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Minnesota Loses Two Hall-of-Famers

It was not a happy autumn for handballers in the Gopher state. Gail Mayo and Rich Rawlings, two of the area's longtime standout players, died.

Mayo, 80, succumbed to cancer and Rawlings, 67, suffered a fatal stroke.

Both were distinguished members of the Minnesota Handball Hall of Fame and both posted remarkable records over their years on the courts.

Mayo excelled in a number of sports and came to handball late in life. He discovered the game at age 61, and within five years had won his first state title. He went on , in singles to take many additional state championships and eleven national titles (eight USHA and three YMCA.) As he entered his eighties, he capped his career with a second place 1996 USHA singles and a first in the doubles.

Gail was also a low-handicap golfer and, for many of his early years, a standout baseball player, pitching four different town teams to state semi-pro championships. (In one of those title games, a 17-inning marathon, he pitched the entire game and struck out 27 batters.) In World War II he entered the Army as a private and emerged a captain.

Rich Rawlings was a Marine Corps pilot and, later, continued to fly in the reserves. Among his many other sports activities, he had an outstanding basketball career at St. John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota.

After being introduced to handball, however, all other sports took a back seat. His skills and competitive nature took him to championships in 26 tournaments, including on singles title in an AAU Nationals, five Minnesota state titles and four more in Canadian Regionals.

One of the (many) unfortunate aspects of Rich's sudden death was that he had just announced is retirement.

Gail Mayo and Rich Rawlings: a couple of great players, a couple of great guys.