The Minnesota State Handball Association
More than 130 members, guests and friends of the three Hall of Fame inductees attended the ninth annual Minnesota State Handball Association Awards Banquet. This was the first time the event was held at the Wabasha Street Caves and the venue was a big hit!
Outgoing MSHA president, Barry Becklin, emceed the evening. Sheldon Silberman, MSHA secretary, introduced all of the winners in the twenty-one 1996 state champ-ionship divisions. He noted that the four tournaments drew nearly 300 entries, twenty-two more than 1995. Brad Baker was recognized for winning first place in three divisions: Senior's Singles, Senior's Doubles with Gary Rohrer and the Open doubles with Matt Hiber.
After a fine buffet diner, Al Abrahamson emceed the Hall of Fame portion of the program. Al recognized the previous inductees and introduced Gary Rohrer to induct the first two 1996 Hall-of-Famers: Paul Schulz and Bill Yambrick.
Gary talked about how Bill and Paul stumbled across the game and Al Warren (the third inductee of the night) discovered the two and took them on as a project. As the stories continued, one could sense the profound effect Al Warren had the two as well as many others in the Twin Cities area. Bill and Paul went on to represent the USHA as handball ambassadors throughout the US and Canada. Many in the game still remember the two gentlemen from Minnesota.
Both Paul and Bill stack up an impressive list of first place finishes in national and state level play. Paul explained how handball played a large part in his life in general from the job he holds as Athletic Director at the Minneapolis Athletic Club, to meeting his wife to spiritual influence through his associations with others in the handball community.
Bill related stories of the influence Al Warren had on his life and his handball. In fact, he said he played handball for Al, and when Al passed away, Bill lost his drive for the game.
Both men recalled their first significant victory when, as young upstarts, they defeated a nationally known and ranked team to win a regional tournament at the Midway YMCA. They didn't really comprehend what they had done, but they knew they had arrived!
After Paul and Bill each received their Hall of Fame plaques, Bill was honored with inducting his mentor into the Hall. Accepting for Al Warren was his great grandson, Bruce Fink. Bruce remarked on the passion his great grandfather had for game and the handball community. He and his family were most appreciative of the honor bestowed on Al Warren by the Minnesota State Handball Association.
Jack Hickman then presented Hall of Fame jackets to the Hall of Famers.
Al Abrahamson read two very complementary letters of the three new inductees from Terry Muck and from Vern Roberts.
Following the Hall of Fame portion of the program, Jim Turman, on behalf of the University of Minnesota and with help from the MSHA, presented a plaque commemorating the 1962 National Collegiate Championship won by the U of M team consisting of Gary Rohrer, Paul Schulz, Bill Yambrick and Warren Mitchell. the plaque will be on permanent display at the U of M Rec Center.
Barry brought the formal program to a close with the Top Ten awards and the sponsor awards, followed by the door prize drawing where everyone won something donated by Pearson Candy, Braggin' Rights and the MSHA. Darryl Ekstrom with help from Charlotte "manned" the give-away table to handle the mad rush for door prizes.
The whole evening was a great success thanks to the efforts of the MSHA Board, Steve Bremer and his staff at the Wabasha Street Caves, our Sponsors, Al O'Neill (the Archivist), Jack Hickman and our terrific 1996 inductees.
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