HANDBALL85
The official site of the 1985 tournament that
started "Big Blue" handball.
Morris Franco - Tournament Chairman
"The Birth of Big Blue Handball"
The Committee
Running a large tournament without experienced help could prove disastrous. Thankfully all the people I asked to join the effort agreed. The committee members included Albert Apuzzi (Mr. Handball), Elliott Nadel, (both distinguished USHA one wall committee members), Bernie Epstine, Gary Boehm and Jack Cairo. Ruby Obert was the master of ceremonies and coordinator with the USHA. Bill Fand was our photographer. As the pictures prove, it doesn't get any better.
Page 2
of 8
Upcoming game's team members are confirmed as:
Tournament History
Personal opinions and observations
Group photo of
some event winners and committee members
Top Row: Ruby Obert, Eddie Golden, Al Marinelli, Wes Cancel, Ruvane Vilinski, Jim Norizsan and Morris Franco
Bottom Row: Elliott Nadel, Jack Cairo, Eddie Marroquin, Albert Apuzzi, Paul Parviti and Freddy Guerrero
Respecting the sport
In order for any tournament to have the respect of the competitors it has to be run in a manner that serves the sport and the players. In running this tournament I took the view that rules had to be followed. Starting times were strictly enforced. I sent every player a post card alerting then to the start time of their match and if they won, the start time of the second match. (Always two hours after the start time of the first match.) All players had to have their entries in by the Sunday preceding the tournament. No exceptions! As a matter of fact, I signed up every player in the tournament. These tournaments are run for the benefit of the sport of handball and not for the convenience of the players. It is important to me that players view the tournament's an opportunity to compete with the best and they should be thankful that many people are working for nothing to give then that opportunity.
Each match was two out of three 15 point games. The winner of the match was required to play a second match the same day. The singles and doubles events were run on separate weekends to allow players to enter both tournaments and bring their best game with them.
The entry fee was only $5. I kept it as low as possible in order to encourage as many entries as possible. I looked to the company I worked for to sponsor the tournament and presented them with a letter detailing to benefits of this inner city sport. I got approval for a $2,000 donation from every executive up the management latter except for the top executive who handles these things. Big disappointment. To make up the difference I put up my own money. About $500 or $600. Adjusted for inflation that would be at least $2,000 today.
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Albert Apuzzi playing Eddie Golden
in the seni finals of the open singles
For the $5 entry fee each player received a Big Blue Handball and a tournament t-shirt. (Albert Apuzzi is wearing one in the above picture. The shirt reads "National Big Blue Handball Championship, Coney Island NY 1985" Trophies were given to the quarter finalists on up. Fool that I was, I was still of the opinion that a trophy meant more than a modest money prize. (Photo of original application on page 7.
Getting the word out.
In an attempt to get some news coverage of the tournament I sent announcement letters to the sports directors of the New York Daily News, The New York Post, Newsday and Spalding Sports World Wide. All for naught. (Photo of one letter on page 7.)
Ruby Obert (Friend or Foe?)
Ruby Obert is a master at being the Master of Ceremonies. He has the uncanny ability to speak extemporaneously and still be interesting and entertaining. I wanted a trophy presentation ceremony so that the winners got their proper recognition. So I asked Ruby to present the trophies just before the last match of the tournament, the open doubles. This insured a substantial crowd for the presentations. And as expected he did a first rate job.
Ruby also asked me to be the liaison between me and the USHA and that he would be happy to do a write-up on the tournament for the USHA magazine. He also asked me for some of my best pictures to send along with the article. What better, than a person of Ruby's stature to help me get my 15 minutes of fame. On this matter Ruby came up a little short. The article in the magazine was about a half a column, with a small picture of Joe Durso. My name was never mentioned. He cut up the other pictures like paper dolls, put them on a cork board and showed them as his own at that years USHA National Tournament. I don't want know his motive for this action but needless to say I was not too pleased. So much for my 15 minutes of fame!
Keeping the spectators informed
The final rounds of the doubles events started on the forth weekend of the tournament. In order to keep the spectators up to date on the tournament up to that point I issued a status update detailing the results of the singles events, complete with draw sheets for both singles events. Hundreds of copies were handed out.
The is the video of Ruby Obert presenting the trophies to the event winners. The cermoney starts about one minute after the start of the video.
Tournament update for spectators reviewing the results of the singles events.
I like to think that this tournament was a booster shot for one wall handball. Today, 29 years later, there are tournaments almost every summer weekend. There are many fine organizations who are active in big blue handball and organize fine tournaments. It has been many years since I was actively involved with handball, therefore I am no longer in the information loop. Health problems prevent me from traveling from what is now my home court (Coney Island) to tournaments around the city. So outside of Paul Williams, Gladys Miranda and "Wall Ball" I don't know the individuals heading these handball organizations. In any case it is clear to me that Big Blue Handball is at least on par with Blackball Haandball as the ball of choice. Some big blue tournaments even have commercial sponsors such as Red Bull.
Apparently most players and spectators judge the prestige of a tournament based on the amount of money the tournament pays out to the winners. I am not in that camp. Although money is a very important factor it is in my opinion not the main factor. To the best of my knowledge the most important annual big blue handball events are the "King of the Courts" and the "Red Bull" championships. Both offer substantial money prizes. But I place more emphasis on the size of the crowd watching the tournament than the size of the prize money pool in judging the success of a tournament. All that said, it cannot be denied that the most important organization in handball is the USHA. I'm glad to see that they too now recognize and run Big Blue Handball tournaments. I even forgive them for their once snooty attitude about Pinkball Handball, classifying those who played it "Novice" handball players (me included). However, I will criticize them into eternity for not running the singles and doubles blackball events on separate weekends. Because those who only entered one of the events had an unjust advantage over those who entered both events, and I don't think it was or is in the best interest of handball to expect those who loved the game to skip one of the two events.
I remember in the mid 1960's, the size of the crowds in the USHA One Wall Championship tournaments were 500 to 1,000 or more. When the tournaments were held at the Brighton Beach Baths in Brooklyn, The Castle Hill Country Club or the Shorehaven Country Club in the Bronx it was not uncommon for their "Stadium" courts to be filled to capacity. The Big Blue Handball events haven't come close to achieving this kind of fan interest. Of course the change in demographics is an important factor in this issue, but nevertheless it was and is the strength of the organization that the USHA brought to the table that enabled them to achieve the success they did.
Image of Garber Stadium at the Brighton Beach Bath Club in Brooklyn New York filled to capacity.
The USHA One Wall National Championships is handball's main event. The USHA should look at this event with the same gusto that baseball views the World Series or football views the Super Bowl. As previously stated they should separate the singles and the doubles events. They should schedule their tournaments in a manner that would assure the largest field of players and the largest potential audience. They should not rule out tournament dates because it conflicts with some three wall or four wall event. I know this thinking goes against the grain of the USHA as I believe their first loyalty is to four wall handball. But since four wall is an indoor sport they have a twelve month window to schedule their tournaments as opposed to one wall which has a four month window. I have always viewed one wall handball as the most underrated and underappreciated sport ever. Thankfully there are now many groups actively running big and little ball handball events. Long may they prosper!
