The F-M (Fargo, ND) Handball Club recently hosted the 6th Annual Steve Kraft Memorial One-Wall Big Ball Tournament, with singles and doubles brackets.
Check out the recap from the 6th Annual Steve Kraft Memorial, as well as the events planned for the late summer, fall, and winter below.
Thank you to Dick Reis and Mark Winkelman for the updates.
| Summary & Results – 6th Annual Steve Kraft Memorial One-Wall Big-Ball Tournament: The F-M Handball Club’s annual Steve Kraft One-Wall Tournament was held July 16-17, 2021, and once again, generated lots of smiles – the weather was perfect – a live band in the park played crowd favorites – great competition with many tiebreakers – plus pizza Friday night and brats and more brats on Saturday. Thank you to the 30 players (19 singles players and 16 doubles teams) who traveled from Minnesota, Montana, and North Dakota to grace the courts at Island Park. Special recognition goes to Tim Zigmund who drove to Fargo, played his game, then headed back to St. Paul to deal with a cat issue. He then turned around 4 hours later and drove back to Fargo.
It takes money to run a great tournament. Thanks go out to the 7 players who made generous contributions above and beyond any registration cost. Several of them did not even play in the tournament. Special recognition also goes to Dee Jones for her efforts along with Pat Revier. Finally, the tournament would not have been successful without Mark Winkelman. He put together the draw and amended it three times. In addition, he supplied all the cooking gear, most of the food, and cooked the great hotdogs and brats. Social activities were aided by Dennis Tallman who volunteered to go to Rhombus Guys early on Friday to hold a table and sample the beer. He was more than willing to provide the same service on Saturday at Tailgators Sports Bar. Finally, thanks to the YMCA for letting players use the locker room and showers during the tournament. The tournament concluded, as you might guess, in a tiebreaker between Brian Burke and Matt Langhorst. With the score tied 10 to 10, Brian finally gained the last point after several exchanges of the serve. While Brian officially won, Matt was the last man standing. At Tailgatgors, Brian was bent over from severe cramping. Here are the results: Open (Cash) Singles: 1st: Brian Burke (St. Paul); 2nd: Mat Langhorst (St. Paul); Consolation: Isiah (Izzy) Jones (Fargo) Open Doubles: 1st: Alex & Justin Pazmino (Billings); 2nd: Brian Burke & Mat Langhorst (St. Paul); Consolation: Dave Viseth (Fargo) & John Laliberte (St. Paul) A / Masters Singles: 1st: Jay Spooner (Fargo); 2nd: Paul Sum (Grand Forks); Consolation: Joe Jimenez (Minneapolis/St. Paul) A / Masters Doubles: 1st: Alex & Nilka Pazmino (Billings); 2nd: Jay Spooner (Fargo) & Paul Sum (Grand Forks); Consolation: Joe Jimenez & Clint Grzywinski (Minneapolis/St. Paul) B /70s Singles: 1st: Clint Grzywinski (Minneapolis/St. Paul); 2nd: Mike Burke (St. Paul); Consolation: Peter Gerde (Minneapolis/St. Paul, formerly Grand Forks) B /70s Doubles: 1st: John Laliberte & Bob Bernard (Minneapolis/St. Paul); 2nd: Jeff & Chloe Bry (Fargo); Consolation: Dave Jensen & Peter Gerde (Minneapolis/St. Paul, formerly Grand Forks) Given the great showing of Twin Cities players at the Kraft, let’s try to get as many Fargo-Moorhead players as possible to the 2nd Annual Twin Cities Regional Invitational Wallball Handball Tournament (August 27-29). 45th Annual Rudy Harris Handball Tournament / moved to September 24-25: To accommodate the rescheduled Iowa Tall Corn, we moved the Rudy from Oct. 1-2 to Sept. 24-25. Unfortunately, the Fargo Marathon also rescheduled for that date. I would strongly recommend for anyone thinking of coming to Fargo for the Rudy to reserve a hotel room now. Availability will be tight if you wait. Cancellation policies are usually pretty liberal if you have to back out later. Follow/Like F-M Handball on Facebook: If you can’t find our official Club page on Facebook, just click on the following link or enter it into your web browser: HERE Upcoming Tournaments: If you know of any handball tournaments that we do not have on the list below, please forward the tournament information, entry form, and/or website link to Mark Winkelman (mrwinkelman@gmail.com) and we will do all we can to promote your tournaments! August 2021: * New: Northshore Handball Tournament, August 20-21, Duluth, MN — for more information contact Josiah Hakala (haka0039@umn.edu) or George Langhorst (matandmoyspapa@gmail.com) * 2nd Annual Twin Cities Regional Invitational Wallball Handball Tournament, August 27-29, Clayland Park, St. Paul, MN — due to number of courts, registration will be capped so please register early — for more information contact Quinn Foley (Quinn.Foley@epicore.com) or Dave Schiller (dschiller01@hamline.edu) September 2021: * New Date: 45th Annual Rudy Harris Tournament, September 24-25, Fercho (Downtown) YMCA, Fargo, ND — for more information contact Dee Jones at dee.jones@ymcacassclay.org or 701-238-3944 (mobile) October 2021: * New: 72nd Tallcorn Tournament & Central Regionals, October 1-3, Des Moines Wellmark YMCA, Des Moines, IA — for more information go to https://iowahandball.org/category/tallcorn-tournament/ — to register go to https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=32040 * New: Red Death R48 Pro Stop Handball Tournament, October 8-10, Peak Racquet Center, Missoula, MT — amateur entries limited to 80 players so enter early — for more information and to register go to https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=37738 * 2021 MSHA State Championship Doubles, October 22-24, Location TBD — for more information go to https://www.mnhandball.org/ November 2021: * 1st Annual Reggie Morelli Memorial Tournament, November 12-13, Minot Family YMCA, Minot, ND — watch future emails for more information * 2021 MSHA State Championship Singles, November 19-21, Location TBD — for more information go to https://www.mnhandball.org/ |
| Dick Reis
F-M Handball Club President |