these, Phil Casey, known as the father of handball in this country, was a native of Ireland but came to America to build his own court in Brooklyn. On this court he defeated John Lawlor, an American-born Irishman, in a challenge match for the World’s Championship in November, 1887. He retired as the International Champion around 1900.

Another native of Ireland, Michael Egan, won the first national A. A. U. hardball handball tournament conducted in America in 1897, and six years later defeated Tim Twohill, the Irish Champion, for the International title.

In studying the sport careers of the outstanding competitors during the earlier development of the game, the reason for its attaining its present popularity becomes apparent. The very makeup of the game has been a boon to the development of sportsmanship, unsurpassed in any other type of competition. Although these old timers were pros and did undoubtedly play for the purse at stake, there is no doubt that they derived a greater satisfaction than the remuneration which they received from playing the matches. This seems to be borne out by the fact that the professional game, with the hard ball and the large court, gave way to the soft ball game which is now so popular and which has not known matches between professional players. Practically every other sport of any importance has gone from the amateur to the professional. Not so handball, for although the first matches conducted were played with a cash prize at stake, the only tournaments conducted at present are promoted by amateur associations with no remuneration whatsoever to the contestants.

Although the rules of the old hardball and the present softball games are quite similar, two important factors, the ball and the court, are somewhat modified. The old hardball would remind us today of a miniature baseball, with a tight horsehide covering over a cork center, wound tightly with crude rubber strips and thread or yarn. The ultimate product, although about the same size as our present softball handball, was much livelier, and was used on larger courts. These were usually from 60 to 65 feet long and about 25 feet wide. The walls were over 30 feet high. Unlike the modern game, kicking the ball was allowed and quite an art as practiced by these old-timers.

In 1886 we find what was apparently the first set of rules published in America.⁸ Although these were essentially four-wall rules, they were used also for the single-wall game which at that time, however, was practically unknown. The game hand-up was the one-wall game, popular among boys. It consisted of striking a small rubber townball or baseball against the side of a house above a line three feet from the ground.⁹

Steps toward the standardization of the softball game began to creep in as early as the ’90s when a ball resembling our tennis ball put in its appearance on New York City courts. This ball proved to be too slow, however, and a gas ball came into the picture as enthusiasts in the one-wall game began to multiply. This added much zest to the sport but as the softball game continued to grow in popularity, a smaller and livelier ball gradually took its place.

One-wall handball is strictly an American game. It really came to life on the New York beaches at about the turn of the century and its growth has been more rapid than that of its predecessor due to the fact that playing facilities are more easily made available and that it provides considerable spectator accommodations. Its popularity, in contrast to that of the four-wall game, has accelerated more in the East, all the national championships having been held in or around Brooklyn and all champions having hailed from that section. One summer resort near New York City has built 120 one-wall courts for the use of its guests. Growth of the four-wall game has been peculiar to the West, most of the national champions having represented clubs from the Mid-West and the West Coast.

To the Detroit Athletic Club goes the credit for developing an interest in the four-wall softball game on a national basis, for it was this club which for four years, 1915 to 1918 inclusive, sponsored national invitational tourneys. In 1919 the Amateur Athletic Union conducted its first national tournament at the Los Angeles Athletic Club. This organization has since promoted a national tourney each year and players representing private clubs, Y. M. C. A.s, fire houses and the like enter from all sections of the country.

Although the Y. M. C. A. did not inaugurate national competition of its own until 1925, it has played a major part in the advancement of the game throughout the nation. It was the national Y handball committee which first drew up a set of rules in its present form. This was accepted, revised and published by the Amateur Athletic Union and now governs play in most sections. Many Y’s throughout the country have been proud possessors of courts for years and some can boast of courts as modern as those in private clubs or colleges. The Cleveland Y. M. C. A. which conducted the first three national Y tourneys, for example, has had handball as a part of its physical education program since about 1890.

The modern four-wall softball game has developed at least four outstanding champions since the inception of the national tourneys.¹⁰ Maynard Laswell, of the Los Angeles Athletic Club, was the first to achieve fame, by virtue of his three successive National A. A. U. victories in 1924, ’25 and ’26. Alfred Banuet, of the San Francisco Olympic Club and who many believe to be