May - June 1999
| Vol. 10, No. 3

USRA Annual Award Winners Named !

Each year, the USRA Board of Directors chooses Hall of Fame inductees, when appropriate, along with its open and age group athletes of the year. Formal recognition for these awards will be conducted on May 29 at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Houston, during the Ektelon 32nd U.S. National Singles Championships. The 1998 winners are: Hall of Famer Earl Acuff; Adam Karp and Jackie Paraiso for male and female athletes of the year; and Sharon Hastings-Welty and Dave Watson for age group honors.

hall of fame

Q: Who is 80-years old, full of smiles and this year’s lone inductee into the Racquetball Hall of Fame?

A: It’s Earl Acuff of Asheville, North Carolina.

Over the past 16 years, Acuff has won almost 25 U.S. national and world senior gold medals. He has won nine U.S. national singles titles, most recently in the men’s 75-and-over. This past October in Baltimore, Acuff teamed with George Spear to capture the men’s 75+ doubles crown at the Ektelon 31st U.S. National Doubles Championships. It was Acuff’s seventh national doubles championship. Mix all of this with his 1998 men’s 80+ world title and three other world seniors crowns and you have quite a distinquished career athlete for Earl Acuff, 1999 Racquetball Hall of Fame inductee.

female athlete of the year

Jackie Paraiso, a resident of El Cajon, Calif., just outside San Diego, finished her ‘98 campaign with a fifth U.S. national doubles title, a fourth Tournament of the Americas doubles crown and a fourth world doubles championship. Despite missing the U.S. national singles title by a mere three points last May, Paraiso enjoyed quite a successful season.

The ‘98 USRA Female Athlete of the Year began the year by teaming with her identical twin sister — Joy MacKenzie — to win the Tournament of the Americas doubles championship in Winnipeg, Canada. The duo put away Canadians Josee Grand’Maitre and Debbie Ward 15-11, 15-1. The 32-year old then went on to finish second to Robin Levine at the U.S. National Singles in Houston, 15-8, 14-15, 11-8. In July, Paraiso again teamed with her sister in Cochabamba, Bolivia to take another win over the team of Grand’Maitre and Ward for the world doubles championship.

After returning to the U.S., Paraiso and MacKenzie went on to cruise past the competition at the Ektelon 31st U.S. National Doubles Championships in Baltimore. The two captured the October event by downing Kim Russell and Levine, 15-6, 8-15, 11-5. Paraiso capped off her year by winning her first Promus U.S. OPEN title, with an upset over current world singles champion Christie Van Hees of Canada 11-6, 11-5, 11-5.

male athlete of the year

Just 26 years of age, Adam Karp, the USRA Male Athlete of the Year, is living up the potential that racquetball experts have been predicting. The Australian-born backhand artist is known as the “Flying Fish” due to his athletic agility, quickness and ability to appear as if he were flying around the court.

Although Karp fell to Derek Robinson in the round of 16 at the Promus U.S. OPEN Championships, the Fish did capture a pair of international doubles titles and the coveted national singles crown. After putting away Canadians Mike Ceresia and Jacques Demers for the Tournament of the Americas doubles title, Karp and partner Bill Sell held off an upstart Mexican tandem of Luis Bustillos and Javier Moreno in Bolivia for the World Championship doubles crown, 15-9, 15-6.

But it was his 15-8, 15-10 win over two-time national singles champ Michael Bronfeld in the finals of the U.S. National Singles Championships that earned Karp his finest honor to date.

peggy steding award

Sharon Hastings-Welty earned the Peggy Steding Award for age group competition for winning the women’s 55-and-over world seniors and U.S. national singles gold medals. The Corvallis, Oregon, resident handled Nidia Funes 15-3, 15-4 to win the national title, while taking second in the women’s 50+ bracket that same week. Hastings-Welty also took on the gold at the World Senior Championships in Albuquerque, N.M., by outdistancing Funes on points in women’s 55+ round-robin play.

bud muehleisen award

Oklahoman Dave Watson, 37, is this year’s recipient of the Bud Muehleisen Award. The Miami resident won the 30+ and 35+ national singles titles along with the 35+ world seniors championship. Seeded fourth, Watson defeated No. 3 seed Dan Llacera 15-10, 15-4 in Houston for the men’s 30+ national crown. That same week, Watson fought past Dave Eagle to win the 35+ gold medal, 15-6, 4-15, 11-3. After a fourth-place finish in the men’s 30’s at the Promus U.S. OPEN, Watson took out Eagle again at the World Seniors, 11-9, 6-11, 11-5 for the 35+ world title.