The eighth annual Minnesota State Handball Association Handball Hall of Fame banquet continued this growing tradition on May 12, 2000, at the Wabasha Street Caves.

2000 Hall of Fame Inductees Al O’Neill, Jim Turman and Ken Johnson

Inductees included:

Presented by Paul Schulz

Al helped start the MSHA Handball Hall of Fame and was instrumental in collecting and assembling the history of handball in Minnesota into several large volumes. He served on the board of the Midway YMCA handball club and coordinated the tournament for over ten years. He was a founding member of the Twin Cities Handball Association in 1971 and served as president on the Board of the Roseville Kings Court handball club for over ten years. He has assisted in running state handball tournaments and with the MSHA Handball Hall of Fame since its inception.

Presented by Steve Hannes

Ken started his athletic career at Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis with three State Gymnastics Championships and the City Diving Title in the mid 50’s. He claimed the Big Ten Gymnastics Title with the University of Minnesota where he also claims to have graduated at the top of the class in Beer Tasting. Stationed on AirCraft Carriers with the U.S. Navy in the early 60’s, Ken was part of the crew that picked up the first two US astronauts returning from space. In 1970, Ken started his own company (All Steel Products) and his handball career. He holds 141st and nine 2nd place titles in Minnesota.

Presented by Bob Schaumann

Jim was born in Hanford, California in 1947. He moved to Edina, Minnesota in 1985 to become director of the Department of Recreational Sports at the University of Minnesota. Currently, he is Assistant Vice President for Student Development. Jim started playing handball on the cement outdoor courts at Cal Poly, and has been actively involved in the sport since 1973. He was USHA national intercollegiate commissioner (1978-1982), host committee chair for the 1994 USHA national 4-wall championships in Minneapolis, member of the N. California Handball Association Board of Directors (1975-85), and co-author of The Handball Book with Pete Tyson. During his playing career, he won 21 championships including 12 MSHA Championships and 2 USHA regionals. Jim was a five-time, semifinalist at the USHA national championships in various divisions.

The evening continued with acknowledgment of all the winners in the 2000 MSHA Championships and recognition of our major sponsors: Bloomington Lake Dental, Dr. Gary Rohrer; Freirchs Construction, Paul Frerichs; Lifetouch National School Studios, Steve Subak; and Traffic Technologies LLC, Scott Sayer. Without their financial help, our events would not be the same!

Five of the 2000 Top Six -- Brett Broxey, Andy Hoisignton, Pete Crouser, Steve Christoff, and Matt Hiber.

The formal festivities ended with presentation of the top ten awards (only six due a draw of less than sixteen) and a look forward to the upcoming 2000 Nationals.