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Tuesday, March 8,1988
It may not be in the dictionary, but Carrie Hultgren and Jeff Eagan enjoy raquetbaii anyway.
The term "racquelball" is nowhere to be found
in the Webster's Dictionary, tbe World Book
Encyclopedia or the Encyclopedia Americana.
I guess that means racquelball does not exist-
But if that's lhe case, Id really like io know
whai all those people are doing when ihey go to
a handball court and hit that funny ball around
with a sawed-off tennis racket.
They say it's called racquelball, and even
though there's no mention of it in the reference
section of the Henry Madden Library, I'll lake
their word for iL
But what I'd really like to know is how the
sport called racquelball ever got started (since
there's no mention of it in the reference section
of the Henry Madden Library, it's kind of hard to
find oul).
The most logical explanation is that a couple
of handball players decided thai hitting the ball
with their hands wasn't exciting enough and
agreed upon using sawed-off tennis rackets.
There are, however, a few other possible
origins:
—On Alcatraz Island, around 1924, a couple
prisoners were served dried oranges for dinner.
Desperately hungry, ihe prisoners smuggled one
of the oranges into their cell.
The skin of ihe orange was loo dry io be
peeled so the prisoners hit il against the wall
with their pillows until the orange cracked open.
Unfortunately, when the orange finally cracked
open, il let loose a potent stench thai killed
both prisoners.
—At the siege of Sedan during the Franco-
Prussian War (circe 1870), lhe Prussian artillery
lofted an eight-pound shell into a one-room
farmhouse.
The shell did not explode and the French
soldiers desperately tried to hit it out the window
with their rifle butts. Unfortunauly, they missed
the window and hit the shell causing the shell to
explode and kill all six soldiers in the building.
They did not die in vain, however. Their
commanding officer, a colonel in his command
posl 50 feet away, witnessed lhe whole scene and
invented racquelball two weeks later.
—During lhe days of the Mayan Empire.
King Macaielitelvismaniniopelis [1 was given
the shrunken head of a Toltec enemy. In pure
defiance of his enemies, King M ihrcw the head
against the palace wall.
The ball, of course, bounced off the wall and
headed straight for the Mayan queen Qucsapilaiot-
acipioelvisora. Known for her lightning-quick
reflexes, ihe queen deflected the head away wiih
her sceptre.
As lhe story goes, the head bounced off the
wall and headed for King M, who hit it back off
lhe wall with his sceptre — straight to Queen Q.
The rally lasted for 18 minutes before King
M, in a fit of athletic frustration, had Queen Q
beheaded (her head, incidentally, was used for
King Ms next racquelball match.
No matter how the sport of racquetball came
into being, there's no question it is played by
quite a few Americans every day (I couldn't say
exactiy how many; remember, there's noi
mention of racquetball in ihe reference section of
the Henry Madden Library).
The question is why they play it-
Why would anybody In his or her right mind
want to dismiss a friendly game of tennis and
leave his or herself open to injury at the hands of
a high-velocity rubber ball?
Why would anyone want to be locked up in a
bathroom-sized court and compelled to hit a high-
velocity rubber ball with a snow shoe?
I guess people play racquetball for the same
reason people hang glide, fly off ramps with skis
on their feet and run 26-mile marathons. It's a
challenge.
Please see TOUGH, page 8
Object Description
| Title | 1988_03 The Daily Collegian March 1988 |
| Alternative Title | Daily Collegian (California State University, Fresno) |
| Publisher | Associated Students of Fresno State, Fresno, Calif. |
| Publication Date | 1988 |
| Description | Daily (except weekends) during the school year. Microfilm. Palo Alto, Calif. : BMI Library Microfilms, 1986- microfilm reels ; 35 mm. Vol.1, no.1 (Feb 8, 1922)- |
| Subject | California State University, Fresno -- Periodicals. |
| Contributors | Assocated Students of Fresno State. |
| Coverage | Vol.1, no.1 (Feb 8, 1922)- to present |
| Format | Microfilm reels, 35 mm. |
| Technical Information | Scanned at 600 dpi; TIFF; Microfilm ScanPro 2000 "E-image data" |
| Language | eng |
Description
| Title | March 8, 1988, Page 7 |
| Alternative Title | Daily Collegian (California State University, Fresno) |
| Publisher | Associated Students of Fresno State, Fresno, Calif. |
| Publication Date | 1988 |
| Description | Daily (except weekends) during the school year. Microfilm. Palo Alto, Calif. : BMI Library Microfilms, 1986- microfilm reels ; 35 mm. Vol.1, no.1 (Feb 8, 1922)- |
| Subject | California State University, Fresno -- Periodicals. |
| Contributors | Assocated Students of Fresno State. |
| Coverage | Vol.1, no.1 (Feb 8, 1922)- to present |
| Format | Microfilm reels, 35 mm. |
| Technical Information | Scanned at 600 dpi; TIFF; Microfilm ScanPro 2000 "E-image data" |
| Language | eng |
| Full-Text-Search | Tuesday, March 8,1988 It may not be in the dictionary, but Carrie Hultgren and Jeff Eagan enjoy raquetbaii anyway. The term "racquelball" is nowhere to be found in the Webster's Dictionary, tbe World Book Encyclopedia or the Encyclopedia Americana. I guess that means racquelball does not exist- But if that's lhe case, Id really like io know whai all those people are doing when ihey go to a handball court and hit that funny ball around with a sawed-off tennis racket. They say it's called racquelball, and even though there's no mention of it in the reference section of the Henry Madden Library, I'll lake their word for iL But what I'd really like to know is how the sport called racquelball ever got started (since there's no mention of it in the reference section of the Henry Madden Library, it's kind of hard to find oul). The most logical explanation is that a couple of handball players decided thai hitting the ball with their hands wasn't exciting enough and agreed upon using sawed-off tennis rackets. There are, however, a few other possible origins: —On Alcatraz Island, around 1924, a couple prisoners were served dried oranges for dinner. Desperately hungry, ihe prisoners smuggled one of the oranges into their cell. The skin of ihe orange was loo dry io be peeled so the prisoners hit il against the wall with their pillows until the orange cracked open. Unfortunately, when the orange finally cracked open, il let loose a potent stench thai killed both prisoners. —At the siege of Sedan during the Franco- Prussian War (circe 1870), lhe Prussian artillery lofted an eight-pound shell into a one-room farmhouse. The shell did not explode and the French soldiers desperately tried to hit it out the window with their rifle butts. Unfortunauly, they missed the window and hit the shell causing the shell to explode and kill all six soldiers in the building. They did not die in vain, however. Their commanding officer, a colonel in his command posl 50 feet away, witnessed lhe whole scene and invented racquelball two weeks later. —During lhe days of the Mayan Empire. King Macaielitelvismaniniopelis [1 was given the shrunken head of a Toltec enemy. In pure defiance of his enemies, King M ihrcw the head against the palace wall. The ball, of course, bounced off the wall and headed straight for the Mayan queen Qucsapilaiot- acipioelvisora. Known for her lightning-quick reflexes, ihe queen deflected the head away wiih her sceptre. As lhe story goes, the head bounced off the wall and headed for King M, who hit it back off lhe wall with his sceptre — straight to Queen Q. The rally lasted for 18 minutes before King M, in a fit of athletic frustration, had Queen Q beheaded (her head, incidentally, was used for King Ms next racquelball match. No matter how the sport of racquetball came into being, there's no question it is played by quite a few Americans every day (I couldn't say exactiy how many; remember, there's noi mention of racquetball in ihe reference section of the Henry Madden Library). The question is why they play it- Why would anybody In his or her right mind want to dismiss a friendly game of tennis and leave his or herself open to injury at the hands of a high-velocity rubber ball? Why would anyone want to be locked up in a bathroom-sized court and compelled to hit a high- velocity rubber ball with a snow shoe? I guess people play racquetball for the same reason people hang glide, fly off ramps with skis on their feet and run 26-mile marathons. It's a challenge. Please see TOUGH, page 8 |
