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 History of Missoula Handball

Handball in Missoula was played before World War II in the basement of the St. Anthony’s Church and in the wrestling room of the Men’s Gym at the University of Montana. The origin of standardized play was a picture painted by Bob Curry and Jim Mayes.  Dr. Bob Curry, Grizzly team physician and campus health service official, improvised a mini-court in his barn up Pattee Canyon in 1960. Along about that time Jim Mayes, ex-Grizzly premier pole vaulter, put in an area above the old Florence Laundry on East Front Street. Mayes used plywood with ceramic tile attached, products of the Weyerhauser corporation. Today he runs the Courthouse on S.W. Higgins Avenue, one of the best facilities in the Northwest. Racquetball participants far outnumber handball zealots, but, as Mayes puts it, “it can’t ever replace the two-handed sport.” Handball has come a long ways in Missoula – all the way from a church cellar.

John T. Campbell, Missoulian

 
 Missoula Singles Champions
 2007  Andy Tucknott
 2006  Andy Tucknott
 2005  Jeff Jamison
 2004  Kirk Johnson
 2003  Jeff Jamison
 2002  Jeff Jamison
 2001  Jeff Jamison
 2000  Bill Peoples
 1999  Jeff Jamison
 1998  Jeff Jamison
 1997  Bill Peoples
 1996  Bill Peoples
 1995  Bill Peoples
 1994  Bill Peoples
 1993  Jack Mainwaring
 1992  Jeff Jamison
 1991  Bill Peoples
 1990  Robin Peters
 1989  Bill Peoples
 1988  Bill Peoples
 1987  Bill Peoples
 1986  Robin Peters
 1985  Robin Peters
 1984  Robin Peters
 1983  Robin Peters
 1982  Robin Peters
 1981  Robin Peters
 1980  Robin Peters
 1979  Robin Peters
 1978  Robin Peters