The United States Handball Association (USHA) is the national governing body for American handball in the United States, a game played mostly in that country. The organization is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit corporation which promotes the game and governs its rules. [1]
Among the organization's specific activities are the sponsorship of tournaments, both amateur and professional, the publication of Handball Magazine, and the sponsorship and management of the Handball Hall of Fame in Tucson, Arizona. [1]
The USHA was founded in 1951 by Bob Kendler of Chicago. In 1982, the national headquarters moved to Tucson. A board of directors runs the organization. [1] The current president of the USHA is Denis Hogan. [2] In 2008, the organization reported having 8,500 members. [1] Some members such as champion player Albert Apuzzi of Coney Island have helped run tournaments. [3] [4]
The associations Hall of Fame is run to designate and honor top handball players from various times and in the different varieties of the game. [1]
Among the 38 players in the U.S. Handball Association Hall of Fame are Albert Apuzzi, [3] Fred Lewis, Joe Platak, Paul Haber, Oscar Obert, Vic Hershkowitz, Simon Singer, and Jim Jacobs. [1]
American handball, known as handball in the United States and sometimes referred to as wallball, is a sport in which players use their hands to hit a small, rubber ball against a wall such that their opponent(s) cannot do the same without the ball touching the ground twice or hitting out-of-bounds. The three versions are four-wall, three-wall and one-wall. Each version can be played either by two players (singles), three players (cutthroat) or four players (doubles), but in official tournaments, singles and doubles are the only versions played.
Marion Anthony Trabert was an American amateur world No. 1 tennis champion and long-time tennis author, TV commentator, instructor, and motivational speaker.
USA Hockey is the national ice hockey organization in the United States. It is recognized by the International Olympic Committee and the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee as the governing body for organized ice hockey in the United States and is a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation. Before June 1991, the organization was known as the Amateur Hockey Association of the United States (AHAUS).
The Public Schools Athletic League, known by the abbreviation PSAL, is an organization that promotes student athletics in the public schools of New York City. It was founded in 1903 to provide and maintain a sports program for students enrolled in New York City public schools. It is the oldest and largest sports league in the United States. The PSAL serves both boys and girls. The PSAL holds competitions in a wide range of indoor and outdoor sports in fall, winter and spring seasons. In 2007, the league included 185 schools involving nearly 2,400 teams.
The United States Bowling Congress (USBC) is a sports membership organization dedicated to ten-pin bowling in the United States. It was formed in 2005 by a merger of the American Bowling Congress—the original codifier of all tenpin bowling standards, rules, and regulations from 1895 onwards; the Women's International Bowling Congress—founded in 1916, as the female bowlers' counterpart to the then all-male ABC; the Young American Bowling Alliance; and USA Bowling. The USBC's headquarters are located in Arlington, Texas, after having moved from the Milwaukee suburb of Greendale, Wisconsin, in November 2008. The move enabled the USBC to combine its operations with the Bowling Proprietors' Association of America (BPAA).
Eugene Lytton Scott was an American tennis player, tournament director, author, and publisher. His active tennis career lasted from the 1950s to mid-1970s. Scott's highest U.S. ranking as an amateur was No. 4 in 1963, and he reached as high as World No. 7 in 1967.
Albert Apuzzi is a pharmacist and one-wall handball player notable for being a champion at the sport. His seven consecutive "Outdoor" USHA National doubles championships made him a USHA record holder. His play was noted for power, speed and stamina. He won two national singles titles before a career ending arm ailment robbed him of prime years in singles play. He has helped run many tournaments and has been described as a "goodwill ambassador" for the sport.
Joseph (Joe) Durso is a former professional American handball player. At age 47 he made the semi-finals of the 2002 Open Singles National One-Wall Championships. He was most famous for his unique style of play, and his antagonistic attitude towards his opponents as well as spectators. While he certainly had the skills and power to end points early, he would often favor moving his opponents around the court, often "toying" with them, in an attempt to humiliate them and exhibit his superiority.
Arthur William Dake was an American chess player. He was born in Portland, Oregon and died in Reno, Nevada.
David Chapman was a number one ranked player in the sport of American handball. He was one of the best handball players ever to play the sport.
Paul Haber (1937–2003) was an American one, three, and four wall National Handball champion. Haber is credited with being the first player to use the ceiling offensively and did so very effectively. He was inducted into the United States Handball Association Hall of Fame in 1983. Paul Haber was born of Polish Jewish ancestry in the Bronx in 1937. He won countless American and Canadian handball titles. Haber took an overlooked sport and turned it into a publicized one. Haber appeared on the front page of the Wall Street Journal in 1970. Numerous magazines featured him including Sports Illustrated, Ace, and Argosy. It was not just Haber's ability on the court that caught national media attention. Haber would clobber the straight arrow handball players and then wind up in jail or a hospital after days of being on a bender with various females. He supported himself giving handball and golf lessons, playing cards, pool, board games, and betting on his handball matches. Haber lived day-to-day forgetting each night's escapades and capers in anticipation of the next one. He lived a lifestyle that would have ruined most professional athletes.
The Navy Midshipmen men's basketball team represents the United States Naval Academy, in Annapolis, Maryland, in NCAA Division I college basketball. The team competes in the Patriot League and plays its home games in Alumni Hall.
US Squash is the national governing body for the sport of squash in the United States. Previously called The United States Squash Racquets Association, it is headquartered in New York City and is a member of the U.S. Olympic Committee. US Squash owns and licenses the U.S. Open, the North American Open, and all other U.S. championships.
Scott S. Bacigalupo is a former lacrosse goaltender. He was a high school All-American, four-time collegiate United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) All-American, three-time National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) goaltender of the year, two-time NCAA tournament outstanding player and a national player of the year. Scott Bacigalupo starred as a member of the Princeton Tigers men's lacrosse team from 1991 through 1994 where he helped them win their first two NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championships and was inducted into the Lacrosse Museum and National Hall of Fame on October 30, 2010. Scott was selected to the NCAA Lacrosse Silver Anniversary team in 1995. He was a four-time All-Ivy League selection. In his four-year college career, Princeton won its first two NCAA tournament Championships, two Ivy League Championships and earned four NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship tournament invitations.
Kevin E. Lowe is a finance executive and retired professional lacrosse player who played professional box lacrosse in the National Lacrosse League and professional field lacrosse in Major League Lacrosse from 1995 to 2006. He starred as a member of the Princeton Tigers men's lacrosse team from 1991 through 1994 and was inducted into the Lacrosse Museum and National Hall of Fame in 2009, joining his brother and father. He was a high school and college lacrosse United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) All-American. Lowe has the distinction of being the only player in lacrosse history to score an overtime goal in an NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship game and a Major League Lacrosse Steinfeld Cup championship game. He holds numerous Princeton scoring records and formerly held the Ivy League single-season assists record. As a college senior, he was honored as the National Collegiate Athletic Association's best lacrosse attackman and the Ivy League's best player. In his four-year college career, Princeton won its first two NCAA tournament Championship, two Ivy League Championships and earned four NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship tournament invitations.
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Kimberly Wyant is an American soccer coach and retired player. She is the head coach of the New York University men's soccer team, currently, the only women to lead a men's NCAA National Collegiate Athletic Association soccer program. Since her appointment as coach of NYU, she has led them to postseason play in every season except one, including three NCAA National Soccer Championship Tournaments, 2018, 2021, 2022.
Fred Lewis is an American former handball player.
Naty "El Gato" Alvarado is a former player of handball. According to the United States Handball Association's hall of fame entry, he is the "[t]he most dominating, winningest handball player" in the history of handball. His style was characterized by an aggressive two-hand offense. "He won his first national championship in 1977 at St. Louis...." He was dominant in the 1980s. He won "63 professional tournaments over a 14-year period." A Mexican national, Alvarado entered the United States illegally but was granted U.S. permanent residency under an amnesty program in the 1980s. His son, Naty, Jr., is also a member of the USHA Hall of Fame.
Simon "Stuffy" Singer is an American former United States and world singles champion American handball player. He has been inducted into the United States Handball Association Hall of Fame. He was also a teenage radio and television actor, starring on the television show Blondie and Dagwood in the 1950s.
Handball U.S. Handball Association One Wall Men – Albert Apuzzi, New York.
Maybe you get on the cover of Handball Magazine, said Albert Apuzzi, a 34-year-old pharmacist at Coney Island Hospital who is a two-time singles champion. Otherwise, you do it for the prestige, the gratification.