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Drive by America’s only public jai-alai court in St. Petersburg, and it is likely there will be a pretty decent size group of players virtually everyday out there.
Puryear Park Jai-alai, which quietly celebrated its 16th anniversary earlier last week, is now in its 17th season. It’s amazing how time flies, but the court is bigger and better today than ever before. And yes, more crowded. So crowed, that 8-post teams are the norm on certain days. Maybe its time for Paul Kubala to lobby for another court to get built! From 1990 to 2007 the court was an undesignated jai-alai court, sandwiched in between two racquet ball courts with two 4×8’s acting as the backwall for rebotes and a huge 8 foot gap between the side wall and front wall.
Why the sudden boom in players? That’s a good question and will be dig into answers to that.
First, the expansion orchestrated by Kubala, Scott King, Eric Lanctot and others greatly enhanced the cancha experience since it opened in 2008 before its official opening day before hundreds of people and the entire St. Pete City Council. I had to spend two days replying to people on Tigers site on why the original construction of the court was so small – compared to other amateur rubber ball court size standards. We took what the city was offering us and the two votes before the city council were approved unanimously in late 2007. This information and videos can all be viewed on the Pelota Press website under the NJAA link. Remember, the great recession took place right at that time, and the court’s plans were finalized just hours before a Friday 5pm deadline in the summer of 2007 when private financing was completed to make the product happen– much to the surprise of city recreational leaders.
The larger court is a totally different game out there and certainly playing with the “Matt Ball” was a game changer vs. the old-fashioned lacrosse ball that had been used in amateur use everywhere in our area (Seminole Middle School Jai-alai; Largo Winn Dixie Jai-alai; Tampa Plaza Shopping Center Jai-alai) for decades.
A lot of players have been showing up over the past couple years and playing on a regular basis now, including several ex-pros – some of whom even played on the same roster with Bolivar in Bridgeport.
Virtually every day, the court has a large group of players.
Sunday mornings have been drawing a growing group. Led by Frederico, an original Puryear Park player from 1990, he is now a regular again along with his brother Gino, who had undergone two major surgeries and thought to be goner. Also coming out of the blue is another amateur, who has two brothers that are well known to the jai-alai world – Daniel and Butler. Daniel Love is considered one of the greatest backcourt players of all time and had a long career at Tampa, Mexico City and Miami. He also comes out and plays in the group when he’s not on duty with the sherif’s department locking up the bad guys. Mark Butner now plays on a regular basis whose brother played under the name “Butler” and was an excellent player in Tampa briefly and then Miami. Mark has excellent form and a major league canon for an arm. Paul Berglund is also back on a regular basis. Paul played pro in Ocala for two seasons.
Monday and Wednesday nights has a group called the “Sunshine City” Jai-alai with players like Paul Kubala, former Tampa pro’s Scott King and Corky, former pro Belota, former Dania pro Garby. Also joining them is Calder player and longtime Connecticut amateur champion Brodie. Another player includes Eric Lanctot who was the placekicker for Vanderbilt and now a contractor who aided in the remodeling of the cancha, as mentioned earlier in this story.
Tuesday and Thursday nights have also been busy, averaging about 10 players a performance. There is variety of about 20-25 different players who come out those nights and is nicknamed the “The Chopped Liver League”.
Fridays are the slow day, with an occasional small group playing with “Businessman’s Luncheon” performance or an occasional Friday evening performance.
Saturdays continue to be the big day – usually drawing about 15-16 players in the morning/early afternoon for a long 4–5-hour performance. Let by Anthony Sutton, last year’s National Singles Masters Champion aka “Ant”, the people come out when invited in droves.
When E.F. Hutton calls, people listen.
When A.M. Sutton texts, people come out to play.
Several people make long trips – such as Adam who comes a couple times a month from Daytona. Adam was a veteran player who was one of Bolivar’s favorite backcourters at Bridgeport Jai-alai. Rastock is a regular at Puryear Park, making multiple visits every month and seems to never lose a game. Also playing with Bolivar in Bridgeport, Rastock was a National Champion (Masters – Doubles) last year at the Magic City tournament, and he continues to defy father time and is one of the top players around. Ty Wilson is a former Newport RI player who is also a regular and makes the trip over with Rastock along with amateur player Eric Auman. It is also not unusual to see Elorri make the trip – also from Orlando. He was the former player manager at Orlando Jai-alai and an original player on the roster.
Another player who has become a regular is Phatboy, whose real name is Brent. A longtime Orlando amateur, you might recall him competing in the Magic City event the past couple years. He too, has good form and a major league arm. A couple of weeks ago he had former Orlando pro and close friend “Jericho”. He played very well, considering he had not played since Orlando closed its doors years ago and is now a church.
The only drawback is that we have not had any young players come out in years. The problem is that there have been no professional jai-alai here since 1998 when Tampa Jai-alai closed. It became a Sam’s and Home Depot on its massive property near the McDill Air Force base at that time. Jai-alai cestas are not hanging in the racks of Dick’s Sporting Goods, further complicating things. In fact, when you mention the word jai-alai to anybody under 45, they say “Oh, you mean the beer?”. That of course, is the Jai-alai Beer that we all know about and is brewed in Tampa.
Coming next – What could save Jai-alai? We have the answer. And no, it’s not Spanky winning a Billion $$ Lottery and opening a fronton!
