Two jai-alai “legends” will be making their debut appearance at America’s first and only public jai-alai court this Wednesday at 10m. Marty Fleischman, senior blogger at this site and longtime jai-alai executive, and Ricky Solaun will be at Puryear Park in St. Petersburg – rain or shine to check out the court. They are hoping for a few players to be out there playing so they get the full experience but understand the weather and early timing on a workday may be a hinderance. Solaun, the former Tampa and Harfford frontcourter and player manager is expected to throw the ball around. Marty, now a ranked pickleball player, has some stiches in his shoulder and will be able to play.
If your interested in coming, please let us know if you are. There is a 60% chance of rain – yes rain – something we have not seen in a while. But that is nearly two days in the forecast and you never know.
Magic City Jai-alai Averaging 100,000 TikTok Viewers a Performance
There’s a great article on Jai-alai that just came out in the online newspaper called “Thrillist”.
It’s called “Can Miami Save this 150 – Year Old Sport from Near Extinction?”. There are quotes from Scott Savin, Benny and even “Baby” Benny, Chris Bueno that talk about the sport and what their frontons are doing.
The online newspaper is quite good – I had never heard of it before, but they do have offices in nearly twenty cities across America. This article is written by Matt Meltzer of their Miami offices.
Without stealing their thunder, there were a couple of things I thought were interesting in the article. Savin mentioned that Magic City Jai-alai was getting about 100,000 views on TikTok, the controversial social media platform, which is overwhelmingly favored by the Gen Z generation. That is certainly the age group you want to be marketing to, and not the ones that went to jai-alai 40-50 years ago like me. Besides, we’re already fans of the sport.
Savin also mentioned if betting were allowed in Florida for their Battle Court matches, they would be breaking even or making a profit. The Battle Court matches allow sports betting only in states that have approved jai-alai. Don’t look for that to happen with the Hard Rock anytime soon – it was Magic City Casino that sued the state and successfully shut down sport betting with the Hard Rock Casino for two years and still has a case pending in the state Supreme Court. It’s too bad, that version of jai-alai is much more exciting and when you place your bet, you know what you’re getting paid – to the penny. And its one team vs. another and much easier to predict IMO.
I only noticed one mistake in the article. They mentioned Heineken beer as using jai-alai in one of its commercials, when it was Dos Equis Beer that used jai-alai in one of their great “Most Interesting Man in the World” commercials. I know. The Madison Avenue Ad agency first contacted me at my National Jai-alai Association site about the sport and acquiring old 1980s video to use. I went to my buddy Lou (Jai-a-Lou) Berdelllans, the former Newport Jai-alai pro, who was the marketing director for Dania Jai-alai at the time. He hooked me up with Marty Fleischman who took over from there using old Tampa Jai-alai film. The commercial was a hit.
CLICK THRILLIST PIC BELOW TO SEE ARTICLE
Will jai-alai ever regain its success like it had in the 70s and 80s? It could – and I will tell you how in a story coming next week.
Also coming next week is a story on Dania Jai-alai and what’s going on over there.
The 150th running of the Kentucky Derby is here. It is the fastest, most exciting two minutes in sports. I know. I was there. Sixty freaking years ago. I was almost 9 years old, but I remember everything about it like it was yesterday.
Why I was taken out of school in the 3rd grade in Fairfield, Connecticut to make a trip first to Ft. Wayne, Indiana with my parents, I don’t know. I just remember we were going to a big horse race in Kentucky that Saturday, May 2nd, 1964. It was a long drive and recalled it being about a 3 ½ hours trip. So, a couple of days ago I did a MapQuest to see how long the trip is. Sure enough, it is still about a 3 ½ hour drive. A long time for a kid to sit in the backseat of a car with only car bingo to play with.
Upon entering the place, I was shocked at the size of the parking lot and the long walk to the entrance. Afterall, the official capacity allowed is about 170,000 people, though I don’t recall a crowd that big ever attending with numbers more like 150,000. I was there with my parents and two other couples that had the incredible tickets.
We had box seating right at the finish line, about 5 rows back, so I was able to stand on the chair and get a good view of the horses as they went by us. The architecture of the building right behind us was very distinctive and remember it vividly.
The Derby itself was the 10th or 11th race on the card and everyone in our group was betting every race and losing. Losing badly. I didn’t have any money of course, and an 8-year-old obviously can’t bet. But I was the only one calling the winners. Everyone was amazed. I had no program to go by, just looking at the horses as they paraded right by us before every race. I had called 3 winners, until my mother finally said ”OK, we will make a bet for you. Who do you want?” I don’t remember who I picked , but it certainly wasn’t Northern Dancer, who broke the 90-year record that day for the fastest race ever. It was 2 minutes flat if I recall. That record held till Secretariat crushed it in 1973 on its way to the Triple Crown – capped by the 31-length win at the Belmont – one of the greatest moments in sports history. Like Tiger Woods in 1997 win at the Masters.
I think my horse came in 6th place. So much for my picks. I do remember the lady that owned the seats with us winning the next race that day – about $220 on a single bet. In today’s money, that is worth nearly $2,000! Then the final race was held, and remember my father’s pick whose jockey fell off the horse on the other side of the track.
It was an amazing experience and nothing like living in Fairfield Connecticut or Ft. Wayne, Indiana in the 1950s and 1960s. What I do remember the most is the roar of the crowd as the horses rounded the stretch. It was unbelievable and experience that should be on everyone’s bucket list.
A special booklet from that Derby Day is in the museum.
Entries from this weekends “Matt” tournament are available.
The handwritten one is for Friday nights Spec 9 performance with 13 games scheduled to 9 points.
On Saturday, just 6 games are scheduled – but they are apparently 20-point games, a first that I can recall.
The event will be live on Matt’s Facebook page “CT Amateur Jai-alai”.
The Florida players will arrive Thursday evening for practice, and they include Belota, Ant, Thomas, Chip, Phatboy and Alex.
It appears to be a slightly smaller turnout as compared to other tournaments, but the action should be good. Some of the players include Gallo, DeCarlo, Joe P, Leo, Lander, Aramendi, San Juan, Gino, Edward, Terrence, JJ, and Johnny No-No.
(TO ENLARGE ANY PICTURE ON A WINDOWS COMPUTER – RIGHT CLICK AND OPEN IMAGE IN NEW TAB)
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!
This past Tuesday night, Morgan Kathan, the daughter of the original Puryear Park co-founder Greg (aka Echeva), was back at it -competing against 9 other men on the St. Pete Cancha.
Morgan is back in town for a week after recently moving to Vermont to be with her new husband and her new job. For years, she spent hundreds of hours practicing on the jai-alai court and has gotten pretty good. She has played with the boy’s numerous times and competing just fine. She’s a good catcher on both sides (except for the fast ones where she gets out of the way!) and has a strong forehead and serve.
Her father got her going on jai-alai a few years ago. Greg was the one that brought out the old 4×8 panels of plywood in 1990 as a makeshift rebote ball when the court was nothing but a tennis practice wall and a side wall for a racquetball court.
Excelling in sports, Morgan had an outstanding soccer career in High School by scoring 97 goals and led High School Championship teams in not only soccer but snowboarding and golf. At Keene State College in New Hampshire, she studied to become a Physical Education and Heath Teacher and continued to excel at soccer by scoring many important game winning goals.
Morgan then moved to St. Pete after college to take over her Dad’s house and started throwing the pelota at Puryear Park. Her teaching job in Trinity cut down on time available to play jai-alai, but she never lost interest.
She recently took a teaching job in Burlington Vermont so she and new husband could enjoy snowboarding and biking. She was recently named the Head Coach of Vergennes High School Varsity Girls soccer for next season.
Morgan really enjoys joining her father at the court because the regular players are very helpful and patient with her. She didn’t get any wins Tuesday night, but she has a few wins under her belt over the past few years and has aced quite a few points on serves off the boys.
Several months ago, we had a group out there and Corky (the ex-Tampa Jai-alai pro who is a regular there now) showed up and was impressed. “Great form! I like it” he said.
We wish her the best and look forward to her next appearance, but it won’t be as frequent unfortunately.
US National Jai-alai Championship August 30 and September 1st
Magic City jai-alai is hosting its annual US National Jai-alai Championship on August 30th and September 1st at its fronton located at the Magic City Casino in Miami. This is the Masters Event only.
Held over Labor Day weekend, the event will feature amateur singles and doubles prize money of $1,000 for first place and $500 for second place.
There are 32 entries open for singles play and 14 doubles teams. All matches are played to 6 points and finals played to 7 points. There will be a playback backet in Doubles only.
Entries must be received by May 24 and players will be notified if their entry has been approved by June 24th.
The pro tournament, called the World Super Court , will be held August 30th and September 1st.
We do know of a few of the teams that have entered that play at Puryear Park and those teams include:
Anthony (Ant) & Brody
Corky & Scott King
Rastock and Joe P
Adam & Douglas’s dad
Alex & Magic Mike
Chip & Matt
Last years winners included singles champion Anthony Sutton and doubles champion Rastock & Conrado.
In the professional singles, Goixerri won it and in doubles Goixerri again was a winner along with Aratz.
This year’s Super Court event looks even more promising
America’s best amateur court is gearing up for another big tournament next weekend – May 3-4th, with a possible date of Sunday May 5th if time runs out to complete everything by Saturday.
Another large turnout is expected, with several players from Florida also making the trip. The long-range weather forecast looks good – partly sunny with temperatures in the mid to upper 60s. It’s a nice time of the year – the dogwoods are blooming that week, and it should be nice up there.
May 1st will be their 14th anniversary, which is an amazing feat. Super congrats to Matt DiDomizio who put up everything he had to get the place open and it’s still going strong today.
Here are all the details you will want to know:
Players are welcome to play Thursday evening to practice.
Friday night is Singles play and will be set up like the Spectacular 9 Events in the past. There will be 12-14 games total, with 3 of them being championship games. The event starts at 6:30pm that night.
On Saturday, play starts at 9am. There is basically one division in the doubles and after first round play it will determine what division they end up in and there will be 5 or 6 rounds till the playoffs.
The cost is $20 to play on Friday and Saturday $40 as separate events, or $50 to play in both.
The event will be broadcast live on his Facebook page. There is no longer a website.
As of post time, only a portion of the teams had been set.
Jai-Alai Rated 7th Most Expensive Sport in the World
In an article recently published by Sports Brief, Jai-alai was rated the 7th most expensive sport in the world.
Yes, we know jai-alai is expensive. A “real” cesta can run over $500. A pelota cost must be well over $150 now to build, and needs recovering all the time. Helmets aren’t cheap either. And the cost to build a cancha alone, not counting the entire fronton, would easily cost well over $2 million now with an 8” thick front wall made from granite. Of course, we are not talking about Magic City jai-alai, but their court is not cheap either. Maintaining a roster of 20-30 players with salary, bonus money and health insurance can run hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.
According to the article “Some sports and games are deemed dangerous or delicate; hence the required equipment, training fees, and ticket prices are very costly. To some extent, society perceives the few who can afford these games as well-off or affluent. Discover below the most expensive sprots in the world, which often, only the rich play or attend.”
Big-game hunting
Equestrian
Golf
Hot Air ballon racing
Bobsledding
Formula One racing
Jai-alai
Polo
Ski jumping
Sailing
Lacrosse
Ice hockey
American Football
Fencing
Tennis
Water skiing
Jet skiing
Skydiving
Scuba diving
Baccarat
Under jai-alai, the story mentioned that jai-alai is played in Spain, France, the USA, Florida, and various Latin American countries. It also said the salaries for jai-alai players in the US range between $31k to $262k.
I’m not sure where they got that $262k from? I don’t believe it’s anyone’s business what others make, but I find it hard to believe any player is making anywhere close to that number. Unless they are counting the $100 in Monopoly money that Rastock makes winning every game he plays at Puryear Park nowadays. Or the money Douglas made his first season at Magic City, which was decent, but not that much!
The article also mentioned that the cesta did cost around $500 each, which is accurate.