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Hooverball gets 4th court, new location and exhibition games
by Kandi Baylor · Sports · July 30, 2008
This weekend marks the 21st annual Hooverball championships in West Branch since it was re-introduced in 1988.
One of the many highlights of the Hooverfest activities, this year’s event will take place in a new, more visible location. Previously held at the Beranek Park fields, the contest was out of the main stream events taking place traditionally at Hooverfest.
“After 20 years it has finally come of age and we decided it’s time we gave them their own courts,” said Becky Allgood, executive director of the Hoover Association.
This year’s competition will take place on the land adjacent to the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site in West Branch; west and north of the Hoover Presidential Library-Museum, behind the property at 312 West Main Street in West Branch. In addition to the new location, they have also added a fourth court.
This year’s championship game will be preceded by four exhibition matches between popular rivalries including the local Obama campaign committee vs. McCain campaign committee, KCRG-TV9 vs. KGAN-Channel 2, Iowa City Press-Citizen vs. the Gazette and Hawkeye fans vs. Cyclone fans. Chief meteorologist Joe Winters will emcee the ceremonies at the conclusion of the contest.
According to literature from the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library Association, Hooverball originated in 1928 when President Hoover adapted a popular naval ship game called “bull-in-the-ring” where a nine-pound medicine ball was thrown from one player to another forming a circle while the “bull” in the center tried to intercept it. After experimenting with different weighted medicine balls and heights of net, President Hoover invented his own version.
The sport was played by teams of two to four players with a six-pound medicine ball over a net eight feet high on a court similar to one used for tennis. The game was scored exactly like tennis, and played in similar fashion. The server throws the ball. The opponent must catch it on the fly and immediately return it, attempting to put the ball where it cannot be reached and returned. The side that misses the ball or throws it out of bounds, loses the point.
The sport continued without a name until New York Times Magazine reporter William Atherton DuPuy christened the game “Hoover-ball” for his 1931 article “At the White House at 7 a.m.” At that time it was the most popular sport at the White House, played by the president, Supreme Court justices, cabinet members and other high government officials.
When President Hoover left the White House in 1933, Hooverball vanished from the American sporting scene. Hoover-ball was history, and it remained that way for 55 years.
With renewed energy and increasing participation, the sport has gained popularity over the years during the annual Hooverfest activities.
Co-commissioners Steven Grace and Mike Quinlan expect 25 to 30 teams consisting of men and women to participate in the all-day event with games beginning at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 2.
The tournament will be a pool play round robin to seed the top 16 teams for the tournament. The winning team will be awarded the traveling trophy, a payout and championship T-shirts. Last year’s champions were ‘Money Shot” from the Cedar Rapids area.
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