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The WPH Interview Mashup
While this pandemic has deprived us of watching the best handball players in the world compete in the game’s biggest events, we’ve been able to sit down with so many of handball’s legends and current pros to discuss their inspirations to play handball, their greatest handball memories, their favorite players to watch, their most satisfying moments in the game, what handball has meant to them and so much more.
On this Friday’s WPH Interview Mash-Up, we’ll examine how eight of handball’s legends and current pros started their handball journeys.
Jaime Parades: I played for the first time in high school when I was 16. Some guys bet me lunch that they could beat me and in those days, that $1 or $2 for lunch was a big deal. I was competitive right away and I picked up on the game pretty quickly, I just got the concept of it. I could hit a 90 mph fastball, so the speed of the game didn’t bother me, I just needed to figure out how to play the game
Suz Entzeroth: I took the handball class (at Missouri State) for fun and turned out I liked the sport. Then the coach, Tommy Burnett kept begging me to join the team saying “you’d be all American” after a half semester of playing I said why not I’ll try it casually.
Lucho Cordova: My dad got us into it when I was 13. Juarez is one of the best handball communities. Being able to play all forms of handball with different balls and different courts I think is my favorite part about handball here and made handball fun.
Anna Christoff: Boys. Lol, to be honest. I was at the courts most days. My mom worked at the Midway YMCA here in St. Paul which was the center of handball in Minnesota back in the 80s. I was fortunate to be able to either go to work with her or ride my bike to the Y whenever I wanted.
Dr. Dan Zimet: I’m a third-generation handball player. My grandfather played in Brooklyn starting after WWII and up until he was 83. My father still plays, my uncle played until he died from cancer, and my brother Adam plays as well. When I was a kid my father would take me to the 1-wall courts in Wheaton, MD and I would chase balls or wander around. When I was thirteen, I was considered strong enough to play with the guys. There were maybe twenty handball players, all of them in their thirties or forties at the time (around 1980). All I played was 1-wall until I was eighteen years-old.
Naty Alvarado, Sr.: I would say my father because I was with him most of my early years 13 to 16 years of age. Right after school I would get a bus to where he was. My father was usually at the park where there were three types of handball being played. The main handball game was the game they played with a “Palmeta.” The “Palmeta” was a wooden type, almost like a bat but flat, maybe 1.5 inches thick by three inches wide played with a Fronton the ball that was almost like a baseball but not as big. The ball was hard. The court had a front wall and right side wall and no back wall. There were two more handball disciplines at the park, “Front Tennis,” almost like a Jai Alai court with a front wall left wall and a back wall played with a tennis racquet. The third discipline was handball with an L-shaped court with a front wall and a left wall. From that Park my father would go to the Banos Roma Club where 4-Wall handball was played. 4-Wall was the one that intrigued me the most and the one I wanted to play. I did play Front Tennis a couple of times and outdoor handball with the sponge ball a couple of times too but not enough to say I started there.
Danny Bell: I started playing Handball when I was 12 with my brother Michel (14), my dad used to work in a sports center and we had swimming class and after the class we had to wait for him to finish work so he gave us an old tennis ball to use in a squash court. Best time of my life playing my brother with my dad watching from the top. We never laughed that much in our life. We had a grueling rally that lasted forever and the only reason the volley ended is because we were laughing too much. Me and my brother were always very competitive in every aspect, I always wanted to beat him at everything we played and that probably developed my competitiveness more than a lot of people. Just like Michael Jordan and his older brother (if you guys watch the Last Dance on Netflix). I’m far from being Michael Jordan but some people will agree that I have that kind of competitiveness in me.
Rick Hather: I saw handball for the first time in 1981 at the TAC (Tucson Athletic Club). I was playing for the TAC in a semi pro baseball league in Tucson. I was given a membership to the TAC to play for them. I’d go to the club and get in my workouts. I saw handball being played almost every time I was there. I got to know a couple of the players. Carl Porter Jr. and CPlll in particular. They ran the club and were very generous with their time in explaining the game to me. Another player I got to know, Paul Berger, told me I’d never beat him. He was a good B player at the time. He’d come out to our baseball games and razz me a bit. But all in good fun. Eventually, Paul and I became close friends. One day I was working out at the club and the USHA Junior Nationals were going on. I was fascinated at the ease in which these young players made the game look. I first met Poncho Monreal and Richard Valenzuela at this tournament. I believe they played in the finals and Poncho edged out Richard in a great match. I was talking to one of the junior players and asked if he’d mind playing a game or two with me. He had lost the previous day and took me out on the court. That’s when I realized this game wasn’t like anything I’d ever played before. It was the most challenging game I’d ever played. I was hooked.
I started playing regularly with a friend of mine who worked at the club during his off season. Jim Pankovitz. Jim had played the prior season for the Houston Astros AAA Tucson Toros. We made a bet on who would win a match before the next spring training. A case of Michelob to the winner. Once beer was on the line, Jim never had a chance. Jim ended up making it to the Show. He had a nice five to six-year career. Qualified for his pension. Couldn’t have been happier for him. Great guy.
I continued to play semi pro ball for the next four-five years in Tucson while learning the game of handball. My first tournament was USHA Nationals in1982 at the TAC.
I played in the 23 and Under Challenger Division. I lost to Charlie Kalill in the first round something like 21-1, 21-1. I did play in the Open Doubles with a fellow TAC player, Tom Daniels, and we upset a strong team from California, Larry Fisher and Tom Fitzwater. So that was my first big win and really encouraged me to get after it. After about a year and a half of solid playing, I was starting to become a good Open player. In 1984 I blew out my left ACL playing in a flag football league called the SFL. I mention it because it had an incredible array of former college and pro athletes. Very competitive. I was off the courts for about five to six months. Eventually working my way back to playing. It probably took a good year of rehab and recovery before I was confident to go all out again.
Stay tuned to WPH Patreon for more WPH Rapid Fire Challenges and the WPH Interview Series.
David Fink
WPH Patreon Writer