Charlie Brumfield: King of Racquetball 22-Time National and World Champion By Steve bo Keeley Free Man Publishing Co. Published 2013 by Free Man Publishing Co. Charlie Brumfield: King of Racquetball Copyright 2013 by Steven ‘Bo’ Keeley. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission of the author, except for brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. Available via Amazon.com and other bookstores. For reviews, permissions, large orders, and other inquiries, please contact us at: [email protected]. Printed in the United States of America The only authorized biography of Charlie Brum field. CREDITS Cover photo: 1975 Las Vegas Tropicana Nationals photo by Davey Bledsoe. Editors: Janet Murphy, Brian Wright, Jamie Lawson, and Mike Anguille. Dedication This biography is dedicated to Charlie Brumfield’s three coaches: Carl Loveday, Bud Muehleisen, and Chuck Hanna. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them. — William Shakespeare Charlie Brumfield: King of Racquetball—Testimonials The ‘Holder’ was a multiple national champion in racquetball, paddleball and outdoors in both singles and doubles. Charlie Brumfield is the greatest rackets players ever! – Marty Hogan, Six-Time World Champion Joe Sobek may have invented racquetball, but Charlie Brumfield perfected it! This book tells it. – Pro Jim Spittle Wonderful Reading! – Charlie Brumfield Outspoken, brash, entertaining. Brum knew for the game to grow it had to be a spectacle and he never disappointed. Watching him maneuver ‘within’ the rules was always something to which I was tuned in, as it ultimately became my job to enforce those rules. – Chuck Leve, IRA Director, Racquetball Hall of Fame As you know my Brumfield is one of a kind. I went into every match with complete confidence we were going to win. Most teams including the top pros at the time were intimidated when we stepped on the court, which accounts for my satisfactory performance. – Dr. Bud Muehleisen, Winner of 69 National and International Titles, Hall of Fame In a way, I think that Brum was motivated to work hard and become good enough to gain his father’s attention and praise. That’s the first insight that I got out of this great book. – Davey Bledsoe, World Champion 1977, Hall of Fame As a kid I could not wait to receive my IRA magazine and read about the game in SI. I wanted to read what the true superstar of the game was doing- Charlie Brumfield. There were other stars but there was only one Brum. – Dave Fleetwood, Touring Pro i Charlie Brumfield: King of Racquetball—Testimonials I appreciate as a historian the eyewitness reports and many anecdotes in this wonderful sports biography. Keeley’s writing is gifted and excellent. When Charlie Brumfield dislocated his finger playing handball, racquetball’s gain was handball’s loss of this intense Dark Knight. Brumfield ‘Ali’ got many of his outlandish sayings from George the wrestler. What made Charlie great in his fiery quotes in advanced degrees was he added intellectual polish and clever wit. – Andrew Hollan, Sport Historian We ran around and always bumped into each other. There were no avoidable hinders except among gentlemen, and there were few gentlemen in the sport on close calls. That’s what Charlie Brumfield: King of Racquetball is about. – Mike Zeitman, Three-Time National Doubles Champion Brumfield was the grand master, Keeley his former racquetball nemesis who gets inside the master's mind. This is a sensitive biography. – Brett Elkins, LA Racquetball, WOR Hall of Fame Committee Charlie Brumfield looked like the Prince of Darkness, moved like Groucho Marx, and had the flawless arsenal of a platypus on steroids. – Brad Kruger, Canadian National Three-Sport Champion In ten minutes it was obvious that the referee was very drunk, loud and obnoxious, and I motioned to have him removed. It succeeded, and that’s how I met Charlie, went on to win the tournament, and we became drinking buddies. The rest is in the book. – Rodan Pucallpa, Contemporary Pro & Attorney With a slower ball, I don't think anyone would have been able to compete at his level. With a fast ball, he would be one of ii Charlie Brumfield: King of Racquetball—Testimonials many close to the top. Keeley is writing cover to cover in both spheres. – Jerry Hilecher, National Champion, Hall of Fame I am proud of having played with and won multiple National Doubles titles with Charlie, and Keeley has written a biography of my partner that is of that quality also. – Steve Serot, National Doubles Champion, National Junior Champ, Hall of Fame Brum was able to implement the Tour of the Court against anyone, and Keeley has put it excitingly into a Tour de Force. – Rich Wagner, NRC Top 8 Yet I still recall how he held forth for an hour or so before a group of Vermont instructors on the dynamics of the grip. He had more faith in himself than the average movie hero, and he wrote his own script as he went along. – Art Shay, Official Racquetball Photographer, Official Olympic Photographer, Racquetball Hall of Fame Interesting and entertaining reading. – Doug Ganim, US Open Founder Steve bo Keeley wrote the ultimate instructional The Complete Book of Racquetball and now the biography of the sport’s ultimate machine Brumfield, whom we both beat in national competitions. – Charlie Garfinkle, 12 Hall of Fames, Touring Pro, and Buffalo sports writer for 35 years. The biographer is known to me as a champion of sport, an acute observer of racquetball, a historian and superb analyst of the game, and its protagonist. Charlie Brumfield is also known to me as the most outlandish player I ever saw take the court. Keeley fleshes out the People’s Champion, and the fans iii Charlie Brumfield: King of Racquetball—Testimonials are the winners! – Cathy Williams, Top Four Pro, Cofounder WPRO Tour, National Paddleball Champion Steve bo Keeley is a gift to the game with either racquet or pen. He has already written the best-selling book on the sport, The Complete Book of Racquetball, and this biography of his enfant terrible rival is another treat. – Rick Frey PhD, Sport Psychologist Reading this was for me like taking a step back into history during the most exciting time in racquetball—the formation and foundation of the Pros. Brumfield was a unique and charismatic personage, who comes alive in this telling. – Bo Champagne, Six States & Multi-Regionals Champion, The ‘Spirit of Racquetball’ It is such a struggle to do justice to Charlie as a player because he was so great with the small-head racquet that had our careers overlapped into my large-head era it would have been tooth and nail in the tiebreakers of many finals. His biographer Keeley, the best sport writer and Brum's nemesis, will kindle an urge to old time racquetball and using forehand and backhand in this page burner. – Cliff Swain, Six-Time World Champion Keeley taught me the backhand frisbee stroke and Brumfield the backhand golf stroke that turned me into a pro. I love reading Keeley on Brumfield. – Hank Marcus, WOR Director No one has accomplished so much in a sport relative to his natural attributes. Amazingly he was like Poncho Gonzales in tennis. Able to be the best without a backhand. – Victor Niederhoffer, World Squash Champion iv Charlie Brumfield: King of Racquetball—Testimonials Charlie Brumfield was the master ‘psycher’ of all times. However, he had the game to back up his ‘psyching’ ploys. – Charles Garfinkle, Pro, Author, Coach What’s it like to know Charlie Brumfield? Suddenly the court becomes smaller as he comes closer. Who has been with your game since day one, trained harder, practiced more, and will keep driving as though he’s fresh in the tiebreaker. - Charlie Brumfield King of Racquetball v CONTENTS 1: Born on an Outdoor Court..................................1 2: Sum m er of Ceiling Balls.....................................8 3: Rules of Engagem ent........................................16 4: Roots of Pro Racquetball..................................25 5: Glitz..................................................................46 6: The Golden Era .................................................72 7: On Court and In Court......................................96 8: The True History............................................106 9: The Lion in W inter ..........................................114 Appendix A: Charlie Brum field’s Stats................125 Appendix B: Brum field’s Greatest Quotes...........127 About the Author................................................132 Links...................................................................133 Photo Credits......................................................134 vii 1: BORN ON AN OUTDOOR COURT The son of a US Marine Corps officer and a former chemistry teacher, Charlie Brumfield’s first home was on base at Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, CA. There are threads to support his rise to Racquetball King during this period. His sister reports he ‘drove’ a TV antenna around the house at night ‘sleepwalking in search of something.’ His father put young Charles on a raft in the middle of a lake and told him to swim for shore. On jumping in, Charlie decided he couldn’t make shore until dad stepped on his fingers to prevent him from clawing onto the raft. At high school recess, he remembers, ‘I was the last picked for every sports team, and it hurt. I was determined to be the best at some given game.’ Hence, the Holder of All Titles was born to racquetball in 1962 on a Mar Vista Junior High School outdoor court. He hit the cement court hard, daily, at lunch, PE, and before and after school. The sport was pink ball handball, the painful predecessor to pink ball paddleball that gave rise to pink to black ball racquetball, which is where I stepped into Charlie’s life. ‘I started playing pink ball in 7th grade while in junior high at Mar Vista in 1960.