The Kaua‘i Handball Association hosted its third annual handball tournament, Oct. 29-30, at the Kaua’i Athletic Club in Lihu’e. This is the third year of the Hana Hou Handball Makahiki. This follows the 20-plus years of the Kaua‘i Open Handball
The Kaua‘i Handball Association hosted its third annual handball tournament, Oct. 29-30, at the Kaua’i Athletic Club in Lihu’e.
This is the third year of the Hana Hou Handball Makahiki. This follows the 20-plus years of the Kaua‘i Open Handball hosted by Donn “Curly” Carswell of the Kaua‘i Athletic Club, according to a news release.
There were singles and doubles divisions in the levels of Open/A; B/C; 60s; 70s, Women’s; and White Ace. Over 60 players from the Mainland, mainly from Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, and Colorado came. Six players from Japan, including a husband and wife team of Masakazu and Yuko Uchida, played another family team from Denver, Colo., Dave and Donna Mosely with their son Nick provided some tough competition. Locally, Kaua‘i boasted of the father/son doubles team of Joseph and Mikal Moranz.
Notable returning players were Armand Mora of Sedona, Ariz.; Joe Cox of Seattle, Wash.; Jerry Travens of Thousand Oaks, Calif.; Ed Barberini of San Mateo, Calif.; Wayne Black of San Francisco, Calif. The Nuuanu YMCA fielded elite players like Mike Kincaid, Bill Carrington, and Travis Hoover. Rocky Johnson represented the Valley Isle. Top entrants from Kaua‘i included Daniel Higashi, Joey L. Moranz, Brian Davis, and teen phenomenon Mikal Moranz.
On Halloween evening, head chef Wayne Black who hails from the South End Rowing Club in San Francisco, assisted by Bogart Kealoha and Joe Moranz of the Kaua‘i Athletic Club commanded Curly’s “mother of all grilles” with Jerry Sanchez’ top sirloin beef steaks, Portuguese sausages, and organic chicken breasts. Kustom Sounds Kaua‘i provided the “canned music” from the “halcyon days of the sixties and seventies” from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the main pavilion at the Lydgate Park in Wailua. Nancy Erselius presented the awards of “No Ka Oi” Jackets with the Kaua‘i Handball Association’s handball petroglyph man to the winners. “No Ka Oi” means “the best” in Hawaiian or “ichi-ban” in Japanese.
The results of the 3rd Hana Hou Handball Makahiki:
70s Doubles (Round Robin): 1. Lea McMillan/Dave Kerrone 2. Vern Waligora/Don Stewart
60s Doubles: 1. Brian Davis/Mike Kincaid 2. Joe Cox/Phil Horton
60s Singles: 1. Joe Cox 2. Joel Crowley (Randy Rhodes forfeited to Cox due to injury. Jerry Travens was defeated by Crowley in the semi-finals.)
Women’s Singles White Ace: 1. S. Weaver 2. Donna Mosely 3. Yuko Uchida
Doubles White Ace: 1. Joe Moranz/Mikal Moranz 2. (tie) Yuko Uchida/Shigeru Nobeta and Robert Elliott/Daniel Chaffee
B/C Singles: 1. Mario Gonzalez 2. Clinton Alexander (Thomas Morefield was defeated by Gonzalez and Jerry Travens lost to Alexander in the semi-finals.) This match went into tie-breaker which ended in a very close 11-10 score!
B/C Doubles: 1. Fred Zeitelhack/Rory Moore 2. Takao Nagasawa/Yutaka Sakurai (Dave Mosely/Shelby Bridges lost to Zeitelhack/Moore and Mike Olson/Lou Mancini were defeated by Nagasawa/Sakurai in the semi-finals.)
Open/A Singles: 1. Armand Mora 2. Travis Hoover (Mike Linnik was defeated by Mora and Arthur Ward lost to Hoover in the semi-finals.) This year’s final match was a repeat match of last year’s semi-finals match in which Hoover won.
Open/A Doubles: 1. Augie Herrera/Roy Perez 2. Armand Mora/Randy Multack (Daniel Higashi/Joey L. Moranz lost to Mora/Multack and Travis Hoover/Bill Carrington were defeated by Herrera/Perez in the semi-finals.)
Due to time constraints and limited amount of courts, the usual drops to the C singles, C doubles, A singles, and A doubles were played for bragging rights and not recorded.
The public was invited to watch the tournament from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday. Kaua‘i Handball Association players meet at the Kaua‘i Athletic Club most Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings near the second glass court. Anyone interested in taking up handball can contact Mike Olson, Nancy Erselius, or Clay Hiramoto.
