Cutthroat Tournament in Cincinnati

In October the president of the Greater Cincinnati Handball Association, Steve Kehoe, asked Ralph Weil for ideas to interest the members. So was born the Cutthroat Tournament held on December 14th. It was determined that we wanted the maximum number of players that could be accommodated on six courts and on one day. In order to do this, two brackets were chosen, one of eight players and one of twelve players. 

In one week, twenty players signed on and eight asked to be alternates. In the eight player bracket, each player had six games to 15 points and in the twelve player bracket each player had three games to 15 points and one game to 21 points. The estimate was that if the games began at 9:30 on Saturday morning, lunch could be served at noon and the finals would be over by 1:30. Accurate accounting of the scores of each game had to be kept in order to determine the final setup of the brackets and the eventual winners of the $50 gift certificates for dinner donated by Bob Shaef and second place for a gift certificate for merchandise at the Athletic Club at Waycross donated by Johnny Walker. John Matacic donated “Support Our Troop” caps to all the players. The shirts were designed by Denny Dupps from an image taken from the Internet and sold for $10.

The score keeping paperwork was designed from a sixteen player bracket that took two to three days to complete play. The paperwork for eight and twelve players is available from the USHA office or from the GCHA. But there are complications that arise in the planning for tournaments. A snow storm and cold weather managed to damage the roof and one court was put out of commission. It was decided to redo the draws and have four brackets of five players which could be better accommodated with four courts. Each game was to eleven points and every player played six games.

The winners and pictured are Carl Huether, Steve Kehoe, Greg Fite, Alan Viets with Ralph Weil in the center.

Ralph Weil