OSU engineer going after handball doubles crown

By Kevin Hampton
Corvallis Gazette-Times

Mike Blair just finished six weeks of physical therapy to get his elbow back in shape.

Recovering from such an injury would have most 54-year-olds out of the running for any heavy physical activity for quite a while.

Blair will be back on the handball court today with his doubles partner Mike Hollander to take their shot at a national title in the United States Handball Association’s National Masters Doubles Championships at Timberhill Athletic Club. Matches run through Sunday.

Getting back on the court is what handball players do. Handball can be rough on the body and most of the athletes have the battle scars to prove it.

In addition to the elbow injury, Blair has had knee surgery and chronic neck problems for 20 years.

“I just play through the pain and a lot of handball players do that,” Blair said. “There’s a lot of diving and I’m nutty enough to still think I’m young. Sometimes it’s hard to get out of that mental mode.”

Blair, who is a civil engineer at Oregon State University, has been playing handball for about 35 years. He got his start when he took a handball class at the University of Oregon and had a group of friends there who also enjoyed playing.

Blair was attracted to the fact that it’s easy to understand but strenuous and can involve a high level of competitiveness. It was also easy to make friends through the sport.

“It’s just a fantastic game,” he said. “For such a simple game it requires a lot of skill. You have to have good hand-eye coordination and a lot of footwork.”

Blair moved to Alaska in 1975 and got away from the sport for a time until he wound up in Anchorage and discovered a strong handball community there.

By the time he returned to Oregon, Blair was going to competitions. He tried to build interest in the sport by teaching a class at OSU, but it didn’t take off.

“It’s kind of a cultish sport in a way,” he said. “There’s not all that many people that play it.”

He also met Hollander during that time.

Hollander, who now lives in Eugene, was raised in New York and was living in Crescent City, Calif., when he started playing in the 1980s.

“I met (Blair) at handball tournaments,” Hollander said. “We played each other in singles for 12 or 14 years so we know each other’s game inside and out.”

When he was younger, Blair played both singles and doubles at tournaments. He usually plays events in the Pacific Northwest, but he has ventured into California and other nearby states to compete.

He said he plays about eight to 10 tournaments a year now, most of them in Oregon, and the regionals every year he can. He teamed with Hollander to win the gold (over-50) title at the Pacific regional last year.

The teammates have won several regional doubles titles together.

Their familiarity with each other, communication skills and ability to mesh their styles helps them when they take the court.

“He’s a quick reflex kind of guy that pairs well with my game in the backcourt,” Hollander said.

Their shot selection is also different and they know when one is coming.

“We tend to leave those kinds of shots to the other guy,” Hollader said. “It’s non-verbal.”

Although Blair has competed in the nationals a few times, the first in Berkeley, Calif., in 1988, he has never competed with Hollander for a national title.

He said having the event in Corvallis could be a boon for the local handball community.

“It’s fantastic,” he said. “It’s quite an opportunity. Maybe we can rekindle the program at OSU again because we need young players.”