2006 GeezerJock of the Year wins inaugural Classic Professional Racquetball Tour
If you looked closely it was there: Ruben Gonzalez's graying mustache and Woody Clouse's ever-so-slightly receding hairline. Proof that the two guys playing fast-paced, acrobatic, hard-hitting racquetball to a cheering crowd at the U.S. Open Racquetball Championship in November were not young anymore.
But if you slipped into the stands at The Racquet Club in Memphis to watch their championship match and missed those subtle clues, you might have thought they were 10, or even 20, years younger. "The quality of play, the athletics in that match were phenomenal," said Steve Lerner, a friend of both players who also played in the tournament. "There was a lot of diving. Both showed great speed and power, something you don't really expect 40-something and 50-something athletes to do."
This was the first year that tournament organizers invited professional racquetball players in the 40+ age division such as Gonzalez and Clouse to play in the tournament, which is akin to the U.S. Open in tennis. The addition gave fans a chance to watch some legends of the game and marvel at their enduring stamina and skill.
Gonzalez and Clouse have made their living playing racquetball for decades, winning numerous titles; this year both are playing on the Classic Professional Racquetball Tour or CPRT, a series of eight tournaments for 40+ professional players that includes the U.S. Open. The match was a cliffhanger. The 56-year-old Gonzalez took the lead early on, beating Crouse 9-2 in the first game.
But Crouse, 42, quickly turned it his way in the second game, beating Gonzalez 9-2. The energy quickly changed back to Gonzalez, though, who beat Crouse 9-4 in the third game and was poised to beat him and win the title in the fourth (players must win three out of five games to win). As the two battled in front of hundreds of spectators, the score turned to 7-4 in Gonzalez's favor. He needed just one more point. But Crouse, author of "Winning Racquetball," considered the bible of the sport, wasn't ready to give up.
He called for a time-out so he could change his sweatdrenched shirt and quiet his mind. "I knew I had a lot more racquetball left in me to play," he said. "And I knew if I could hit a couple more good shots and get a little momentum anything could happen."
Unexpectedly, Crouse then hit several perfect ceiling balls, where the ball bounces off the ceiling, then the front wall and finally deep into the back corner of the court. Such shots are generally considered defensive moves, however, Gonzalez was unable to return the corner balls, unusual for a high-caliber player, and Crouse scored.
Eventually, he beat back five of Gonzalez's match points and won 8-7. That, however, was where his momentum ended. Gonzalez took the lead again in game five and never lost it, though it was not an easy win. The two players went back and forth again and again and the match lasted for more than 90 minutes, an unusually long time for racquetball.
In the end, Gonzalez won 9-5 and took home the title of U.S. Open Champion 40+ champion. "I'm 15 years older than most of these guys so for them to think I'm still a threat is a real thrill," said Gonzalez, who is the only grandfather in the 40+ professional division. "It's getting tougher to beat them but I guess the experience still kicks in."
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