The week was another great one with amazing short-court Jai-Alai action as these fast-paced games won’t put you to sleep at this fronton! The players keep improving and always give it 100% here, something revered and respected by Magic City Jai-Alai fans! Anderluck had the most singles wins for Week 6 and prevailed in capturing […]
First “cable” broadcast of a Jai-Alai tournament. “On TV” agreed to show the Tournament of Champions to the South Florida market. Kevin Koffman, my assistant (left), myself (middle) and Tom Contreras (Ocala GM) handled the commentary. Four cameras and slow-motion replays were featured. The sport of Jai-Alai seemed to be entering its “Golden Age,” in […]
Milford Jai-Alai, owned and operated by Dania, opened in 1977 and proved to be a tremendous success. Steve Snyder and John Knox surveyed the near-empty Hartford Jai-Alai Fronton on opening night, Thursday, May 20th, 1976. Snyder, the majority owner of the Dania Fronton in south Florida had leveraged his success with that facility to build […]
First game players salute the fans opening night of Hartford Jai-Alai’s inaugural season, May 20th, 1976 By Marty Fleischman During the 1975 Tampa Jai-Alai season, I was tasked with finding and training two announcers for the first season of Hartford Jai-Alai. Since the season would overlap with our other Florida fronton seasons, we could not […]
We have some really good news, when some good news has been hard to find this week for those in the jai-alali world. Dania Jai-alai is going to resume their season after the regular season closes down Memorial Day weekend. Their next “season” is still set for September 1st thru November 30th and live full court jai-alai […]
As you know likely know by now, the sport of jai-alai has been decoupled in the State of Florida. The stunning news was finalized as the House approved in Wednesday afternoon, a day after the Senate had passed the measure. Decoupling in the jai-alai pari-mutuel industry gives the owners the right to drop conducting the […]
It appears the St. Pete Court Construction project is going to be delayed by at least another month or more. One of the contractors on the project said that construction is “at least a month away” as he was delivering another load of cinder blocks to the site. He said that shortages of materials has […]
Robert Conrad, star of CBS series “The Wild, Wild West” (late 60’s) came to Tampa Jai-Alai to promote his new upcoming show, “Baa Baa Black Sheep” (later known as “Black Sheep Squadron.”) I was upset, yet relieved. I did not get the corporate PR position. I was passed over for a guy who not only […]
The major remodeling of America’s First Public Jai-alai Court is about to commence as deliveries of new concrete cinder blocks were dropped off next to the cancha this afternoon. The plans for the court, once the ridicule of many because of the short length and height of walls, is about to change – drastically. Currently […]
Gerrity and Rico loved to play golf. They both enjoyed participating in Palma Ceia’s Member-Guest Tournament here in Tampa. (r. to l. My brother Sol, Dick Gerrity, Paul Rico, me. The Howard Johnson’s sign at the second Ocala exit read “28 Flavors of Ice Cream.” This was their slogan throughout the country. But, that night, […]
