# Explore

In: [Learn](https://handball.theperfectship.com/learn.md) > [History](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history.md) > Explore

Every entry in the History section, 619 in all, grouped by kind. On the web page you can filter them by code, country, decade, topic, kind and evidence.

## Rule lineage

How the rules themselves changed is traced in views that already exist on this site.

- [The rulebook family tree](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks.md): every edition on record and the earlier rules each one came from.
- [Compare the codes](https://handball.theperfectship.com/compare.md) for a year: [1889](https://handball.theperfectship.com/compare/1889.md), [1893](https://handball.theperfectship.com/compare/1893.md), [1903](https://handball.theperfectship.com/compare/1903.md), [1916](https://handball.theperfectship.com/compare/1916.md), [1920](https://handball.theperfectship.com/compare/1920.md), [1923](https://handball.theperfectship.com/compare/1923.md), [2021](https://handball.theperfectship.com/compare/2021.md), [2022](https://handball.theperfectship.com/compare/2022.md), [2025](https://handball.theperfectship.com/compare/2025.md), [2026](https://handball.theperfectship.com/compare/2026.md).
- [Terms as of a year](https://handball.theperfectship.com/terms/): [1873](https://handball.theperfectship.com/terms/?asof=1873), [1886](https://handball.theperfectship.com/terms/?asof=1886), [1889](https://handball.theperfectship.com/terms/?asof=1889), [1893](https://handball.theperfectship.com/terms/?asof=1893), [1900](https://handball.theperfectship.com/terms/?asof=1900), [1903](https://handball.theperfectship.com/terms/?asof=1903), [1907](https://handball.theperfectship.com/terms/?asof=1907), [1913](https://handball.theperfectship.com/terms/?asof=1913), [1915](https://handball.theperfectship.com/terms/?asof=1915), [1916](https://handball.theperfectship.com/terms/?asof=1916), [1920](https://handball.theperfectship.com/terms/?asof=1920), [1923](https://handball.theperfectship.com/terms/?asof=1923), [1928](https://handball.theperfectship.com/terms/?asof=1928), [1931](https://handball.theperfectship.com/terms/?asof=1931), [1990](https://handball.theperfectship.com/terms/?asof=1990), [1994](https://handball.theperfectship.com/terms/?asof=1994), [1999](https://handball.theperfectship.com/terms/?asof=1999), [2000](https://handball.theperfectship.com/terms/?asof=2000), [2001](https://handball.theperfectship.com/terms/?asof=2001), [2002](https://handball.theperfectship.com/terms/?asof=2002), [2004](https://handball.theperfectship.com/terms/?asof=2004), [2005](https://handball.theperfectship.com/terms/?asof=2005), [2006](https://handball.theperfectship.com/terms/?asof=2006), [2007](https://handball.theperfectship.com/terms/?asof=2007), [2008](https://handball.theperfectship.com/terms/?asof=2008), [2010](https://handball.theperfectship.com/terms/?asof=2010), [2012](https://handball.theperfectship.com/terms/?asof=2012), [2014](https://handball.theperfectship.com/terms/?asof=2014), [2015](https://handball.theperfectship.com/terms/?asof=2015), [2017](https://handball.theperfectship.com/terms/?asof=2017), [2019](https://handball.theperfectship.com/terms/?asof=2019), [2020](https://handball.theperfectship.com/terms/?asof=2020), [2021](https://handball.theperfectship.com/terms/?asof=2021), [2022](https://handball.theperfectship.com/terms/?asof=2022), [2024](https://handball.theperfectship.com/terms/?asof=2024), [2025](https://handball.theperfectship.com/terms/?asof=2025).
- [The handball graph](https://handball.theperfectship.com/graph/): the terms and the rules that connect them, edition by edition.
- Terms with a dated history: [Ace](https://handball.theperfectship.com/ace.md), [Appeal](https://handball.theperfectship.com/appeal.md), [Avoidable hinder](https://handball.theperfectship.com/avoidable-hinder.md), [Ceiling](https://handball.theperfectship.com/ceiling.md), [Change of serve (side-out)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/change-of-serve.md), [Court](https://handball.theperfectship.com/court.md), [Doubles](https://handball.theperfectship.com/doubles.md), [Draw & seeding](https://handball.theperfectship.com/draw.md), [Fault serve](https://handball.theperfectship.com/fault-serve.md), [Foot fault](https://handball.theperfectship.com/foot-fault.md), [Forfeit / default](https://handball.theperfectship.com/forfeit.md), [Front wall](https://handball.theperfectship.com/front-wall.md), [Game, match, tiebreaker](https://handball.theperfectship.com/game.md), [Gloves](https://handball.theperfectship.com/gloves.md), [Hand-out](https://handball.theperfectship.com/hand-out.md), [Hinder](https://handball.theperfectship.com/hinder.md), [Line judge](https://handball.theperfectship.com/line-judge.md), [Long line](https://handball.theperfectship.com/long-line.md), [Long serve](https://handball.theperfectship.com/long-serve.md), [Point](https://handball.theperfectship.com/point.md), [Rally](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rally.md), [Receiver](https://handball.theperfectship.com/receiver.md), [Referee](https://handball.theperfectship.com/match-referee.md), [Scorer](https://handball.theperfectship.com/scorer.md), [Serve](https://handball.theperfectship.com/serve.md), [Service line](https://handball.theperfectship.com/service-line.md), [Short line](https://handball.theperfectship.com/short-line.md), [Short serve](https://handball.theperfectship.com/short-serve.md).

## Facts (230)

- [A New-York Daily Tribune advertisement for the New York Clipper lists 'Hand Ball in Philadelphia' (10 April 1860); the Clipper's report itself is not seen](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1860#1860-clipper-hand-ball-philadelphia) (1860 · Four-wall)
- [Hand ball match announced for the Bowery Racket Court, 333 Bowery, New York, admission 25 cents](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1861#1861-bowery-racket-court-hand-ball-match) (1861 · Four-wall)
- [Chicago Fenian paper letter urges young Irishmen to form ball clubs including hand ball and hurly](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1867#1867-irish-republic-hand-ball-hurly) (1867 · Four-wall)
- [Announced Christmas Day hand ball game at Pendergast alley, South Street, Memphis (Ryan and Hackett v McGrin and McNamara)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1867#1867-memphis-pendergast-alley-game) (1867 · Four-wall)
- [New York Racket Club, Thirteenth Street: the Chicago Tribune says of the game of rackets that 'It is a modification of hand ball'; Gray v Foulkes rackets match](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1867#1867-racket-court-modification-of-hand-ball) (1867 · Four-wall)
- [Hand ball championship match for $1,000, Phil Casey and James Everett of Brooklyn v James O'Brien and William Foley of Chicago, first five games at Chicago on 19 June 1872](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1872#1872-chicago-brooklyn-championship) (1872 · Four-wall)
- [McQuade's Racket and Hand Ball Court, 404 Madison Street, New York, where a rackets match was played; the Herald called it, as a racket court, 'the only place of the kind now in the city, and in fact the only one of any importance in the country'](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1874#1874-mcquade-court-madison-street) (1874 · Four-wall)
- [Phil Casey tells the Herald how handball is played (21 aces, ace line about 30 ft from the front wall, three failed serves count out, ball 2 1/4 in) and lists the courts of Brooklyn, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago and Troy](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1875#1875-casey-interview-courts-and-game) (1875 · Four-wall)
- [New York handball and racket players elect a provisional committee (Metropolitan Committee) at McQuade's court to hold an international tournament and form a permanent national organization to supervise the game](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1876#1876-metropolitan-committee-national-organization) (1876 · Four-wall)
- [Courtney (New York) beats Burke (Philadelphia) in the closing series of a $100-a-side handball match, Madison Street, New York](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1880#1880-burke-courtney-match) (1880 · Four-wall)
- [Philip Casey, handball player and Alderman of Brooklyn's Tenth Ward, arrested on a charge of fraudulent voter registration](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1880#1880-casey-alderman-arrest) (1880 · Four-wall)
- [First Auckland handball court (Gleeson's hotel, Oct 1880) and an Oamaru court 60 x 27 ft (Shamrock Hotel, Nov 1880)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1880#1880-nz-first-handball-courts) (1880 · Four-wall, 60x30)
- [Chicago doubles stake match billed as the amateur championship of the United States (Cushing & Cullen v Mansfield & Malloy), Lynch's court](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1881#1881-chicago-amateur-championship-match) (1881 · Four-wall)
- [International hand ball match, Montreal, between a Chicago player and a second player, a draw](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1881#1881-montreal-international-draw) (1881 · Four-wall)
- [P. Hogan, a former champion of the south of Ireland, wins the Gleeson handball cup in Auckland from Sweeney](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1882#1882-hogan-wins-auckland-cup) (1882 · Four-wall, 60x30)
- [Invercargill fire destroys the handball court of the Hibernian Hotel](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1882#1882-invercargill-fire-hibernian-court) (1882 · 60x30)
- [Notice, not a report: a double-handed match 'will be played' on Thursday 13 Dec 1883 at Sweeny's Murray Hill court, 159 East 35th Street, New York, Alderman Phil Casey and ex-Alderman Jim Dunn of Brooklyn against Wm. Courtney and Frank Reynolds; no report of the match has been found](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1883#1883-casey-dunn-v-courtney-reynolds) (1883 · Four-wall)
- [McAuliffe of Timaru beats Hogan of Auckland, 25 a side, at Auckland (and a 40-a-side match on the Saturday)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1883#1883-mcauliffe-beats-hogan) (1883 · 60x30)
- [Patrick Regan, keeper of a hand ball and racquet court in Madison Street, New York, shot dead by a policeman on a Sunday night](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1883#1883-regan-handball-court-shooting) (1883 · Four-wall)
- [Four-handed match at Sweeny's court, 35th St: Casey and P. H. Smith (St Louis) v Dunne and Courtney (Brooklyn), best 3 of 5](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1884#1884-casey-smith-v-dunne-courtney-sweenys) (1884 · Four-wall)
- ['Championship match' Alderman James Dunne v Bernard McQuade, and exhibition Casey v Dunne, Sweeny's court; return match 16 Oct](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1884#1884-dunne-mcquade-championship) (1884 · Four-wall)
- [Phil Casey of Brooklyn beat Ed W. Carner of Cleveland 84-33 at hand ball in Cleveland](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1885#1885-casey-v-carner-cleveland) (1885 · Four-wall)
- [Casey, 'champion of the world', v James Smith, 'champion of St. Louis', and Michael Landy at Sweeny's court](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1885#1885-casey-v-smith-landy) (1885 · Four-wall)
- [Annual Thanksgiving Day championship matches at Sweeny's court, 35th St: Casey and Smith v Dunne and Courtney](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1885#1885-thanksgiving-championship-sweenys) (1885 · Four-wall)
- [Ex-Alderman Dunne v Sweeny's Spaniard 'for the championship of America', $200 a side, best 5 of 9 games of 21; the Spaniard won](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1886#1886-dunne-v-spaniard-championship) (1886 · Four-wall)
- [The Brooklyn Handball Club (president Phil Casey) has a new court in Degraw Street, Brooklyn: 65 ft long, 24 ft wide, front wall 35 ft high faced with white marble, back wall 12 ft, white-pine floor](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1887#1887-brooklyn-handball-club-court-degraw) (1887 · Four-wall)
- [Casey beat Lawlor in the first seven of the eleven New York games, winning the international match and the 'championship of the world', at the Brooklyn Handball Club court, Degraw Street](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1887#1887-casey-lawlor-brooklyn-finish) (1887 · Four-wall)
- [First ten games of the Casey v Lawlor international match, Grattan Street racquet court, Cork: Lawlor won six, Casey four (eight played on 4 Aug, interrupted by a gallery panic)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1887#1887-casey-lawlor-cork) (1887 · Four-wall, 60x30)
- [The Sun describes a 'regulation' handball court (c.40 ft high, 50-60 ft long, c.30 ft wide; a line across the court 25 ft from the front wall with 3-ft semicircles) and says handball 'has its own code of rules'](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1887#1887-sun-regulation-court-description) (1887 · Four-wall)
- [Casey's court is at 297 Degraw street, Brooklyn (the Brooklyn Handball Club court)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1888#1888-casey-court-297-degraw) (1888 · Four-wall)
- [Courtney v Lawlor, first seven of fifteen games for $100 at Casey's court, Brooklyn; Courtney won four of the seven](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1888#1888-courtney-v-lawlor-first-seven) (1888 · Four-wall)
- [J. A. Keenan, 'champion handball player of Australia', challenges Casey for the championship of the world](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1888#1888-keenan-challenges-casey) (1888 · 60x30)
- [The Brooklyn Handball Club holds a three-class tournament at its Degraw Street court, March-April 1889, with gold medals presented by the club](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1889#1889-brooklyn-hbc-tournament) (1889 · Four-wall)
- [Courtney, ill, forfeits the second part of the fifteen-game Courtney v Lawlor match at Casey's court](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1889#1889-courtney-forfeits-to-lawlor) (1889 · Four-wall)
- [The Sun prints 'the set rules of the game' of handball: 21 aces, ball about 2 in and 1 1/3 oz, ace line in the centre of the court, hand-out/ace scoring, hinders, a referee chosen by the players](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1889#1889-sun-set-rules) (1889 · Four-wall)
- [The Sun of 29 Nov 1890 notes that Phil Casey's Brooklyn court opened 'three years ago to-day', 29 Nov 1887, the night the first international match (Casey v. Lawlor of Dublin) was decided in it; the earlier games of the match had been played in Dublin on 6 Aug 1887](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1890#1890-casey-court-opened-1885) (1890 · Four-wall)
- [Casey, McQuade, Dunne and others sail 12 July 1890 for an Irish exhibition tour; return Aug-Sept](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1890#1890-casey-party-tours-ireland) (1890 · Four-wall, 60x30 · Sources disagree)
- [By 21 Nov 1890 Brooklyn courts play under the Sun's new service rule (serve only from the ace line); Casey endorses it](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1890#1890-new-service-rule-in-play) (1890 · Four-wall)
- [The Sun proposes ending hard serving: a front-wall line or service only from the ace line](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1890#1890-sun-proposes-ace-line-service) (1890 · Four-wall)
- [Brooklyn Handball Club resolves unanimously to play all games under the Sun's new rules; Murray Hill and South Brooklyn courts already adopted them](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1891#1891-brooklyn-handball-club-adopts-sun-rules) (1891 · Four-wall)
- [Lawlor (Ireland) v. Courtney with ten aces at the Brooklyn Handball Club court, 297 Degraw street](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1891#1891-lawlor-courtney-match-297-degraw) (1891 · Four-wall)
- [Brooklyn Handball Club reorganised in Casey's parlor: Major John Carmody president, Col. Thomas Meehan vice-president, Frank J. Prendergast secretary, Philip Casey treasurer; committee on the playing ball](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1892#1892-brooklyn-handball-club-reorganised) (1892 · Four-wall)
- [Sun reports a doubles game at the Brooklyn club with service 'done from the short line'](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1892#1892-short-line-service-brooklyn) (1892 · Four-wall)
- [Spalding's Dime Athletic Library announces 'Handball and How to Play It' by Maurice W. Deshong (contents listed)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1893#1893-deshong-book-announced) (1893 · Four-wall · Sources disagree)
- [John Egan's new handball court at 223 Mercer Street, Jersey City, opens with Phil Casey, Lawlor, Delaney, McQuade and others invited](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1893#1893-jersey-city-handball-court-opened) (1893 · Four-wall)
- [Phil Casey writes that there has been no rule in his court for five years except 'The Sun's rules', which govern all six courts near him; leading courts everywhere follow the Brooklyn Handball Club's rules](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1894#1894-casey-letter-suns-rules-govern-brooklyn-courts) (1894 · Four-wall)
- [Casey and ex-Alderman Dunne challenge Fitzgerald (Irish champion) and any other Irishman to a home-and-home doubles match: Brooklyn Dec/Jan, Tralee Jul/Aug](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1895#1895-casey-dunne-doubles-challenge-ireland) (1895 · Four-wall, 60x30)
- [The Sun of 20 Aug 1895 prints a proposal, apparently from a Cork paper (OCR damaged), for a conference of handball lovers 'throughout the world' to promote the game and draw up a code of rules; Alderman Dunne of Brooklyn would attend](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1895#1895-cork-conference-proposal) (1895 · Four-wall, 60x30)
- [A.A.U. Board creates an amateur handball championship on the Jersey City club's application and adopts The Sun's rules of competition](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1896#1896-aau-board-creates-handball-championship) (1896 · Four-wall)
- [The A.A.U. takes jurisdiction over amateur handball (reported 9 Nov 1896)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1896#1896-aau-jurisdiction-over-handball) (1896 · Four-wall)
- [Brooklyn Handball Club's ball and committee rules called the standard 'wherever the game is played'](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1896#1896-brooklyn-handball-club-rules-standard) (1896 · Four-wall)
- [Sun reports a handball convention planned at Cork for July 1896 to arrange uniform rules, at which 'THE SUN code used by the experts in America' would probably be adopted as the standard](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1896#1896-cork-convention-sun-code) (1896 · Four-wall, 60x30)
- [John Egan of the Jersey City Handball Club challenges James Dunne Jr. on behalf of his brother Mike Egan for the amateur championship of America](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1896#1896-egan-brothers-jersey-city) (1896 · Four-wall)
- [Sun: Irish champion James Fitzgerald of Tralee is a convert to the system of play laid down in THE SUN's rules](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1896#1896-fitzgerald-convert-to-suns-rules) (1896 · Four-wall, 60x30)
- [Jersey City Handball Club credited with bringing handball into the A.A.U.; committee fixes 7 January](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1896#1896-jersey-city-club-brings-handball-to-the-aau) (1896 · Four-wall)
- [Carney retains the 'handball championship of the world' against Fireman Louis Keegan, Chicago](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1897#1897-carney-defends-against-keegan) (1897 · Four-wall)
- [William Carney (Chicago, of Swineford, Mayo) beats James Fitzgerald (Tralee) for the 'world's championship' at Phil Casey's court, Brooklyn](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1897#1897-carney-fitzgerald-world-championship) (1897 · Four-wall)
- [Death of John C. Carmody, 'the Major', President of the Brooklyn Handball Club](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1897#1897-death-of-john-carmody) (1897 · Four-wall)
- [First A.A.U. national amateur handball championship, Jersey City; Michael J. Egan wins](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1897#1897-first-aau-handball-championship) (1897 · Four-wall · Sources disagree)
- [Irish and American courts differ: open space at the back of the Irish court, solid back wall under American rules](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1897#1897-irish-court-open-back) (1897 · Four-wall, 60x30)
- [Second annual A.A.U. handball championship, Jersey City and Brooklyn clubs; Mike Egan retains the title after losing to Dr. Tommy Gillen in Brooklyn](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1898#1898-aau-second-championship) (1898 · Four-wall · Sources disagree)
- [Houston Daily Post prints a 23-rule handball code (ace-line service, foot allowed, referee chosen by the players)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1898#1898-houston-post-prints-handball-rules) (1898 · Four-wall)
- [James Fitzgerald of Brooklyn, backed by Alderman Dunne for $1,000, challenges Mike Egan, former three-year amateur champion turned professional](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1899#1899-fitzgerald-challenges-egan) (1899 · Four-wall)
- [Phil Casey, 'ex-champion handball player of the world', challenges anyone at 'hand tennis'](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1900#1900-casey-hand-tennis) (1900 · Four-wall)
- [P. J. Corby (from Tralee) and Ed. Lawlor beat Mike Egan and P. J. Scott 3-2 at the Greenpoint court](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1900#1900-corby-lawlor-beat-egan-scott) (1900 · Four-wall)
- [Mike Egan to give Dr. Gillen of Brooklyn ten aces in two series of eleven games](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1900#1900-egan-gillen-series) (1900 · Four-wall)
- [James Fitzgerald (Irish champion) and Louis Keegan beat William Carney ('champion of the world') and Captain Ward, 3 games of 5, at Chicago](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1900#1900-fitzgerald-beats-carney-chicago) (1900 · Four-wall)
- [Mike Egan of Jersey City challenges Jim Fitzgerald (Denver/San Francisco; 'Irish champion') for $1,000 a side; both claim the championship; no match reported by Dec 1901](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1901#1901-egan-fitzgerald-challenge) (1901 · Four-wall)
- [Basque pelota (vasco pelota) introduced at the Olympic Club, San Francisco; court 20x35 feet... walls 30 feet high (OCR figures uncertain)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1901#1901-vasco-pelota-olympic-club-new-york) (1901 · Four-wall)
- [Oliver Drew (Ireland) beat Mike Egan 4 games to 3 at Jersey City, first of a planned best-of-15 series 'for the championship of the world', $250 a side](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1902#1902-drew-beats-egan-series-1) (1902 · Four-wall)
- [The Sun prints (28 May 1902) that Drew's letter says the second Egan-Drew series is 'postponed indefinitely' and adds that Egan has not lived up to his conditions; the Jersey City News answers that it has not been postponed; later Egan beats Drew in doubles (5 Oct)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1902#1902-drew-egan-controversy) (1902 · Four-wall)
- [May 1902 Egan–Drew conditions: 21 aces, service from anywhere inside a short line (not a centre space), 'alley cracker' ball, each player may use his own ball](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1902#1902-egan-drew-conditions) (1902 · Four-wall)
- [New Jersey Handball Club organized at Tarrant's court, 17th St near Grove St, Jersey City: Foley president, Drew financial secretary](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1902#1902-new-jersey-handball-club-organized) (1902 · Four-wall)
- [Press (Worcester Spy, wire): Phil Casey held the world's handball championship for 30 years until he resigned it seven years earlier](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1903#1903-casey-held-title-30-years-resigned-1896) (1903 · Four-wall)
- [Mike Egan beat Louis Keegan of Chicago 8 games to 1 (seven straight in the first half, said by the 12 Apr wire to have been played recently at Jersey City, then 1-1 at Chicago on 12 Apr), $200 a side, billed the handball championship of the United States; a San Antonio paper of 21 Mar only announced that the series would begin that night](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1903#1903-egan-beats-keegan-national-championship) (1903 · Four-wall)
- [Egan beat Timothy Twohill of Kanturk 7-0 at Jersey City (23 Jun) in the first half of a best-of-15 'international' match for the world championship, $1,500; second half in Ireland 12 July; Phil Casey referee, Dr. A. M. Gillen scorer](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1903#1903-egan-beats-twohill-international) (1903 · Four-wall)
- [Oliver Drew and Mike Egan matched again for the world's championship, $250 a side, best of 15, seven games at Egan's court on 17 Mar and the rest at Tarrant's court on 20 Mar; later postponed to April](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1904#1904-drew-egan-matched-then-postponed) (1904 · Four-wall)
- [Mike Egan beat James Fitzgerald at the Olympic Club, San Francisco, 6 games to 1 on 27 Mar and 2 of 3 on 3 Apr (8 of 15 needed), billed the handball championship of the world; gate nearly $800](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1904#1904-egan-beats-fitzgerald-world-championship) (1904 · Four-wall)
- [Salt Lake Tribune (SF dispatch): Michael J. Egan, born County Galway 1878, came to America at 17, joined his brother John (owner of a Jersey City handball court), won the 1897 amateur championship of the United States](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1904#1904-egan-biography-galway-brother-john) (1904 · Four-wall)
- [Syndicated press notices say Mike Egan, 'the world's champion', has written / just published a handball book, called 'The Official Handball Guide'](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1904#1904-egan-book-notice) (1904 · Four-wall)
- [Phil Casey, for 25 years handball champion of the world, died at his Brooklyn home on 12 July 1904, aged 56](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1904#1904-phil-casey-dies) (1904 · Four-wall)
- [Oliver Drew beat Francisco Y. Ordoizoiti (France and Spain) at Tarrant's court, Jersey City, for the 'international handball championship' (begun 12 Jan, won 27 Jan); straight handball against the French game of 'reves'](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1905#1905-drew-beats-ordoizoiti-international) (1905 · Four-wall)
- [Mike Egan, 'the world's champion', in early tuberculosis; Olympic Club directors gave him a purse; benefit handball games at the Olympic Club (Dunne Jr. and Hampton v. Fitzgerald and Cory) on 19 Mar](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1905#1905-egan-tuberculosis-benefit-games) (1905 · Four-wall)
- [Lewis and Clark Exposition, Portland: amateur handball tournament 'for the championship of the Pacific coast' in hard-ball and soft-ball events; Louis Levy (Olympic Club, San Francisco) won the singles](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1905#1905-lewis-clark-exposition-handball) (1905 · Four-wall)
- [Spalding Athletic Library list: 'No. 13 - How to Play Hand Ball. By the world's champion, Michael Egan of Jersey City. This book has been rewritten and brought up to date in every particular'](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1905#1905-spalding-no13-advertisement) (1905 · Four-wall)
- [Dispute over the Yale handball champion (Moore 11-1 v. DeForest 10-1) submitted to 'the handball expert of the American Amateur Athletic union'](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1905#1905-yale-handball-dispute-sent-to-aau-expert) (1905 · Four-wall)
- [Chicago's Charles Schuttler and Thomas Lee beat Oliver Drew ('the national champion') and John Egan, and Daniel Shea, in the opening tournament of the new Cincinnati gymnasium courts, called 'the greatest handball tournament ever held in this country'](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1906#1906-cincinnati-gymnasium-handball-tournament) (1906 · Four-wall)
- [Press notice: a 'coming match' between Brooklyn's P. J. Corby and 'Champion Mike Egan' (no report found)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1906#1906-corby-egan-match-announced) (1906 · Four-wall)
- [Oliver Drew, 'fast coming to be recognized as the champion handball player of the world', beat John Howes and Jack Flaherty 2 games to 1 at Tarrant's court; James Dunne Jr., who had twice beaten Drew, beat P. J. Corby at the Brooklyn court](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1906#1906-drew-howes-flaherty-dunne-jr-corby) (1906 · Four-wall)
- [James Dunne, Superintendent of Sewers in Brooklyn, and his son James Dunne Jr. sail for Europe to play handball in Ireland and unveil a Cork monument](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1906#1906-dunne-father-and-son-sail-for-ireland) (1906 · Four-wall)
- [Rock Island Argus quotes the history section of 'Spaulding's athletic guide on the game': handball 'unquestionably of Celtic origin', earliest mention in Ireland 1,879 years before the Christian era](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1906#1906-rock-island-quotes-spalding-handball-guide-history) (1906 · Four-wall)
- [Oliver Drew, 'world's champion', engaged as handball instructor by the Illinois Athletic Club, Chicago](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1907#1907-drew-hired-by-illinois-athletic-club) (1907 · Four-wall)
- [John Etchebarren (champion of Nevada) beat Andrew Ripa (champion of California) at the Ballarena and Savoy Hotel court, Elko, Nevada, in a match for $1000 a side billed the championship of two states](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1907#1907-etchebarren-beats-ripa-elko) (1907 · Four-wall)
- [The Hawaiian Star prints seven 'new rules for hand ball' adopted on the Honolulu Y.M.C.A. courts: hand-out, ace/service line, hindrance, eleven-point games](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1907#1907-honolulu-ymca-handball-rules-printed) (1907 · Four-wall)
- [Martin J. Carney (County Mayo, late of Philadelphia, now of Chicago) beat Oliver Drew, 'the handball champion of the world', at Chambers' court, Chicago, and claimed the title](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1908#1908-carney-beats-drew-chicago) (1908 · Four-wall)
- [Brooklyn real-estate report: 'a three story brick building and handball court, known as Casey's Ball Court', on Degraw St, sold to John Muldoon](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1908#1908-caseys-ball-court-sold) (1908 · Four-wall)
- [Honolulu Y.M.C.A. handball tournament 'for the championship of the Territory' begins 5 March, fifteen-point games](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1908#1908-hawaii-ymca-territorial-handball-tournament) (1908 · Four-wall)
- [Michael McGurn, 'prominent for twenty years in handball circles', died at Chicago after an illness of five weeks](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1908#1908-michael-mcgurn-dies-chicago) (1908 · Four-wall)
- [John J. Bowles (Limerick) and James Kelly (Brooklyn) play for the 'International Handball Championship of the World': best of 15 games of 21 aces, seven at Limerick (5-11 July) and the rest at Brooklyn in September; Bowles outclassed Kelly in the first half at Limerick on 11 July](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1909#1909-bowles-kelly-international-series) (1909 · Four-wall)
- [Obituary of Edward J. Sweeney: his father and he established the handball and racquet court in 34th St, opposite the old police station, where Phil Casey and Jim Dunn had many matches](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1909#1909-sweeney-court-recalled-casey-dunn) (1909 · Four-wall)
- [Washington Y.M.C.A. handball described as 'a newly developed sport'; its team played Baltimore in March and meets the Oriole Association on 10 April](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1909#1909-washington-ymca-first-handball-team) (1909 · Four-wall)
- [San Francisco Call: the 'old Irish game' of handball is 'fast coming back', with Sunday games on McHugh's court, Twenty-fifth and Bryant streets, Mission district](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1912#1912-mission-district-handball-mchughs-court) (1912 · Four-wall)
- [Olympic Club, San Francisco, starts its annual doubles handball championship on 'the new courts' on 22 September, two classes](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1912#1912-olympic-club-new-handball-courts) (1912 · Four-wall)
- [Patrick J. Flanagan of Meriden, Conn., Gaelic athlete and state champion handball player, dies](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1912#1912-patrick-flanagan-dies-meriden) (1912 · Four-wall)
- [Newark Evening Star gives the A.A.U. handball diameter as 1 5-8 inches and names Michael J. Egan 'the champion'](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1913#1913-newark-aau-ball-size-egan-champion) (1913 · Four-wall)
- [Condon and Lydon defend the Olympic Club's coast doubles handball title (Hampton trophy), San Francisco](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1913#1913-olympic-club-coast-doubles-title) (1913 · Four-wall)
- [A 'Panama-Pacific handball championship' is listed among the planned 1915 exposition championships, open to the world](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1913#1913-ppie-handball-championship-planned) (1913 · Four-wall)
- [G.A.A. congress instructs county committees to start a handball championship in each county (reprinted in Chicago)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1914#1914-gaa-congress-county-handball-championships) (1914 · 60x30)
- [An Intercollegiate Handball Association is planned at Yale's initiative; Princeton, Columbia and Wesleyan promise to join](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1914#1914-intercollegiate-handball-association-planned) (1914 · Four-wall)
- [Newark's Owens Association beats Jersey City's Lynch Association team in a New Jersey state handball championship match](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1914#1914-owens-beats-jersey-city-state-championship) (1914 · Four-wall)
- [Yale's handball team plays the Whitehall Club, New York, and is beaten](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1914#1914-yale-beaten-by-whitehall-club) (1914 · Four-wall)
- [Yale v. Princeton, 'the first intercollegiate handball series in recent years', announced for the Crescent A. C., Brooklyn](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1914#1914-yale-princeton-intercollegiate-handball-announced) (1914 · Four-wall)
- [Yale, Princeton and Rutgers enrolled in a forming intercollegiate handball league; Columbia invited](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1915#1915-intercollegiate-handball-league-forming) (1915 · Four-wall)
- [James Dunne, 'amateur champion of the world at handball' by the Tribune's obituary and founder of the Brooklyn Handball Club, dies in Brooklyn aged 73](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1915#1915-james-dunne-dies) (1915 · Four-wall)
- [Exposition handball tournament, San Francisco: Irish champion Gus Cole loses to Joe Ullius](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1915#1915-ppie-handball-tournament) (1915 · Four-wall)
- [Open handicap handball tournament at the Van Kelton field, finals Thanksgiving afternoon](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1915#1915-van-kelton-handicap-tournament) (1915 · Four-wall)
- [Outdoor single-wall handball tournament match with gloves, Van Kelton Field next to the West Side Y.M.C.A., New York: Staddleberger beat Verstraten](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1915#1915-westside-single-wall-match) (1915 · One-wall)
- [Columbia beats Princeton, all seven matches, at Princeton in the Intercollegiate Handball League; Princeton's courts have a back wall](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1916#1916-columbia-beats-princeton-league) (1916 · Four-wall)
- [Columbia beats Yale 7-0 in the opening Intercollegiate Handball League match on Columbia's single-wall court; the Tribune headlines 'One-wall court handicaps Yale'](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1916#1916-columbia-yale-one-wall-court) (1916 · Four-wall, One-wall)
- [Yale's Lambert Prettyman invites Columbia into an intercollegiate handball league 'now being formed'](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1916#1916-intercollegiate-handball-league-formed) (1916 · Four-wall)
- [The new Y.M.C.A. building at New London, Conn., has a one-wall court on the street floor (and a five-wall court in the basement), as printed in the Norwich Bulletin](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1916#1916-norwich-ymca-one-wall-court) (1916 · One-wall)
- [Handball adopted as a Public Schools Athletic League sport, classed among championships](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1916#1916-psal-adopts-handball) (1916 · Four-wall)
- [4,000 New York elementary schoolboys enter a handball tournament, 'the famous Irish game'](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1916#1916-psal-schoolboy-handball-tournament) (1916 · Four-wall)
- [The Sun answers a reader: American handball court, 26-ft side lines, 20-ft front lines, 13 ft from service line to board; hinder defined; not Irish four-wall](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1916#1916-sun-american-handball-court-answer) (1916 · Four-wall)
- [Detroit Athletic Club hosts intercity singles and doubles handball championships (Detroit, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Buffalo); balls differ in weight and speed between cities](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1917#1917-detroit-intercity-handball-championships) (1917 · Four-wall)
- [Columbia wins the Intercollegiate handball championship at the Crescent Athletic Club; Prettyman of Yale takes the singles](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1917#1917-intercollegiate-handball-championship-crescent-ac) (1917 · Four-wall)
- [Rex Beach plays 'snowbird handball' on the New York Athletic Club roof; first roof tournament, sky for a ceiling, back wall](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1917#1917-nyac-roof-handball) (1917 · Four-wall)
- [A.A.U. annual meeting awards the national hand ball championship to the Los Angeles A. C.; next annual meeting to be held in Boston](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1918#1918-aau-awards-1919-handball-nationals-los-angeles) (1918 · Four-wall)
- ['National handball tournament and dance' for the Sun's Tobacco Fund, 71st Regiment Armory, New York, run by the Friars Club and the Lone Star Boat Club](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1918#1918-national-handball-tournament-71st-armory) (1918 · Four-wall)
- [A.A.U. national singles and doubles handball championship at the Los Angeles A.C., 21-27 April 1919; Ranft beat Lacey 21-13, 21-11](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1919#1919-aau-national-los-angeles) (1919 · Four-wall · Sources disagree)
- [A.A.U. legislation committee submits an entirely new set of handball rules to the Boston annual convention of 16-17 Nov 1919](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1919#1919-aau-proposed-new-handball-rules) (1919 · Four-wall)
- [National handball championships at the Detroit Athletic Club: Sackman (New York) singles; Micus and Maurer (Detroit) doubles beat Sackman and Groden 21-18, 21-20](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1919#1919-detroit-national-handball) (1919 · Four-wall)
- [First Metropolitan Association handball championship tournament, Annunciation A.C. courts, begins 4 Jan 1920, forty entrants](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1919#1919-metropolitan-handball-championship-announced) (1919 · Four-wall)
- [A.A.U. convention (16 Nov 1920) awards the 1921 national handball championships: junior to the New York A.C., senior to the Detroit Y.M.C.A.](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1920#1920-aau-convention-awards-1921-nationals) (1920 · Four-wall)
- [A.A.U. national handball championships at the Los Angeles Athletic Club: Max Gold beat George Klawitter in the singles final; holder Bill Ranft lost in the semi-final](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1920#1920-aau-nationals-los-angeles-gold) (1920 · Four-wall)
- [A.A.U. warns its associations off the Detroit A.C.'s unsanctioned 'junior national championship' handball tournament; Carl Haedge beat William Sackman in the Detroit national invitational singles final (9 Apr)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1920#1920-aau-warns-detroit-ac-unsanctioned-junior-national) (1920 · Four-wall)
- [First Metropolitan Association A.A.U. handball championship, Annunciation A.C., New York: 'amateur handball came in for official recognition for the first time on the A.A.U. curriculum'; Cyril Regan beat Dan Shea in the singles final](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1920#1920-first-metropolitan-aau-handball-championship) (1920 · Four-wall)
- [An Irish Times article of 2025 says handball was not in the GAA's first constitution and became an official part of its activities in the 1920s, when national championships gave it structure; GAA Handball's own page says it was included from 1884](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1920#1920-gaa-handball-official-activity-1920s) (1920 · 60x30 · Sources disagree)
- [Jim Kelly and Pete Burke (of Casey's old Degraw St. court) are to play a leather-ball exhibition; the Van Kelton Stadium (57th St. and 8th Ave.) open singles handicap championship, in a Herald item, lists Kelly as 'world's champion'](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1920#1920-kelly-burke-leather-handball-and-van-kelton-handicap) (1920 · Four-wall)
- [A.A.U. national handball championships at Detroit: Dr Carl Haedge (St. Paul) retained the senior singles title over William Sackman, 14-21, 21-16, 21-12](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1921#1921-aau-nationals-detroit-haedge) (1921 · Four-wall)
- [A.A.U. outdoor handball tournaments on the Brighton Beach Baths' seaside courts, July-October 1921 (first major tournament 23 July; second from 11 September, finals 25 September; Sakman winner of singles and doubles in the first)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1921#1921-brighton-beach-aau-outdoor-tournaments) (1921 · Four-wall)
- [Tribune: the Brighton Beach Baths (Coney Island) has constructed twelve 'regulation' handball courts, to be opened free to the public; 'American handball' to be revived on a pretentious scale; July tournament planned](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1921#1921-brighton-beach-baths-twelve-courts) (1921 · Four-wall)
- [Metropolitan Association A.A.U. handball championship at the Van Kelton Stadium courts (57th St. and 8th Ave.): Jack Byrne (West Side Y.M.C.A.) beat William Sakman in five games on 11 December](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1921#1921-metropolitan-aau-championship-van-kelton-byrne) (1921 · Four-wall)
- [Central A.A.U. (Milwaukee, Dec 1921): Milwaukee Athletic Club awarded the national handball championships (held March 1922)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1921#1921-milwaukee-ac-awarded-1922-nationals) (1921 · Four-wall)
- [A.A.U. national convention (19-21 Nov 1922): amendments sought included 'numerous minor changes' to handball rules; 1923 national handball championships awarded to St. Paul (senior) and Pittsburgh (junior)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1922#1922-aau-convention-handball-rules-on-agenda) (1922 · Four-wall)
- [A.A.U. national handball championships at the Milwaukee Athletic Club: Art Schinner beat William Sakman for the singles; Gold and Laswell (Los Angeles) won the senior doubles; format reported as four-wall (preview) and one-wall (year review)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1922#1922-aau-nationals-milwaukee) (1922 · Four-wall, One-wall · Sources disagree)
- [A.A.U. tournaments on the 'new courts' of the Brighton Beach Baths, Coney Island, May-September 1922 (singles/doubles, New York v. Boston intercity match 29 July, invitation tournament at Manhattan Beach Baths); Murray Vernon the leading player](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1922#1922-brighton-beach-baths-new-courts-aau-tournaments) (1922 · Four-wall)
- [Evening World feature: handball played on roofs, basements, clubs, colleges and streets; Kelton's five public courts near Columbus Circle up 300% in a year; 'Nine years ago the sport was little known in New York'](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1922#1922-evening-world-handball-boom-feature) (1922 · Four-wall, One-wall)
- [First New York State doubles one-wall handball championship at the Crescent Athletic Club, Brooklyn: 42 teams; won by Robert Powers Jr. and William F. Wigmore](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1922#1922-first-ny-state-one-wall-doubles) (1922 · One-wall)
- [Joe Heaney and Bill Bryan, Brooklyn doubles claimants of the world title, likely American team to the Irish games in Dublin; they 'defeated all comers at Casey's alley, Brooklyn'](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1922#1922-heaney-bryan-irish-games-casey-alley) (1922 · Four-wall, 60x30)
- [A.A.U. handball committee ordered the Metropolitan four-wall final (Shea v. Sakman) replayed; Sakman retained the title on 10 December, 3 games to 1](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1922#1922-metropolitan-four-wall-final-replay) (1922 · Four-wall)
- [Metropolitan Association A.A.U. singles one-wall championship at the Van Kelton Handball Club courts (58th St. and 8th Ave.): Jack Byrnes (West Side Y.M.C.A.) beat Robert Powers 21-12, 21-14, 21-12](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1922#1922-metropolitan-one-wall-singles-van-kelton) (1922 · One-wall)
- [Tribune annual review: with more than fifty new courts in the New York district the 'present set of rules is to be revised and added to by the National A. A. U. committee on handball'](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1922#1922-tribune-aau-handball-rules-to-be-revised) (1922 · Four-wall)
- [Wheeling Intelligencer serialises 'Hand Ball Rules' (rules 1-14 on 17 May, 15 onward on 18 May) matching the A.A.U. 1920/21 four-wall text, including 'covered ball'; possible newspaper edition](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1922#1922-wheeling-intelligencer-prints-aau-hand-ball-rules) (1922 · Four-wall)
- [A.A.U. awards its 1924 national handball championships: four-wall senior at Los Angeles, four-wall junior at Pittsburgh, one-wall at New York, hard-ball at Brooklyn (convention at Detroit closed 20 Nov 1923)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1923#1923-aau-1924-nationals-fourwall-onewall-hardball) (1923 · Four-wall, One-wall, 60x30)
- [A.A.U. national handball championships at the St. Paul Athletic Club: Joe 'Red' Murray (Olympic Club, San Francisco) beat Maynard Laswell for the singles; holder Art Schinner eliminated; scores reported two ways](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1923#1923-aau-nationals-st-paul-murray) (1923 · Four-wall · Sources disagree)
- [Detroit Athletic Club renews the national invitation handball tournament, the first since 1919](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1923#1923-detroit-national-invitation-handball-renewed) (1923 · Four-wall)
- [Syndicated column quotes 'the new rules for handball': standard court four walls approximately 24 by 48 feet, ceilings 25 feet at the front wall (the revised A.A.U. text; the 1920/21 text said 24 by 50)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1923#1923-new-handball-rules-court-24-by-48) (1923 · Four-wall)
- [A.A.U. four-wall national champions 1924-1927 in Spalding's 1928 guide: Maynard Laswell three years running, then George Nelson; two doubles teams trade the title](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1924#1924-aau-four-wall-nationals-1924-1927) (1924 · Four-wall)
- [Irish handball gets a national governing body in 1924: the Irish Amateur Handball Association in one account, the Irish Handball Council in another](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1924#1924-irish-handball-body-set-up) (1924 · 60x30)
- [Tailteann Games 1924 include handball: a visiting American trio wins the invitational events in hardball and softball, and the Irish body affiliates internationally](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1924#1924-tailteann-games-handball) (1924 · 60x30)
- [The GAA Handball rolls of honour for the All-Ireland senior hardball and softball championships both open in 1925, two years after the GAA page's date for its first championships](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1925#1925-all-ireland-hardball-and-softball-rolls-open) (1925 · 60x30 · Sources disagree)
- [A table in a 1946 handbook lists national Y.M.C.A. four-wall soft-ball handball tournament winners from 1925 on](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1925#1925-ymca-national-four-wall-tournament-list-begins) (1925 · Four-wall)
- [A.A.U. annual meeting adopts a revised set of one-wall rules on 20 November 1927; the short line moves to 14 ft from the wall (15 ft by the 1931 text)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1927#1927-aau-one-wall-rules-adopted-nov-20) (1927 · One-wall)
- [Spalding's 1928 guide prints the A.A.U. four-wall court as 22 x 46 x 22 ft, down from 24 x 48 ft in the 1923 text](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1928#1928-aau-four-wall-court-22-by-46) (1928 · Four-wall)
- [Spalding's Official Handball Guide for 1928 combines Ripley's guide with Brokaw's 'How to Play American Hand Ball' and prints the A.A.U. four-wall and one-wall rules and the Irish rules](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1928#1928-spalding-handball-guide-ripley-brokaw) (1928 · Four-wall, One-wall, 60x30)
- [At the March 1929 national championship in New York the players vote that a player must give an opponent a clear unobstructed chance at the ball; standing still after a shot to block the view is ruled out](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1929#1929-aau-nationals-new-york-clear-play-vote) (1929 · Four-wall)
- [Exhibition matches with Spanish players are listed for 1929 on the GAA Handball history page (the page does not say where)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1929#1929-spanish-players-exhibition-in-ireland) (1929 · 60x30)
- [The USHA champions page puts the 1930s A.A.U. four-wall nationals, over ten years, in eight cities (St. Louis, Minneapolis, New York twice, Chicago twice, Washington, Los Angeles, Memphis and San Francisco); its venue column names no source](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1930#1930-aau-nationals-travel-ten-cities) (1930 · Four-wall)
- [The A.A.U. prints separate hard-ball rules in 1931 for a four-wall court about 65 ft long and 25 ft wide with a 12 ft back wall, a length and back wall like those of Casey's old Brooklyn court (his was 24 ft wide with a 35 ft front wall)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1931#1931-aau-hard-ball-rules-65-by-25) (1931 · Four-wall)
- [O'Connell's 1931 book describes four-wall and one-wall partisans arguing which game is more scientific or more strenuous, and notes champions in both codes](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1931#1931-four-wall-or-one-wall-partisans) (1931 · Four-wall, One-wall)
- [Charles J. O'Connell's 'How to Play Handball' (Spalding, 1931) prints the A.A.U. four-wall, one-wall and hard-ball rules; the USHA later calls it the first printed book of handball rules and dates it 1930](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1931#1931-oconnell-how-to-play-handball) (1931 · Four-wall, One-wall · Sources disagree)
- [Irish handball players tour Liverpool in 1932](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1932#1932-irish-handball-tour-to-liverpool) (1932 · 60x30)
- [The Irish-American Handball Association's yearly four-wall tournaments begin in 1934 at Broderick's Court in the Bronx, a 25 x 46 ft court that still stands as built in 1972](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1934#1934-irish-american-handball-association-broderick-court) (1934 · Four-wall)
- [Joe Platak wins the A.A.U. four-wall national singles title seven years running, 1935-1941, across cities from Washington to San Francisco](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1935#1935-platak-first-of-seven-straight-aau-singles) (1935 · Four-wall)
- [The semi-professional Irish Handball Union holds national and world championships until 1936, in competition with the amateur body set up in 1924](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1936#1936-irish-handball-union-last-championships) (1936 · 60x30)
- [Wartime rubber scarcity stops Irish softball play and the hardball game comes back into its own](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1939#1939-ww2-halts-irish-softball) (1939 · 60x30)
- [The Y.M.C.A.'s national physical education committee issues its Official Handball Rules revised on 15 February 1940, with 17 changes](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1940#1940-ymca-handball-rules-revised-feb-15) (1940 · Four-wall)
- [A Calcutta Y.M.C.A. rule book of 1943-44 prints the A.A.U. one-wall rules: a 20 x 34 ft court, 16 ft wall, Spalding No. 131 ball, 21-point game](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1943#1943-buck-prints-aau-one-wall-rules-in-calcutta) (1943 · One-wall)
- [A glass-enclosed handball court at the Town Club of Chicago hosts the A.A.U. nationals from 21 April 1945; the USHA later credits its president Bob Kendler with inventing the glass court](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1945#1945-glass-court-chicago-town-club) (1945 · Four-wall)
- [The Converse Rubber Company's 1946 Handball Handbook (15 cents) prints the game's history, rules and tables of A.A.U. singles champions 1919-1946 and Y.M.C.A. winners 1925-1946](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1946#1946-converse-handball-handbook) (1946 · Four-wall)
- [Irish champion Gilmartin, who broke his neck in a motor accident in England during the war, wins a national title again in 1946](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1946#1946-gilmartin-wins-national-title-after-neck-injury) (1946 · 60x30)
- [Irish handball grows strongly in the 1950s and 1960s: provincial councils are revived (1950-66), schools and local competitions multiply, and the first American-style court follows in 1969](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1950#1950-irish-handball-boom-and-provincial-councils) (1950 · Four-wall)
- [A group of leading handball players and administrators forms a Players' Fraternity in 1950 under Bob Kendler: the USHA's own texts date its start 1950 or 1951](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1950#1950-usha-players-fraternity-formed) (1950 · Four-wall, Three-wall · Sources disagree)
- [The USHA says its first Collegiate National Championships were held at Evanston, Illinois, in 1951, but its champions roll lists a collegiate title only from 1953](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1951#1951-first-usha-collegiate-nationals-evanston) (1951 · Four-wall · Sources disagree)
- [Bob Kendler breaks with the A.A.U. in 1951 'to form' the players' fraternity (by a 1972 USHA cover note): the first USHA four-wall (Chicago) and three-wall (Detroit) nationals; Avery Brundage was most instrumental in mediating a lasting agreement](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1951#1951-kendler-breaks-with-aau-first-usha-nationals) (1951 · Four-wall, Three-wall)
- [From 1951 the USHA's national roll carries a three-wall tournament at Detroit every year of the decade beside the travelling four-wall nationals](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1951#1951-usha-roll-three-and-four-wall-series-1951-1959) (1951 · Four-wall, Three-wall)
- [The National Y.M.C.A. Handball Committee's 1952 rules, issued courtesy of Champion Handball Gloves of Des Moines, keep the Y.M.C.A. as a separate rule-maker on the eve of the unified rules](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1952#1952-ymca-handball-rules) (1952 · Four-wall)
- [The USHA's Hall of Fame list opens in 1954 with Al Banuet and Joe Platak and holds 35 player inductions by 2004, but the 1971 magazine places both names in the Helms Hall of Fame](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1954#1954-first-inductions-usha-hall-of-fame-list) (1954 · Four-wall · Sources disagree)
- [Jimmy Jacobs of the Los Angeles A.C. becomes the first player to hold the 'Triple Crown': the A.A.U., USHA and Y.M.C.A. four-wall national titles in the same year, 1956](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1956#1956-jacobs-first-triple-crown) (1956 · Four-wall)
- [Charles J. O'Connell chairs the A.A.U. National Handball Committee from 1956 to 1965; Robert Quinn follows for 1966-68](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1956#1956-oconnell-chairs-aau-handball-committee) (1956 · Four-wall, One-wall, Three-wall)
- [Three New York Athletic Club players play seven matches in Ireland in 1957 and win four: the first international match in over twenty years, by the A.A.U.'s account](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1957#1957-nyac-players-tour-ireland) (1957 · Four-wall, 60x30)
- [The A.A.U.'s 1962 book dates the first all-glass handball court to the Aurora, Illinois, Y.M.C.A. in 1958](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1958#1958-aurora-ymca-all-glass-court) (1958 · Four-wall)
- [The Y.M.C.A., A.A.U., Jewish Welfare Board and USHA adopt common 'Unified' four-wall rules in 1958, with Charles J. O'Connell as chairman of the rules committee](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1958#1958-unified-four-wall-rules-adopted) (1958 · Four-wall)
- [The USHA champions roll lists its first one-wall national championship in 1959, in New York, with the Obert brothers taking the open titles](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1959#1959-first-usha-one-wall-nationals-new-york) (1959 · One-wall)
- [The first three-wall 'jai-alai type' handball court officially opens at Forrest Park Playground, Queens, New York, on 29 November 1959](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1959#1959-three-wall-jai-alai-court-opens-in-queens) (1959 · Three-wall)
- [A Unified Handball Rules Committee of the USHA, Y.M.C.A. and A.A.U. (with the Jewish Welfare Board) agrees to serve 'for the year of 1960', with O'Connell as its chairman](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1960#1960-unified-rules-committee-agrees-to-serve) (1960 · Four-wall)
- [At the 1961 USHA nationals and convention in Denver the Association is locked in a 'bitter dialogue' with the A.A.U. for handball supremacy and names a lawyer as its national commissioner](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1961#1961-denver-usha-aau-confrontation) (1961 · Four-wall)
- [The A.A.U.'s Official Rules: Handball (copyright 1962) still prints the unified four-wall rules adopted by the A.A.U., Y.M.C.A., USHA and J.W.B., beside one-wall, three-wall, hard-ball and glass-court sections](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1962#1962-aau-official-rules-handball-1962) (1962 · Four-wall, One-wall, Three-wall)
- [The first world handball championship is held in 1964 at the New York Athletic Club, with O'Connell as chairman, and, by a 1972 reader's letter, the world championships then recur every three years, the 1970 edition in Ireland](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1964#1964-first-world-handball-championship-nyac) (1964 · Four-wall, 60x30)
- [O'Connell's 'Handball Illustrated' appears in 1965 (Ronald Press)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1965#1965-oconnell-handball-illustrated) (1965 · Four-wall)
- [The New York Athletic Club dedicates a new gallery court on 1 October 1966 in recognition of O'Connell's half-century of work for handball](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1966#1966-nyac-gallery-court-dedicated-for-oconnell) (1966 · Four-wall)
- [A Long Beach newspaper of 4 June 1967 lists 'Official Unified Handball Rules' and 'Official AAU One Wall Handball Rules' booklets as available from Champion Glove of Des Moines](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1967#1967-unified-and-one-wall-rules-booklets-offered) (1967 · Four-wall, One-wall)
- [A.A.U., Jewish Welfare Board and Y.M.C.A. issue a 1968 revision of the unified rules without the USHA, which 'decided not to participate in publishing' it; its four-wall court is 20 x 40 x 20 ft](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1968#1968-aau-jwb-ymca-revise-unified-rules-without-usha) (1968 · Four-wall, One-wall, Three-wall)
- [The first American-style 40 x 20 ft four-wall court in Ireland is dated 1969 by GAA Handball, but a USHA report of autumn 1971 still calls the first 20 x 40 court a new event](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1969#1969-first-40x20-court-in-ireland) (1969 · 40x20 · Sources disagree)
- [The Irish Handball Council opens an indoor alley with three glass walls at Croke Park, Dublin, Ireland's first, and recommends glass walls for all alleys](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1970#1970-croke-park-three-glass-wall-alley) (1970 · 60x30 · Sources disagree)
- [Ray Doherty's 'Handball', printed in Ireland in 1970, is reviewed by the USHA as the first instructional book on the game to come out of Ireland](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1970#1970-doherty-handball-book-from-ireland) (1970 · 60x30)
- [The 1970 world handball championships are held in Dublin, where Pat Kirby takes the world title (the issues do not say in which code)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1970#1970-world-championships-ireland-kirby) (1970 · Four-wall, 60x30)
- [The USHA's magazine Ace is renamed Handball with vol. 21 no. 3 (June 1971), after twenty years under the name chosen in a contest](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1971#1971-ace-renamed-handball) (1971 · Four-wall)
- [The first series of All-Ireland finals is played in the new ball-court at Croke Park in 1971 before about 1,000, and shown on television](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1971#1971-croke-park-all-ireland-finals-in-new-court) (1971 · 60x30)
- [The president of the Irish Handball Council visits the USHA's Skokie headquarters on 13 August 1971 and talk turns to a common court size](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1971#1971-irish-handball-council-president-visits-usha) (1971 · Four-wall, 60x30)
- [The USHA's December 1971 tribute to Charles O'Connell lists his handball diary from a first one-wall court at Brighton Beach in 1909 to the world championship of 1964](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1971#1971-usha-salutes-oconnell-career) (1971 · Four-wall, One-wall, Three-wall)
- [The Irish-American Handball Association of the Bronx plans in 1972 to send an American handball team to Ireland in September, a home-and-home series with Irish club players being its own plan; it says Council officials take 'a great interest'](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1972#1972-usa-team-to-ireland-planned) (1972 · Four-wall, 60x30)
- [The USHA prints 'Official USHA Four-Wall Handball Rules' in its June 1972 magazine, naming the rules chairman and a Seattle drafter of the first official USHA rules](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1972#1972-usha-official-four-wall-rules-printed) (1972 · Four-wall)
- [The USHA four-wall nationals roll first lists a 'Pro Singles' champion in 1974 (Knoxville), beside an Open Singles title that returns in 1975 and 1976 and is dropped after](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1974#1974-usha-four-wall-pro-singles-first-listed) (1974 · Four-wall)
- [The GAA Handball roll of honour for the All-Ireland senior 4-wall championship opens in 1975, six years after the first 40 x 20 court](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1975#1975-first-all-ireland-4-wall-roll-year) (1975 · 40x20)
- ['Championship Handball by the Experts', edited by John W. Reznik (1976), collects selected articles from Handball magazine](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1976#1976-championship-handball-anthology) (1976 · Four-wall)
- [The USHA roll first lists women's open titles in four-wall, three-wall and the collegiates in 1980, a year after girls' junior divisions appear](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1980#1980-first-womens-open-titles-on-usha-roll) (1980 · Four-wall, Three-wall)
- [Seven players are inducted into the USHA Hall of Fame between 1983 and 1989, and four contributors](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1983#1983-1989-usha-hall-of-fame-seven-player-inductions) (1983 · Four-wall)
- [Britain enters a team in the world championships for the first time in 1984](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1984#1984-britain-first-team-world-championships) (1984 · 60x30)
- [1984 brings two Irish handball books: T. J. McElligott's 'The Story of Handball' and the Irish Handball Council's 'Handball: fás agus forbairt'](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1984#1984-irish-handball-books) (1984 · 60x30)
- [The USHA roll relabels the open singles title as Pro Singles for three-wall in 1986 and for one-wall in 1987](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1986#1986-1987-pro-singles-replaces-open-singles-on-three-and-one-wall-rolls) (1986 · One-wall, Three-wall)
- [London hosts the All-Ireland handball final in 1990, only the second time an All-Ireland final in any GAA code is played outside Ireland](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1990#1990-london-hosts-all-ireland-handball-final) (1990 · 60x30)
- [A USHA four-wall rule text is amended on 20 June 1990; the 1991 book retitles the set 'Revised 1991'](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1990#1990-usha-four-wall-rules-amended-june-20) (1990 · Four-wall)
- [USHA publishes a 'Revised 1991' rule book with one-wall and three-wall addendums and republishes its one-wall rules, changing a foot-fault word from EXTEND to TOUCH](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1991#1991-usha-rule-books-revised) (1991 · Four-wall, One-wall, Three-wall)
- [A 1993 USHA one-wall rule book is found to have lost the rule that games postponed by weather resume with the same score; the USHA says it was deleted by mistake](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1993#1993-usha-one-wall-rule-book-drops-postponed-rule) (1993 · One-wall)
- [The 1995 USHA One-Wall Rules with Interpretations harmonise wording with the four-wall book: EXTEND is restored in the foot-fault rule and the permission to step on a service line is deleted](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1995#1995-usha-one-wall-rules-with-interpretations-1995) (1995 · One-wall)
- [The Irish Handball Council begins an annual 'Irish Handball Yearbook' in 1996 (none in 1997), continued by 'Top Ace' from 2007](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1996#1996-irish-handball-council-yearbook-begins) (1996 · 60x30, 40x20)
- [The 47th USHA Four-Wall Nationals are held at the Michigan Athletic Club in 1997, where the pro champions had also won in 1992](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1997#1997-47th-usha-four-wall-nationals-michigan-ac) (1997 · Four-wall)
- [A USHA past president reports in February 1998 record 1997 income above $1.1 million, up $100,000, and a mortgage on the Tucson building to be paid off after five years](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1998#1998-usha-past-president-letter-record-1997-income) (1998 · Four-wall, One-wall, Three-wall)

## Era story points (143)

- [The first printed code found: Ed. James's Manual of Sporting Rules (New York, 1873), pp. 76-77, 'Hand Ball Rules', 23 rules: 21 aces, a ball about two inches, an ace line 'supposed to be in the centre of the court', the foot allowed on a](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1873#us-racket-courts-and-saloon-alleys-5) (1873 · Four-wall)
- [A sporting publisher prints the code: Ed. James, Manual of Sporting Rules (New York, 1873), 'Hand Ball Rules', 23 rules (Hand Ball Rules (1873), H-111); reprinted by Chadwick 1884 and in Spalding's Hand Book of Sporting Rules 1886 (Hand](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1873#who-writes-the-rules-2) (1873 · Four-wall)
- [GAA Handball's own history: handball 'played for over a thousand years', the 1527 Statute of Galway against ball games at town walls, a Ballinrobe court of 1776, alleys cataloged from the 1700s (GAA Handball Ireland, "History" (seen 28](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1884#ie-alley-game-before-the-gaa-0) (1884 · 60x30)
- [The Gaelic Athletic Association is founded and handball is 'officially included as one of the sports to be promoted' (GAA Handball Ireland, "History" (seen 28 October 2026)): the end of the unorganised game.](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1884#ie-alley-game-before-the-gaa-3) (1884 · 60x30)
- [GAA founded; handball included (GAA Handball Ireland, "History" (seen 28 October 2026)).](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1884#ie-gaa-rules-and-the-atlantic-matches-0) (1884 · 60x30)
- [The 28 GAA rules are adopted some time in this window (H-13): Gaelic Rules (1903), first printed in America in Deshong/Egan 1903 as 'Gaelic Rules'; the same setting in 1914 and 1915, reset for Spalding 1923 ('short wall', H-55).](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1884#ie-gaa-rules-and-the-atlantic-matches-1) (1884 · 60x30)
- [GAA Handball's own history page gives the game's antiquity in Ireland (a 1527 Galway statute against ball games at the town walls; a Ballinrobe court of 1776).](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1884#the-irish-game-abroad-and-at-home-0) (1884 · Four-wall, One-wall, 60x30, 40x20)
- [The Gaelic Athletic Association is founded with handball among the sports it promotes (secondary: GAA Handball's history page).](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1884#the-irish-game-abroad-and-at-home-3) (1884 · Four-wall, One-wall, 60x30, 40x20)
- [Ireland: the GAA founds itself with handball among its sports; its 28 rules (Gaelic Rules (1903)) are 'the rules of the Gaelic Athletic Association of Ireland'.](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1884#who-writes-the-rules-20) (1884 · 60x30)
- [Spalding's Hand Book of Sporting Rules and Training (compiled by G. H. Benedict, 1886) prints 'Hand Ball', 23 rules: the James 1873 code with a new rule 4 1/2 on scoring by 'service' or 'return' (Hand Ball (1886)).](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1886#us-casey-brooklyn-and-the-suns-rules-1) (1886 · Four-wall)
- [Deshong R4-R5: 'A hinder is when a ball strikes your opponent' and stops it reaching the wall; hinders are mostly 'accidents pure and simple'; an intentional hinder is an ace against or a hand out at the referee's opinion; effect of an](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1893#hinder-a-word-that-changed-meaning-1) (1893 · Four-wall)
- [Deshong: court text 24 1/2 x 35 ft while the plate reads 25 x 33 ft (transcription notes, 1893 edition); the 1903 book: 'about sixty feet long, twenty-four and one-half feet wide and thirty-five feet high in the front, tapering down to](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1893#the-court-shrinks-3) (1893 · Four-wall)
- [The Y.M.C.A.'s single-wall court rules (approved 1898, revised June 1900, revised 1913: Hand Ball Rules (1900), Hand Ball Rules: Single Wall Court (1913); H-136, H-139, H-140) are the earliest one-wall rules text in this record, printed in](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1898#one-wall-becomes-its-own-game-13) (1898 · One-wall)
- [The Athletic League of the Y.M.C.A.s of North America prints a thirteen-rule hand-ball code 'Approved by the Physical Directors' Conference, 1898' in its handbook of 1899 (OCR read; H-139): the parent of the 1900 text.](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1898#the-ymca-and-the-gym-game-0) (1898 · Four-wall, One-wall, Three-wall)
- [A third author: the Y.M.C.A.'s Physical Directors' Conference approves a hand-ball code (1898), revises it for the single-wall court (1900) and its Society adopts four-wall rules (1915) (Hand Ball Rules (1900), Hand Ball Rules: Four Wall](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1898#who-writes-the-rules-23) (1898 · Four-wall, One-wall)
- [A committee of the Physical Directors' Conference at Thousand Island Park revises the code as rules for a single-wall court (Hand Ball Rules (1900)), adopted by the League's Governing Committee (H-141) and printed in the handbooks of 1904](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1900#the-ymca-and-the-gym-game-1) (1900 · One-wall)
- [Before the era: the Y.M.C.A.'s rules for a single-wall court, approved by its Physical Directors' Conference in 1898 and revised at Thousand Island Park in June 1900, printed in the Athletic League handbooks from 1904 and revised again for](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1900#us-one-wall-rises-in-new-york-5) (1900 · One-wall)
- [The Y.M.C.A.'s are the only rule-making meetings here whose place is stated: a committee of the Physical Directors' Conference revised the single-wall rules in June 1900 at Thousand Island Park (adoption by its Governing Committee is](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1900#who-writes-the-rules-28) (1900 · Four-wall, One-wall)
- [Ireland, Gaelic Rules (1903) R21 and R24: a struck ball that afterwards strikes the opponent is a hinder, played over; and 'Should a player obstruct another in such a manner that he cannot play, the judge may give a hinder' (wilful: ace or](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1903#hinder-a-word-that-changed-meaning-2) (1903 · 60x30)
- [A.A.U. 1903 R6: the hinder narrowed to a ball striking the server before reaching the opponent, or the opponent during service; a served ball hitting the receiver becomes a hinder instead of an ace (reversed from 1893); each player 'must](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1903#hinder-a-word-that-changed-meaning-3) (1903 · Four-wall)
- [The 28 Irish rules, as printed in 1903, hold the earliest long-serve rule in this record (Gaelic Rules (1903)): the toss must land between a short line and an over line.](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1903#ie-gaa-rules-and-the-atlantic-matches-10) (1903 · One-wall, 60x30)
- [The Irish hard ball keeps one weight range, 1.5 to 1.75 oz, in the rules printed in 1903 (Gaelic Rules (1903)), the Council's of January 2009 (Official Playing Rules (Handball Playing Rules) (2009)) and the GAA's of March 2020 (Official](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1903#the-ball-17) (1903 · Four-wall, One-wall, 60x30, 40x20)
- [A.A.U. R3: 'full regulation Spalding ball', 1 7/8 in, 1 5/8 oz (Revised Handball Rules of the Amateur Athletic Union of America, For the Government of the National Championship in Singles (1903)); the advertisement after the rules lists](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1903#the-ball-6) (1903 · Four-wall)
- [The Irish rules printed in 1903 hold the earliest long-serve rule in this record: the toss must land between a short line and an over line, and three failures are hand out (Gaelic Rules (1903) Rules 18 and 26; H-13).](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1903#the-serve-18) (1903 · Four-wall, One-wall, 60x30)
- [The A.A.U.'s 'Revised Handball Rules' (14 rules, singles only; Revised Handball Rules of the Amateur Athletic Union of America, For the Government of the National Championship in Singles (1903)) and Deshong's rewritten 'Rules and](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1903#us-aau-amateur-championships-4) (1903 · Four-wall)
- [The A.A.U. constitution claims jurisdiction over handball, Article IX (H-33 supported).](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1908#who-writes-the-rules-10) (1908 · Four-wall, One-wall, 60x30, 40x20)
- [The Y.M.C.A. has hand-ball rules of its own; the 1909 Spalding index entry for them (Y.M.C.A. Hand Ball Rules (index entry) (1909), H-07) is very probably the single-wall text of 1900 (Hand Ball Rules (1900)), not a four-wall code; by 1908](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1909#us-aau-amateur-championships-5) (1909 · One-wall)
- [The Y.M.C.A.'s revised single-wall rules name an 'Irish Ace' ball (Hand Ball Rules: Single Wall Court (1913); H-140): the Irish-made ball in an American gymnasium code.](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1913#the-ball-14) (1913 · One-wall)
- [Brokaw: a hinder is a ball that hits an opponent (Rules of American Hand Ball (1916)); the Sun's 1916 column: 'A returning ball that strikes an opposition player' (1916 newspaper notes).](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1915#hinder-a-word-that-changed-meaning-4) (1915 · One-wall)
- [The Y.M.C.A.'s four-wall court, adopted at Asilomar in May 1915, is 40 ft long, 20 ft wide and 18 ft high with a 10-ft rear wall (Hand Ball Rules: Four Wall Court (1915)): the 40 x 20 floor, 75 years before the first USHA text held (H-106).](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1915#the-court-shrinks-16) (1915 · Four-wall)
- [Brokaw's one-wall: board 20 ft wide, 10 ft high; floor 20 x 26 ft; field 55 x 40 ft (Rules of American Hand Ball (1916) R53-R55).](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1915#the-court-shrinks-7) (1915 · One-wall)
- [The Y.M.C.A.'s four-wall rules of 1915 already put a server out for two short balls in succession (Hand Ball Rules: Four Wall Court (1915) Rule 5); the A.A.U. texts of 1920 and 1923 allowed three (Official Handball Rules of the Amateur](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1915#the-serve-15) (1915 · Four-wall)
- [Brokaw's 'How to Play American Hand Ball' is deposited for copyright (Rules of American Hand Ball (1916), H-16 supported): 55 rules, a board 20 ft wide and 10 ft high, floor 20 x 26 ft, service line midway at 13 ft, gloves compulsory, no](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1915#us-one-wall-rises-in-new-york-1) (1915 · One-wall)
- [The Sun: 'Don't confuse American handball with Irish (four wall) handball'; courts 60 x 40 with 26-ft side lines and 20-ft front lines, 13 ft from service line to board (1916 newspaper notes).](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1916#one-wall-becomes-its-own-game-3) (1916 · One-wall, Three-wall)
- [The Sun's query column: 'Most of the American handball courts are 60 feet by 40 feet, with 26 foot side lines and 20 foot front lines ... 13 feet from service line to board ...](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1916#us-one-wall-rises-in-new-york-2) (1916 · One-wall)
- [A.A.U. R2: 'standard rubber handball'; the 1923 guide adds '(Spalding's No. 101 ball is used in the national championship tournaments)' (Hand Ball (1920), Official Handball Rules of the Amateur Athletic Union of the United States (1923);](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1920#the-ball-9) (1920 · Four-wall, One-wall)
- [The 35-rule four-wall text is in force (Hand Ball (1920), A.A.U. handbook): court approximately 24 x 50 ft, ceiling at least 25 ft, 'covered ball' defined, hinders to the referee without appeal, 'points' instead of 'aces'.](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1920#us-aau-rule-codes-0) (1920 · Four-wall)
- [The one-wall short line moved a foot at a time: at least 13 ft in 1922, 14 ft in 1927, 15 ft in 1931 and 16 ft, to its back edge, in the USHA's text of 1994; the GAA of 2019 and the CIJB of 2023 (16.1 ft) use 16.](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1922#one-wall-becomes-its-own-game-15) (1922 · One-wall)
- [The handbook in force 1 Jan 1922 already prints the 1923 text (Official Handball Rules of the Amateur Athletic Union of the United States (1923)): court 24 x 48 ft, 'covered ball' deleted except the leftover in R24 (H-63, H-64).](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1922#us-aau-rule-codes-1) (1922 · Four-wall)
- [The A.A.U. adopts one-wall rules at its annual meeting (A.A.U. One-Wall Rules (1922), printed in Spalding's Official Handball Guide 1923): court about 20 x 34 ft, wall 16 ft, short line at least 13 ft, two faults, standard rubber ball.](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1922#us-one-wall-rises-in-new-york-3) (1922 · One-wall)
- [First GAA-sponsored handball championships (GAA Handball Ireland, "History" (seen 28 October 2026)); Spalding's 1923 guide prints 'Rules for Irish Handball or the Hard-Ball Game' for American readers.](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1923#ie-gaa-rules-and-the-atlantic-matches-7) (1923 · 60x30)
- [Ripley's suggested four-wall changes match one-wall practice (H-65): the younger code starts to influence the older.](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1923#one-wall-becomes-its-own-game-5) (1923 · One-wall, Three-wall)
- [Spalding's Official Handball Guide (ed. Ripley) prints the four-wall rules, the one-wall rules, the GAA hardball rules and seven 'Suggested Rule Changes' (Suggested Rule Changes).](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1923#us-aau-rule-codes-3) (1923 · Four-wall, One-wall)
- [Ripley's 'Suggested Rule Changes' (Suggested Rule Changes) already ask the four-wall game to borrow one-wall practice (H-65); whether any were adopted in 1924-28 is unknown (H-18).](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1923#us-one-wall-rises-in-new-york-4) (1923 · One-wall)
- [A publisher's editor proposes changes to the federation: Ripley's seven 'Suggested Rule Changes' in Spalding's guide (Suggested Rule Changes); outcome unknown (H-18).](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1923#who-writes-the-rules-14) (1923 · Four-wall, One-wall, 60x30, 40x20)
- [Irish Handball Council established; affiliation with an international handball commission; Irish, English and Scottish players at the Tailteann Games (GAA Handball Ireland, "History" (seen 28 October 2026); H-102 on the IAHA name).](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1924#ie-irish-handball-council-0) (1924 · 60x30, 40x20)
- [The Irish Handball Council is established (1924; the body's exact name is H-102) and All-Ireland senior championships run from 1925 in both 60x30 codes, hardball and softball (H-104).](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1924#the-irish-game-abroad-and-at-home-17) (1924 · 60x30)
- [Ireland: the Irish Handball Council (GAA Handball Ireland, "History" (seen 28 October 2026); H-102 on the IAHA name).](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1924#who-writes-the-rules-21) (1924 · Four-wall, One-wall, 60x30, 40x20)
- [All-Ireland senior championships begin in both 60x30 codes: hardball and softball singles and doubles (All-Ireland Hardball Championships, All-Ireland 60x30 Softball Championships; GAA rolls of honour).](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1925#ie-irish-handball-council-1) (1925 · 60x30)
- [Spalding's Official Handball Guide issues of 1926 and 1927 are registered (Spalding's Official Handball Guide (AAU rules) (1926), Spalding's Official Handball Guide (AAU rules) (1927); LC holds them, physical-only); expected to print the](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1926#us-aau-rule-codes-9) (1926 · Four-wall)
- [The A.A.U. one-wall rules adopted 20 November 1927 (printed 1928, One-Wall Playing Rules (in Spalding's Official Handball Guide, 1928) (1927)) carry a service line 9 ft behind the short line, present already in a reprint of the 1923-27](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1927#the-serve-14) (1927 · One-wall)
- [A.A.U. one-wall rules printed in the 1928 guide (One-Wall Playing Rules (in Spalding's Official Handball Guide, 1928) (1927)) and the 1949 'Official rules handball: four-wall, one-wall, four-wall hardball' (Official rules handball :](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1928#one-wall-becomes-its-own-game-6) (1928 · One-wall)
- [The A.A.U.'s standard court in the 1928 guide is 22 ft wide, 46 ft long and 22 ft high (Official Handball Playing Rules of the A.A.U. (in Spalding's Official Handball Guide, 1928) (1928) Rule 1), with the short line at midcourt, 23 ft from](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1928#the-court-shrinks-17) (1928 · Four-wall)
- [In the A.A.U. text of the 1928 guide two short balls of any kind in succession put the server out (Rule 11), the server stands in a 5-ft serving space between two lines (Rules 1 and 8) and a serve that hits the ceiling or back wall before](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1928#the-serve-16) (1928 · Four-wall)
- [Spalding's Official Handball Guide 1928 prints A.A.U. playing rules (p. 31), one-wall rules (p. 34) and Irish handball rules (p. 37); the four-wall standard court is now 22 x 46 x 22 ft (Rule 1) and two short balls of any kind put the](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1928#us-aau-rule-codes-4) (1928 · Four-wall, One-wall)
- [Exhibitions with Spanish players (1929) and tours to Liverpool (1932) (GAA Handball Ireland, "History" (seen 28 October 2026)).](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1929#ie-irish-handball-council-2) (1929 · 60x30, 40x20)
- [Exhibitions with Spanish players (1929) and a tour to Liverpool (1932), per GAA Handball's page: the home game looking outward.](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1929#the-irish-game-abroad-and-at-home-18) (1929 · Four-wall, One-wall, 60x30, 40x20)
- [The General Board of the Y.M.C.A.s registers two leaflets on one day, 'Hand ball rules; four wall court' and 'Hand ball rules; single wall court' (Hand ball rules; four wall court (1929), Hand ball rules; single wall court (1929)): the](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1929#the-ymca-and-the-gym-game-8) (1929 · Four-wall, One-wall)
- [The A.A.U. soft-ball four-wall rules printed in O'Connell 1931 add a ball specification, 2.3 oz with a half-ounce tolerance (A.A.U. Soft Ball Four-Wall Rules (in Charles J. O'Connell, How to Play Handball, 1931) (1931); H-142): the first](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1931#the-ball-15) (1931 · Four-wall)
- [The 2.3 oz ball the A.A.U. specified in 1931, allowing half an ounce either way (A.A.U. Soft Ball Four-Wall Rules (in Charles J. O'Connell, How to Play Handball, 1931) (1931)), is also the USHA's weight in 1990, allowing 0.2 oz (The](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1931#the-ball-16) (1931 · Four-wall)
- [Charles J. O'Connell's How to Play Handball (the successor of the Spalding guide, 'including official rules for play') prints three A.A.U. codes: soft-ball four-wall (34 rules, now with an A.A.U. ball specification of 2.3 oz, H-142),](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1931#us-aau-rule-codes-10) (1931 · Four-wall, One-wall)
- [The A.A.U.'s three codes (soft-ball four-wall, one-wall, hard ball) printed in O'Connell's How to Play Handball (A.A.U. Soft Ball Four-Wall Rules (in Charles J. O'Connell, How to Play Handball, 1931) (1931), A.A.U. One-Wall Rules (in](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1931#who-writes-the-rules-24) (1931 · Four-wall, One-wall)
- [A.A.U. handball rules are registered for copyright in 1932, 1933, 1934 (the first registration naming four-wall, one-wall and four-wall hardball), 1935, 1936, 1939 and 1942 (the A.A.U. itself now the claimant), continuing as the serial](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1932#us-aau-rule-codes-5) (1932 · Four-wall, One-wall)
- ['Four-wall hardball' named as a code in A.A.U. titles (LC ca33000972; Official rules handball, four-wall, one-wall, four-wall hardball; codeball, volleyball, horseshoe pitching (1949); H-28): the hard ball survives in America as a separate](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1933#the-ball-11) (1933 · Four-wall)
- [Y.M.C.A. Hand Ball Rules revised 15 February 1940 with seventeen changes, and the 1952 Y.M.C.A. Handball Rules of a National Y.M.C.A. Handball Committee, which require doubles teams to come from one branch; both known from seller](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1940#the-ymca-and-the-gym-game-9) (1940 · Four-wall, One-wall, Three-wall)
- [The A.A.U. serial 'Official Rules, Handball' (1949 printing; 1955, 1957, 1960 volumes) while the USHA runs its own nationals from 1951: two bodies (H-32, H-101).](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1949#who-writes-the-rules-15) (1949 · Four-wall)
- [Provincial councils revived (GAA Handball Ireland, "History" (seen 28 October 2026)).](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1950#ie-irish-handball-council-3) (1950 · 60x30, 40x20)
- [ushandball.org's champions list marks 1950 as the last A.A.U. year: 'All future years are USHA' (H-101).](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1950#us-aau-rule-codes-7) (1950 · Four-wall, One-wall)
- [First USHA national championships listed: four-wall at Chicago (Plekan) and three-wall at Detroit (USHA national four-wall handball championships, USHA national three-wall handball championships, firstHeld 1951; US Handball Association,](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1951#us-usha-and-the-common-rules-0) (1951 · Four-wall, Three-wall)
- [A GAA Handball roll of honour for the Gael Linn 60x30 adult competition, 1954-1979 (saved as a dataset, not read into the record): the Council era's one competition record besides the All-Irelands.](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1954#ie-irish-handball-council-9) (1954 · 60x30, 40x20)
- [A GAA Handball roll of honour for the Gael Linn 60x30 adult competition, 1954-1979, is saved but not read into the record: the only Irish competition record between the All-Ireland rolls and the yearbooks.](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1954#the-irish-game-abroad-and-at-home-19) (1954 · Four-wall, One-wall, 60x30, 40x20)
- [The A.A.U. still prints 'Official Handball A.A.U. Rules' (copyright registration A189064, 10 Apr 1955, Official Handball A.A.U. Rules (1955)) and volumes for 1957 and 1960 (Official Rules, Handball (A.A.U.) (1957), Official Rules, Handball](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1955#us-usha-and-the-common-rules-1) (1955 · Four-wall)
- [An international match in Ireland in 1957, 'the first in over twenty years', New York A.C. players winning four of seven, per the A.A.U.'s 1962 rule book (H-128; seller photographs).](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1957#ie-irish-handball-council-10) (1957 · 60x30, 40x20)
- [The A.A.U.'s 1962 rule book says the first international match in over twenty years was played in Ireland in 1957, New York Athletic Club players winning four of seven matches (H-128; seller photographs of the book).](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1957#the-irish-game-abroad-and-at-home-20) (1957 · Four-wall, One-wall, 60x30, 40x20)
- [The A.A.U.'s 1962 rule book (seller photographs, H-128) dates three things this record has nowhere else: an international match in Ireland in 1957, the first all-glass court at the Aurora, Illinois, Y.M.C.A. in 1958, and the official](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1957#us-usha-and-the-common-rules-7) (1957 · Four-wall, One-wall, Three-wall)
- [The A.A.U.'s 1962 book (H-128; seller photographs) dates the first all-glass court (Aurora Y.M.C.A., 1958) and the official opening of a three-wall 'jai-alai type' court at Forrest Park Playground, Queens (the book's spelling) (29 November](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1958#the-court-shrinks-15) (1958 · Four-wall, One-wall, 60x30, 40x20)
- [The A.A.U.'s 1962 book dates the first all-glass court to the Aurora, Illinois, Y.M.C.A. in 1958 (H-128; seller photographs).](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1958#the-ymca-and-the-gym-game-10) (1958 · Four-wall, One-wall, Three-wall)
- [A Unified Handball Rules Committee of four bodies (USHA, Y.M.C.A., A.A.U., Jewish Welfare Board) prepares the unified four-wall rules that the A.A.U.'s 1960 and 1962 books print; the Champion Glove booklet names the committee and its](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1958#the-ymca-and-the-gym-game-11) (1958 · Four-wall)
- [Common rules: secondary sources say the A.A.U., USHA and Y.M.C.A. agreed unified rules and held one tournament in 1958 (H-19) or 1959 (H-03); the USHA 'broke away again in 1961' (H-19).](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1958#us-usha-and-the-common-rules-2) (1958 · Four-wall, One-wall, Three-wall)
- [Common rules between the A.A.U., USHA and Y.M.C.A. (H-03, H-19; secondary, undated by any primary source).](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1958#who-writes-the-rules-16) (1958 · Four-wall, One-wall, 60x30, 40x20)
- [First USHA one-wall national (New York; Oscar Obert in open singles) in the champions list (USHA national one-wall handball championships, firstHeld 1959).](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1959#us-usha-and-the-common-rules-3) (1959 · One-wall)
- [The committee chairs are named, from seller photographs of printed lists (rank 3; dates as printed): Charles J. O'Connell for the Unified Handball Rules Committee of 1960 and, in the 1968 booklet, the A.A.U. National Handball Committee](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1960#us-usha-and-the-common-rules-11) (1960 · Four-wall, One-wall, Three-wall)
- [The A.A.U.'s Official Rules Handball of 1960 and 1962 print 'Unified Four-Wall Rules' adopted by the A.A.U., the Y.M.C.A., the USHA and the Jewish Welfare Board, prepared by a Unified Handball Rules Committee chaired from the New York A.C.](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1960#us-usha-and-the-common-rules-8) (1960 · Four-wall)
- [Rules by committee: a Unified Handball Rules Committee of the USHA, the Y.M.C.A., the A.A.U. and the J.W.B. (printed in the A.A.U. books of 1960 and 1962), then a 1968 unified booklet issued by three of the four without the USHA (H-125,](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1960#who-writes-the-rules-25) (1960 · Four-wall, One-wall, 60x30, 40x20)
- [The committee chairs are named, from seller photographs of printed lists (rank 3; dates as printed): Charles J. O'Connell for the Unified Handball Rules Committee of 1960, Robert Quinn for the A.A.U. National Handball Committee 1966-1968,](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1960#who-writes-the-rules-29) (1960 · Four-wall, One-wall, 60x30, 40x20)
- [USHA 'Official U.S. Handball Association Membership Directory and Guide' begins 1961-62 (LC sf92092866; physical-only).](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1961#us-usha-and-the-common-rules-4) (1961 · Four-wall, One-wall, Three-wall)
- ['Official rules', a 1963 item in a UK union catalog under 'Irish Handball Association', publisher the GAA (Official rules (1963); that it is the Council's handball rulebook is H-130): the first Irish rule text after 1903 this record can](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1963#ie-irish-handball-council-11) (1963 · 60x30)
- [Ireland's institutional line between the 1903 text and GAA Handball: an 'Official rules' of 1963 under the Irish Handball Association heading (Official rules (1963), H-130), 'Handball Playing Rules' of 1997 (Handball Playing Rules (1997))](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1963#who-writes-the-rules-26) (1963 · One-wall, 60x30, 40x20)
- [The only magazine issues reachable online: Ace June 1968 to Handball Oct 1972 (13 scanned issues at archive.teamusa.com, plus Texas A&M holdings).](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1967#us-usha-and-the-common-rules-5) (1967 · Four-wall, One-wall, Three-wall)
- [A June 1967 newspaper list offers, among booklets available, a separate A.A.U. one-wall booklet from Champion Glove (Official AAU One Wall Handball Rules); the January 1968 'Handball Official Unified Playing Rules' is issued by the A.A.U.,](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1967#us-usha-and-the-common-rules-9) (1967 · One-wall)
- ['Handball Official Unified Playing Rules' for four-wall, three-wall and one-wall courts, issued by the A.A.U., the J.W.B. and the Y.M.C.A.; its introduction says the USHA took part in the discussions but declined to co-publish (H-129,](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1968#the-ymca-and-the-gym-game-12) (1968 · Four-wall, One-wall, Three-wall)
- [First American-style 4-wall (40x20) court built in Ireland (GAA Handball Ireland, "History" (seen 28 October 2026)).](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1969#ie-irish-handball-council-4) (1969 · 60x30, 40x20)
- [First American-style 4-wall (40x20) court built in Ireland (GAA Handball Ireland, "History" (seen 28 October 2026)); All-Ireland 4-wall championship from 1975 (All-Ireland 4-Wall Championships).](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1969#the-court-shrinks-11) (1969 · 40x20)
- [The American court comes to Ireland: the first 40x20 court is built in 1969 and an All-Ireland 4-wall senior championship runs from 1975 (secondary: GAA Handball's page; the rolls).](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1969#the-irish-game-abroad-and-at-home-21) (1969 · 40x20)
- ['Championship Handball plus Official Handball Rules', a USHA publication cited from 1971 to 1983 (Championship Handball plus Official Handball Rules (1971), citation-only): the first USHA rules publication this record can name.](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1971#us-usha-and-the-common-rules-10) (1971 · Four-wall)
- [All-Ireland 4-wall (40x20) senior championship begins (All-Ireland 4-Wall Championships, firstHeld 1975).](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1975#ie-irish-handball-council-5) (1975 · 40x20)
- [Start by hypothesis (H-04, H-107): the USHA as sole US governing body.](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1978#us-usha-alone-0) (1978 · Four-wall, One-wall, Three-wall · Rests on a hypothesis)
- [USHA becomes the sole US governing body (H-04, secondary; H-107): the end of the era is a claim, not a finding.](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1978#us-usha-and-the-common-rules-6) (1978 · Four-wall, One-wall, Three-wall · Rests on a hypothesis)
- [USHA alone (H-04, H-107; secondary).](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1978#who-writes-the-rules-17) (1978 · Four-wall, One-wall, 60x30, 40x20 · Rests on a hypothesis)
- [Britain's first team at the World Championships (1984); London hosts an All-Ireland handball final (1990) (GAA Handball Ireland, "History" (seen 28 October 2026)).](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1984#ie-irish-handball-council-6) (1984 · 60x30, 40x20)
- [Britain sends its first team to the World Championships (1984); London hosts an All-Ireland final (1990): the diaspora in the home body's record.](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1984#the-irish-game-abroad-and-at-home-22) (1984 · Four-wall, One-wall, 60x30, 40x20)
- [The USHA's 1990 four-wall rules with interpretations and its 1994 one-wall rules (The Official United States Handball Association Handball Rules With Interpretations and One-Wall and Three-Wall Addendum Revised 1991 (1990), The New and](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1990#hinder-a-word-that-changed-meaning-10) (1990 · Four-wall, One-wall)
- ['The Official United States Handball Association Handball Rules With Interpretations', adopted 20 June 1990 and printed in 1991, in 46 pages by one catalog record (The Official United States Handball Association Handball Rules With](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1990#us-usha-alone-5) (1990 · Four-wall)
- [Eye protection, timeouts (three in a 21-point game, two in an 11-point game) and the 11-point tiebreak are first in the texts held in the USHA's rules of 1990 (The Official United States Handball Association Handball Rules With](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1990#us-usha-alone-9) (1990 · Four-wall, One-wall, 60x30, 40x20)
- [The serving-side hinder fault enters the record in the USHA's one-wall rules of 14 October 1994 (The New and Official United States Handball Association One-Wall Rules With Interpretations 1995 (1994)); it reaches the Council by January](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1994#hinder-a-word-that-changed-meaning-11) (1994 · One-wall, 60x30, 40x20)
- ['The New and Official' USHA One-Wall Rules, adopted 14 October 1994 (The New and Official United States Handball Association One-Wall Rules With Interpretations 1995 (1994)), on the USHA's web site by January 1997: the earliest USHA](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1994#us-usha-alone-6) (1994 · One-wall)
- [The Council's 'Irish handball yearbook' (ISSN 1649-0371), annual 1996-2006, none in 1997 (National Library of Ireland holdings).](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1996#ie-irish-handball-council-7) (1996 · 60x30, 40x20)
- [The big ball gets bodies: SAHA (1996) and King of the Courts (1998); USWA (2010) with its own rules from 2018 (Wall Ball Rules (2021) etc.), which never state court or ball (H-75).](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1996#one-wall-becomes-its-own-game-8) (1996 · One-wall)
- [St. Albans Handball Association founded (St. Albans Handball Association, St. Albans Handball Association, "About" (seen 27 October 2026)); King of the Courts from 1998 (King of the Courts; champions list St. Albans Handball Association,](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1996#us-wallball-organises-0) (1996 · One-wall)
- ['Handball Playing Rules', an Irish Handball Council publication from Croke Park cited once in a 2002 bibliography (Handball Playing Rules (1997)).](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1997#ie-irish-handball-council-12) (1997 · 60x30)
- [GAA wallball open Irish nationals from 1997 (Wallball Open Irish Nationals): the one-wall game arrives in the Irish record.](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1997#ie-irish-handball-council-8) (1997 · One-wall)
- [664 of the 1,526 five-word runs new in the four-wall text of 1999 were already in the one-wall text of 1994 (96 shared clauses in Parts 2 to 5); whether the one-wall book led cannot be decided without a four-wall text of 1991-98.](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1999#us-usha-alone-10) (1999 · Four-wall, One-wall)
- [The Official USHA Handball Rules, 1999 (The Official USHA Handball Rules, 1999 (1999)); the one-wall rules were revised between January 1998 and August 1999 (H-146).](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=1999#us-usha-alone-7) (1999 · Four-wall)
- [A Three-Wall Addendum, 'changes from four-wall rules' (Three-Wall Addendum - Changes from Four-Wall Rules (2004)), and the 2005 rules (The Official USHA Handball Rules, 2005 (2005)), the year a secondary page calls the last complete](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=2004#us-usha-alone-8) (2004 · Four-wall, Three-wall)
- [A secondary page says the USHA's 'last complete rulebook' appeared in 2005 (a secondary source): rules move from print to the web page.](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=2005#us-usha-alone-1) (2005 · Four-wall)
- ['Top ace: Irish handball yearbook' (subtitles include 'Official GAA handball magazine'), NLI holds nos. 1-4, 2007-2011.](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=2007#ie-gaa-handball-four-codes-0) (2007 · One-wall, 60x30, 40x20)
- [The Council's 'Official Playing Rules', modified January 2009 (Official Playing Rules (Handball Playing Rules) (2009); the booklet inside Wexford GAA's 2016 PDF; pending permission, research-only): the Irish Handball Council's name is](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=2009#ie-irish-handball-council-13) (2009 · One-wall, 60x30, 40x20)
- [United States Wall Ball Association founded by Jasmine Ray (United States Wallball Association, United States Wall Ball Association, "Our story" (seen 27 October 2026)); IRS ruling 2012.](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=2010#us-wallball-organises-1) (2010 · One-wall)
- [A World Wall Ball Association is formed at the 2012 World Championships in Dublin by GAA Handball, the WHC and the CIJB (secondary).](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=2012#the-irish-game-abroad-and-at-home-24) (2012 · Four-wall, One-wall, 60x30, 40x20)
- [World Wall Ball Association formed at the 2012 World Championships, Dublin, by GAA Handball, the WHC and the CIJB (secondary: jeudepaume.fr, World Wall Ball Association page (seen 28 October 2026)).](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=2012#us-wallball-organises-2) (2012 · One-wall)
- [Wexford GAA's 'Playing Rules' PDF (Wexford GAA Handball, "Playing Rules" PDF (uploaded August 2016) (seen 28 October 2026)): the earliest GAA Handball rulebook held; text not yet readable.](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=2016#ie-gaa-handball-four-codes-1) (2016 · One-wall, 60x30, 40x20)
- [GAA wallball senior championship begins (Wallball Senior Championships, firstHeld 2016).](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=2016#ie-gaa-handball-four-codes-2) (2016 · One-wall)
- [USWA: 'block' (interference, replayed) and 'screen' (ball passing too close to the hitter's body) do the work of the USHA's two hinders without the word (from a comparison of the USWA and USHA rules).](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=2018#hinder-a-word-that-changed-meaning-9) (2018 · One-wall)
- [USWA 'Wall Ball Rules' (24 rules + code of conduct) and 'USWA Official Rules' (25 rules) online (Wall Ball Rules (2021), USWA OFFICIAL RULES (2022); page markup dates): blocks, screens, 'keep a short', downs; no court or ball stated (H-75).](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=2018#us-wallball-organises-3) (2018 · One-wall)
- [A players' association writes for its own game: USWA rules online 2018, revised 22 Oct 2026 (USWA playing rules (2026)), ending with a note that such details are settled by each event's organizer.](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=2018#who-writes-the-rules-18) (2018 · One-wall)
- [The GAA's one-wall (Wallball) playing rules as of January 2019 (Official Irish 1-Wall (Wallball) Playing Rules - As of January 2019 (2019)): 20 x 34 ft court, 16-ft wall, ball 1 7/8 in and 61 g; the book describes itself as consistent with](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=2019#ie-gaa-handball-four-codes-3) (2019 · One-wall)
- [GAA 1-wall: ball 1 7/8 in, 61 g (Official Irish 1-Wall (Wallball) Playing Rules - As of January 2019 (2019)); GAA 2025: 'Big Blue Wallball' and 'Penn Wallball' (2.18-2.22 in) for Wallball, goatskin for hardball (Official Irish 4-Wall,](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=2019#the-ball-12) (2019 · One-wall, 60x30)
- [GAA Wallball: 20 x 34 ft, 16-ft wall (Official Irish 1-Wall (Wallball) Playing Rules - As of January 2019 (2019), Official Irish 4-Wall, Softball, Hardball & Wallball Playing Rules (2025)); GAA International 4-Wall: 40 x 20 x 20 ft](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=2019#the-court-shrinks-12) (2019 · One-wall, 40x20)
- [GAA Handball's one-wall (Wallball) playing rules describe themselves as consistent with the USHA one-wall rules; 84.7% of its five-word runs (6,251 of 7,380) come from the USHA one-wall text of 2014-01, none of the 229 runs new in the](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=2019#us-usha-alone-2) (2019 · One-wall, 40x20)
- [Ireland borrows: GAA Handball's 1-wall rules are 'consistent with' USHA's (H-21 supported), its 40x20 rules are USHA four-wall text (H-24 supported); Congress adopts the combined book on 9 Feb 2025.](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=2019#who-writes-the-rules-22) (2019 · One-wall, 40x20)
- [The GAA's four-wall and 60x30 playing rules as of March 2020 (Official Irish 4-Wall & 60x30 Playing Rules (2020), Official Irish 4-Wall & 60x30 Playing Rules (2020), Official Irish 4-Wall & 60x30 Playing Rules (2020)): the one-wall rules](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=2020#ie-gaa-handball-four-codes-4) (2020 · 60x30, 40x20)
- [CIJB 'Wallball Rules' (WALLBALL RULES (2023)): court 6.10 x 10.60 m, wall 4.90 m; two sets of 21, tie set to 11; all lines good.](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=2023#us-wallball-organises-4) (2023 · One-wall)
- [The GAA's official four-wall and 60x30 playing rules as of 4 February 2024 (GAA Handball - Official 4-Wall & 60x30 Playing Rules (2024) etc.); Rule 1.1 lists the codes as four-wall, one-wall, and 60x30 in its softball and hardball forms.](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=2024#ie-gaa-handball-four-codes-5) (2024 · 40x20)
- [USHA 4.7 'dead-ball hinders' (replayed: court hinders, hitting an opponent when the shot would have reached the wall, body contact, screen ball, back-swing, safety holdup) and 4.8 'avoidable hinders' (point or side out: failure to move,](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=2025#hinder-a-word-that-changed-meaning-8) (2025 · Four-wall)
- [Congress adopts the combined playing rules covering four-wall, Wallball, and 60x30 softball and hardball (Official Irish 4-Wall, Softball, Hardball & Wallball Playing Rules (2025), Official Irish 4-Wall, Softball, Hardball & Wallball](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=2025#ie-gaa-handball-four-codes-6) (2025 · One-wall, 60x30, 40x20)
- [USHA One-Wall Rulebook: 20 x 34 ft, wall 20 x 16 ft, short line 16 ft, long line 34 ft; gloves compulsory except 'Big ball ... gloves are optional'; 'big balls can weigh less' (One-Wall Rulebook (2025)); GAA's combined book adds a Wallball](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=2025#one-wall-becomes-its-own-game-11) (2025 · One-wall)
- [USHA 2.2: approved balls 1 7/8 in, 61 g (red), rebound specification; 'USHA White label and/or big balls can weigh less'; the referee approves the ball for each match (Four-Wall Rulebook (2025), One-Wall Rulebook (2025)).](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=2025#the-ball-13) (2025 · Four-wall, One-wall)
- [USHA Four-Wall Rulebook and One-Wall Rulebook 'as of January 26, 2025' (Four-Wall Rulebook (2025), One-Wall Rulebook (2025), Three-Wall Addendum - Changes from Four-Wall Rules (2025)): court 20 x 40 x 20 ft; one-wall 20 x 34 ft with a](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=2025#us-usha-alone-3) (2025 · Four-wall, One-wall, Three-wall)
- [GAA Handball's combined rulebook adds a Wallball section (Official Irish 4-Wall, Softball, Hardball & Wallball Playing Rules (2025): 20 x 34 ft, 16-ft wall, 'Big Blue Wallball' and 'Penn Wallball' balls); SAHA requires eye guards at the](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=2025#us-wallball-organises-5) (2025 · One-wall)
- [A re-laid-out version of the 9 Feb 2025 rules (the four 2026-06 editions: GAA Handball Playing Rules (2025), GAA Handball Playing Rules (2025), GAA Handball Playing Rules (2025), GAA Handball Playing Rules (2025)): Rule 1.1 lists](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=2026#ie-gaa-handball-four-codes-7) (2026 · One-wall, 60x30, 40x20)
- [World Wallball Championships (World Wallball Championships); USWA rules revised 22 Oct 2026.](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=2026#one-wall-becomes-its-own-game-12) (2026 · One-wall)
- [USHA national four-wall champions listed through 2026 (USHA national four-wall handball championships).](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=2026#us-usha-alone-4) (2026 · Four-wall)
- [USWA playing rules 'Revised October 22, 2026' (USWA playing rules (2026): 21 rules, three timeouts) and a World Wallball Championships (World Wallball Championships, 2026; hosted by ICHA with the WHC).](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/timeline/?year=2026#us-wallball-organises-6) (2026 · One-wall)

## Rulebooks (55)

- [The set rules of the game (1889)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/sun-fourwall-1889.md) (1889 · Four-wall)
- A.A.U. handball rules for the first national championship, January 1897 (title not known) (1896) (1896 · Four-wall)
- [Rules and Explanations (1903)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/deshong-fourwall-1903.md) (1903 · Four-wall)
- [New handball rules (Y.M.C.A., Honolulu) (1907)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/ymca-honolulu-1907.md) (1907 · Four-wall)
- Spalding's Official Handball Guide (AAU rules) (1926) (1926 · Four-wall)
- Spalding's Official Handball Guide (AAU rules) (1927) (1927 · Four-wall)
- [Official Handball Playing Rules of the A.A.U. (in Spalding's Official Handball Guide, 1928) (1928)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/aau-fourwall-1928.md) (1928 · Four-wall)
- Hand ball rules; four wall court (1929) (1929 · Four-wall)
- Hand ball rules; single wall court (1929) (1929 · One-wall)
- How to Play Handball ... including official rules for play (1931) (1931 · Four-wall, One-wall)
- Rules for volley ball, ice hockey, hand ball, squash-handball, field-handball, code ball (1932) (1932 · Four-wall)
- Official hand ball rules. Also rules for squash handball, field-handball, code ball, volley ball (1933) (1933 · Four-wall)
- Amateur Athletic Union official rules handball, four-wall, one-wall, four-wall hardball, squash handball, field handball, code ball, volley ball (1934) (1934 · Four-wall, One-wall)
- Amateur Athletic Union official rules handball, four-wall, one-wall, four-wall hardball, code ball, volley ball (1935) (1935 · Four-wall, One-wall)
- Amateur Athletic Union official rules handball, four-wall, one-wall, four-wall hardball, squash handball, field handball, code ball, volley ball (1936) (1936 · Four-wall, One-wall)
- Amateur Athletic Union official rules handball (1939) (1939 · Four-wall)
- Official rules handball (1942) (1942 · Four-wall)
- Official rules handball : four-wall, one-wall, four-wall handball (1949) (1949 · Four-wall)
- Official rules handball : four-wall, one-wall, four-wall handball (1949) (1949 · One-wall)
- Official Handball A.A.U. Rules (1955) (1955 · Four-wall)
- Official Rules, Handball (A.A.U.) (1957) (1957 · Four-wall)
- Seawall Ball, the Atlantic Beach Navy Official... (title truncated) (1959) (1959 · One-wall)
- [The New and Official United States Handball Association One-Wall Rules With Interpretations 2000 (2000)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/usha-onewall-2000.md) (2000 · One-wall)
- [The New and Official United States Handball Association One-Wall Rules With Interpretations (2001)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/usha-onewall-2001-10-07.md) (2001 · One-wall)
- [The New and Official United States Handball Association One-Wall Rules With Interpretations (2002)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/usha-onewall-2002-04-08.md) (2002 · One-wall)
- [The New and Official United States Handball Association One-Wall Rules With Interpretations (2002)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/usha-onewall-2002-08-20.md) (2002 · One-wall)
- [Three-Wall Addendum - Changes from Four-Wall Rules (2004)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/usha-threewall-2004-12.md) (2004 · Three-wall)
- [The Official USHA Handball Rules, 2005 (2005)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/usha-fourwall-2005-01-16.md) (2005 · Four-wall)
- [The Official USHA One-Wall Handball Rules, 2005 (2005)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/usha-onewall-2005-04-01.md) (2005 · One-wall)
- [Schedule 1: These are the rules changes passed by the USHA Board, June 2006 (2006)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/usha-fourwall-2006-06.md) (2006 · Four-wall)
- [Official USHA One-Wall Handball Rules (2005 rules with the June 2006 Board changes incorporated) (2006)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/usha-onewall-2006-06.md) (2006 · One-wall)
- [Schedule 2: These are the rules changes passed by the USHA Board, May 2007 (2007)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/usha-fourwall-2007-05.md) (2007 · Four-wall)
- [The Current Official USHA One-Wall Handball Rules (2008)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/usha-onewall-2008-06.md) (2008 · One-wall)
- [Handball Rules (Abridged for Curriculum) (2010)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/usha-fourwall-abridged-2010-05.md) (2010 · Four-wall)
- [The Official USHA Handball Rules, 2012 (2012)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/usha-fourwall-2012.md) (2012 · Four-wall)
- [The Official USHA Handball Rules, 2014 (2014)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/usha-fourwall-2014.md) (2014 · Four-wall)
- [Official USHA One-Wall Handball Rules (2014)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/usha-onewall-2014-01.md) (2014 · One-wall)
- [Official USHA Handball Rulebook With Interpretations, One-Wall and Three-Wall Addendums (2015)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/usha-fourwall-2015-02-06.md) (2015 · Four-wall, One-wall, Three-wall)
- [One-Wall Addendum - Changes from Four-Wall Rules (2015)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/usha-onewall-2015-02-06.md) (2015 · One-wall)
- [Three-Wall Addendum - Changes from Four-Wall Rules (2015)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/usha-threewall-2015-02-06.md) (2015 · Three-wall)
- [Four-Wall Rulebook (2017)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/usha-fourwall-2017-01-22.md) (2017 · Four-wall)
- [One-Wall Addendum - Changes from Four-Wall Rules (2017)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/usha-onewall-2017-01-22.md) (2017 · One-wall)
- [Three-Wall Addendum - Changes from Four-Wall Rules (2017)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/usha-threewall-2017-01-22.md) (2017 · Three-wall)
- [Four-Wall Rulebook (2019)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/usha-fourwall-2019-01-27.md) (2019 · Four-wall)
- [One-Wall Rulebook (2019)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/usha-onewall-2019-01-27.md) (2019 · One-wall)
- [Four-Wall Rulebook (2020)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/usha-fourwall-2020-01-26.md) (2020 · Four-wall)
- [One-Wall Rulebook (2020)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/usha-onewall-2020-01-26.md) (2020 · One-wall)
- [Four-Wall Rulebook (2021)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/usha-fourwall-2021-01-22.md) (2021 · Four-wall)
- [One-Wall Rulebook (2021)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/usha-onewall-2021-01-22.md) (2021 · One-wall)
- [Four-Wall Rulebook (2022)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/usha-fourwall-2022-01-23.md) (2022 · Four-wall)
- [One-Wall Rulebook (2022)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/usha-onewall-2022-01-23.md) (2022 · One-wall)
- [Four-Wall Rulebook (2024)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/usha-fourwall-2024-01-26.md) (2024 · Four-wall)
- [One-Wall Rulebook (2024)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/usha-onewall-2024-01-26.md) (2024 · One-wall)
- One-Wall Rulebook (2025) (2025 · One-wall)
- [Three-Wall Addendum - Changes from Four-Wall Rules (2025)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/usha-threewall-2025-01-26.md) (2025 · Three-wall)

## Eras (12)

- [Racket courts and saloon alleys: New York before the clubs (1860s-1887)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/eras/us-racket-courts-and-saloon-alleys.md) (Four-wall)
- [The alley game before the Association (-1884)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/eras/ie-alley-game-before-the-gaa.md) (60x30)
- [The GAA's rules and the Atlantic matches (1884-1923)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/eras/ie-gaa-rules-and-the-atlantic-matches.md) (60x30)
- [Casey's court, the Brooklyn Handball Club and The Sun's rules (1887-1896)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/eras/us-casey-brooklyn-and-the-suns-rules.md) (Four-wall)
- [The A.A.U. takes the amateur game; the professionals keep the 'world' title (1896-1919)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/eras/us-aau-amateur-championships.md) (Four-wall)
- [One-wall rises in New York (1915-1922)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/eras/us-one-wall-rises-in-new-york.md) (One-wall)
- [The A.A.U. rule codes: four-wall, one-wall, hardball (1920-1950)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/eras/us-aau-rule-codes.md) (Four-wall, One-wall)
- [The Irish Handball Council: All-Irelands, softball, the 40x20 (1924-2008)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/eras/ie-irish-handball-council.md) (60x30, 40x20)
- [The USHA, the common rules and the end of A.A.U. handball (1951-1978)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/eras/us-usha-and-the-common-rules.md) (Four-wall, One-wall, Three-wall)
- [USHA alone: one body, three codes, online rules (1978-)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/eras/us-usha-alone.md) (Four-wall, One-wall, Three-wall)
- [Wallball organizes: the big ball finds its bodies (1996-)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/eras/us-wallball-organises.md) (One-wall)
- [GAA Handball: four codes, one rulebook (2009-)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/eras/ie-gaa-handball-four-codes.md) (One-wall, 60x30, 40x20)

## Threads (9)

- [One-wall becomes its own game](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/threads/one-wall-becomes-its-own-game.md) (One-wall, Three-wall)
- [Professionals and amateurs: the world title and the A.A.U.](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/threads/professionals-and-amateurs-the-world-title-and-the-aau.md) (Four-wall, 60x30)
- [Who writes the rules: court keeper, newspaper, federation, board](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/threads/who-writes-the-rules.md) (Four-wall, One-wall, 60x30, 40x20)
- [The Irish game abroad and at home](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/threads/the-irish-game-abroad-and-at-home.md) (Four-wall, One-wall, 60x30, 40x20)
- [Hinder: a word that changed meaning](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/threads/hinder-a-word-that-changed-meaning.md) (Four-wall, One-wall, 60x30)
- [The ball: from 'about two inches' to 1 7/8 in and 61 grams](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/threads/the-ball.md) (Four-wall, One-wall, 60x30)
- [The court shrinks: 60 x 30 in Ireland, 65 x 24 to 20 x 40 in America](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/threads/the-court-shrinks.md) (Four-wall, One-wall, 60x30, 40x20)
- [The serve: one ace line, then two lines, then the short line](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/threads/the-serve.md) (Four-wall, One-wall, 60x30)
- [The Y.M.C.A. and the gym game](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/threads/the-ymca-and-the-gym-game.md) (Four-wall, One-wall, Three-wall)

## People (31)

- [Bernard McQuade](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/people/bernard-mcquade.md) (1876)
- [Denis Burns](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/people/denis-burns.md) (1876)
- [James Dunn](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/people/james-dunn.md) (1876)
- [P. J. Meagher](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/people/p-j-meagher.md) (1876)
- [Phil Casey](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/people/phil-casey.md) (1876)
- [Jimmy Burke](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/people/jimmy-burke.md) (1880)
- [William Courtney](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/people/william-courtney.md) (1880)
- [James Dunne](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/people/james-dunne.md) (1883)
- [John Lawlor](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/people/john-lawlor.md) (1887)
- [Thomas F. Cook](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/people/thomas-f-cook.md) (1887)
- [Edward J. Sweeney](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/people/edward-j-sweeney.md) (1891)
- [John C. Carmody](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/people/john-c-carmody.md) (1892)
- [John Egan](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/people/john-egan.md) (1896)
- [Michael J. Egan](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/people/michael-j-egan.md) (1896)
- [Napoleon Lavoie](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/people/napoleon-lavoie.md) (1897)
- [William Schmidt](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/people/william-schmidt.md) (1897)
- [Tommy Gillen](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/people/tommy-gillen.md) (1898)
- [James Fitzgerald](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/people/james-fitzgerald.md) (1899)
- [Oliver Drew](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/people/oliver-drew.md) (1902)
- [A. M. Gillen](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/people/a-m-gillen.md) (1903)
- [Louis Keegan](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/people/louis-keegan.md) (1903)
- [Timothy Twohill](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/people/timothy-twohill.md) (1903)
- [Martin J. Carney](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/people/martin-j-carney.md) (1908)
- [Fred Staddleberger](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/people/fred-staddleberger.md) (1915)
- [J. L. Verstraten](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/people/j-l-verstraten.md) (1915)
- [Bill Ranft](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/people/bill-ranft.md) (1920)
- [Carl Haedge](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/people/carl-haedge.md) (1920)
- [Max Gold](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/people/max-gold.md) (1920)
- [Joe Murray](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/people/joe-murray.md) (1923)
- [Robert L. Ripley](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/people/robert-l-ripley.md) (1928)
- [Charles J. O'Connell](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/people/charles-j-oconnell.md) (1929)

## Organizations (12)

- [New Jersey Handball Club](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/organizations/new-jersey-handball-club.md) (1902 · Four-wall)
- [Irish Handball Council](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/organizations/irish-handball-council.md) (1924 · Four-wall, One-wall, 60x30, 40x20)
- [Confederación Internacional de Pelota a Mano](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/organizations/cijb.md) (1928 · One-wall)
- [St. Albans Handball Association](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/organizations/saha.md) (1996 · One-wall)
- [United States Wallball Association](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/organizations/uswa.md) (2010 · One-wall)
- [Amateur Athletic Union of the United States](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/organizations/aau.md) (Four-wall, One-wall, Three-wall, 60x30)
- [AAU National Handball Committee](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/organizations/aau-national-handball-committee.md) (Four-wall, One-wall, Three-wall)
- [Brooklyn Handball Club](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/organizations/brooklyn-handball-club.md) (Four-wall)
- [Gaelic Athletic Association of Ireland](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/organizations/gaa.md) (Four-wall, 60x30, 40x20)
- [GAA Handball](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/organizations/gaa-handball.md) (One-wall, 60x30, 40x20)
- [Jersey City Handball Club](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/organizations/jersey-city-handball-club.md) (Four-wall)
- [United States Handball Association](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/organizations/usha.md) (Four-wall, One-wall, Three-wall, 60x30)

## Places (8)

- [Phil Casey's court](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/places/phil-caseys-court-brooklyn.md) (1887)
- [Jersey City Handball Court](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/places/jersey-city-handball-court.md) (1893)
- [Brighton Beach Baths handball courts](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/places/brighton-beach-baths-coney-island.md)
- [Lynch's court](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/places/chicago-lynch-w-harrison.md)
- [O'Malley's court](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/places/chicago-omalley-chicago-franklin.md)
- [McQuade's Racket and Hand Ball Court](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/places/mcquades-404-madison-st.md)
- [Bowery Racket Court](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/places/new-york-bowery-racket-court.md)
- [Sweeny's Murray Hill Handball and Racket Court](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/places/sweeneys-murray-hill-159-e-35th.md)

## Championships (14)

- [A.A.U. national amateur handball championship (singles)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/championships/aau-handball-championship.md) (1897 · Four-wall)
- [AAU national four-wall handball championships](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/championships/aau-national-four-wall-championships.md) (1919 · Four-wall)
- [All-Ireland 60x30 Softball Championships](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/championships/gaa-all-ireland-60x30-softball.md) (1925 · 60x30)
- [All-Ireland Hardball Championships](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/championships/gaa-all-ireland-hardball.md) (1925 · 60x30)
- [AAU national three-wall handball championships](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/championships/aau-national-three-wall-championships.md) (1950 · Three-wall)
- [USHA national four-wall handball championships](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/championships/usha-national-four-wall-championships.md) (1951 · Four-wall)
- [USHA national three-wall handball championships](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/championships/usha-national-three-wall-championships.md) (1951 · Three-wall)
- [USHA national one-wall handball championships](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/championships/usha-national-one-wall-championships.md) (1959 · One-wall)
- [All-Ireland 4-Wall Championships](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/championships/gaa-all-ireland-4-wall.md) (1975 · 40x20)
- [Queen of the Courts](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/championships/queen-of-the-courts.md) (1996 · One-wall)
- [Wallball Open Irish Nationals](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/championships/gaa-wallball-open-irish-nationals.md) (1997 · One-wall)
- [King of the Courts](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/championships/king-of-the-courts.md) (1998 · One-wall)
- [Wallball Senior Championships](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/championships/gaa-wallball-senior-championship.md) (2016 · One-wall)
- [World Wallball Championships](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/championships/world-wallball-championships.md) (2026 · One-wall)

## Open questions (105)

- [H-01: The first widely sanctioned American handball rules were published in 1886. This conflicts with H-02](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-01)
- [H-02: The AAU codified handball rules and held a national championship in 1897](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-02)
- [H-03: YMCA and other rule sets were merged into the Unified Handball Rules in 1959](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-03)
- [H-04: USHA has been the sole US governing body since 1978](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-04)
- [H-05: The one-wall rules descend from Brokaw's "American hand ball" (1915/16), via the A.A.U. one-wall rules printed in Spaldi](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-05)
- [H-06: Egan's 1913 "Revised Handball Rules" reuses Deshong's 1903 text](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-06)
- [H-07: The 1909 Official Sporting Rules reprints Y.M.C.A. hand ball rules](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-07)
- [H-10: Michael Egan (author 1913) was also a leading champion player of the 1890s–1900s](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-10)
- [H-11: The "Handball Rules and Explanations" in Spalding's Official Sporting Rules 1894 (James E. Sullivan (comp.), Spalding's](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-11)
- [H-12: Deshong's 1903 "Rules and Explanations" (Michael Egan, Handball and How to Play It (1903) L418) revise the 1893 text (pa](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-12)
- [H-13: The 28 "Gaelic Rules" / "Rules for Irish Hand Ball" printed in US books in 1903, 1914, 1915 and 1923 (Michael Egan, Hand](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-13)
- [H-14: The A.A.U. "Revised Handball Rules … for the Government of the National Championship in Singles" (printed 1903 and again](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-14)
- [H-15: The 1923 A.A.U. four-wall rules (35 numbered rules, Robert L. Ripley (ed.), Spalding's Official Handball Guide (1923) L3](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-15)
- [H-16: LOC item 16024697 (cataloged 1916) is a copy of the 1915 first edition of Brokaw's How to Play American Hand Ball (it pr](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-16)
- [H-17: The digitized LOC copy 13015574 (cataloged 1913) is the 1914 printing of Egan's Hand Ball and How to Play It (it prints](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-17)
- [H-18: Some of the seven "Suggested Rule Changes" in the 1923 guide (Robert L. Ripley (ed.), Spalding's Official Handball Guide](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-18)
- [H-19: The AAU, USHA and YMCA agreed common rules in 1958 (not 1959) and held one tournament; the USHA broke away again in 1961](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-19)
- [H-20: USWA's "Wall Ball Rules" page (dated 2018-08-30 in page markup; saved 2021-04-11) is the older text; the "USWA Official](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-20)
- [H-21: GAA's "Official Irish 1-Wall (Wallball) Playing Rules, As of January 2019" derive from USHA one-wall rules](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-21)
- [H-22: The "Wallball" section of the GAA combined rulebook (2025, 2026-06) replaced the separate GAA 1-wall rules of 2019](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-22)
- [H-23: The CIJB "WALLBALL RULES" (2023) are a one-wall code derived from American one-wall: court 6.10 m x 10.60 m with a 4.90](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-23)
- [H-24: GAA "International 4-Wall (40x20)" rules derive from USHA four-wall rules (same Part/Rule numbering, e.g. 4.7 dead-ball](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-24)
- [H-26: Michael Egan's "How to Play Hand Ball" was Spalding Athletic Library No. 13 in 1909, advertised as "By the world's champ](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-26)
- [H-27: The Y.M.C.A. published hand ball rules in its Official Handbook (Spalding No. 302) by 1909, separate from the A.A.U./Des](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-27)
- [H-28: LC record ca33000972 ("Official rules, handball; four-wall, one-wall, four-wall hardball, codeball, volleyball, horsesho](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-28)
- [H-31: The 1928 Spalding's Official Handball Guide (HT record 100821394, full view) prints AAU four-wall (p. 31), one-wall (p.](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-31)
- [H-32: AAU Official Rules, Handball ran as a serial through the 1950s: HathiTrust holds volumes labeled 1955, 1957 and 1960 (re](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-32)
- [H-33: By August 1908 the AAU constitution claimed jurisdiction over handball (Art. X, "4. Handball", one of 12 sports)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-33)
- [H-50: The 1923 A.A.U. one-wall rules (35 rules, A.A.U. One-Wall Rules (1922)) were not drafted as a revision of Brokaw's 1915](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-50)
- [H-51: The A.A.U. 1922 short line "at least 13 feet from the board" (A.A.U. One-Wall Rules (1922) R1) keeps Brokaw's service-li](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-51)
- [H-54: The 1903 (Deshong), 1914 (Egan) and 1915 (Brokaw) printings of the GAA rules were printed from the same plates (American](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-54)
- [H-55: The 1923 reading "two-thirds of the length from the short wall" (GAA rules, R1 Note, Robert L. Ripley (ed.), Spalding's](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-55)
- [H-56: The parenthesis in R2 of the 1923 guide's A.A.U. four-wall rules ("Spalding's No. 101 ball is used in the national champ](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-56)
- [H-57: The 1903 revision of Deshong's "Rules and Explanations" (Rules and Explanations (1903)) was a publisher's update of the](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-57)
- [H-58: In Brokaw's rules "one service" (Rules of American Hand Ball (1916) R13 two hinders, R29 two consecutive points at 20-al](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-58)
- [H-62: Same claim as the second row headed "H-57" (R15, Brokaw review: the A.A.U. one-wall rules of 1922 were drafted by adapti](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-62)
- [H-63: The A.A.U. four-wall text printed in 1923 (Official Handball Rules of the Amateur Athletic Union of the United States (1](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-63)
- [H-64: The orphan 'covered balls' in Official Handball Rules of the Amateur Athletic Union of the United States (1923) R24 is a](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-64)
- [H-65: The seven 'Suggested Rule Changes' of the 1923 guide (p. 73) aimed to bring the four-wall rules into line with the A.A.U](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-65)
- [H-67: The A.A.U. 'short line' (the line a serve must pass) and 'service line' (the front limit of the server's zone) of 1920-1](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-67)
- [H-70: The second service line of the 1893 rules ('within the two parallel lines', 'stepping beyond the inner line', Rules and](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-70)
- [H-72: The foot ban, the referee-and-scorer apparatus and the glove/bare-feet clauses of Revised Handball Rules of the Amateur](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-72)
- [H-74: The 'full regulation Spalding ball' of the 1903 A.A.U. rules (Revised Handball Rules of the Amateur Athletic Union of Am](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-74)
- [H-75: The USWA rules (2018 'Wall Ball Rules', 2018 'USWA Official Rules', 2026 'USWA playing rules') are a tournament officiat](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-75)
- [H-76: 'N.Y.H.A.' in rule 12 of both 2018 USWA texts (a penalty that bars players from N.Y.H.A. tournaments) shows the USWA rul](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-76)
- [H-78: The first A.A.U. handball championship (Jersey City, 7-8 Jan 1897) was played under rules the A.A.U. adopted from The Su](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-78)
- [H-80: The American obstruction sense of 'hinder' (interference with a player's chance to play the ball, replayed if unintentio](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-80)
- [H-81: 'Covered ball' in the A.A.U. four-wall rules of 1920/1921 (Hand Ball (1920) R20: a player 'prevented by an adversary fro](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-81)
- [H-83: The A.A.U. 35-rule four-wall text first printed in the handbook in force 1 Jan 1920 (Hand Ball (1920)) was drafted afres](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-83)
- [H-84: The USHA magazine began in 1950 as 'Ace' (Internet Archive SIM record) rather than 1951 (USHA's own history); renamed 'H](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-84)
- [H-85: The Madison Street court in New York named as 'Hogan's/Kogins' in The Sun of 1880-11-24 is Regan's hand ball and racquet](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-85)
- [H-86: Phil Casey was already a Brooklyn alderman (Tenth Ward) and a champion handball player in 1880, i.e. the Brooklyn handba](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-86)
- [H-87: Casey v Lawlor (Cork racquet court, Grattan Street, 4 Aug 1887, 21 games for 400 pounds/ $2000 a side; Lawlor won 6-4 in](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-87)
- [H-88: A New York 'Metropolitan Committee' of handball and racket players (chair James Dunn, vice chair Denis Burns, treasurer](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-88)
- [H-89: The 'set rules of the game' printed in The Sun of 17 March 1889 p.7 (21 aces; ball c.2 in, 1 1/3 oz; ace line in the cen](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-89)
- [H-90: Phil Casey's own court moved from the corner of Hoyt and Douglass Streets, Brooklyn (c.No. 111 Douglass St; in use Nov 1](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-90)
- [H-91: The Sun (New York) proposed on 27 Oct 1890 (article A Change in the Style of Play) that service be restricted, either by](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-91)
- [H-92: A handball convention planned at Cork for July 1896 (Dunne and Casey to represent America) was meant to arrange uniform](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-92)
- [H-93: John Egan, proprietor of the Jersey City Handball Court (223 Mercer St, opened 29 Aug 1893), was the brother of Mike (Mi](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-93)
- [H-94: The Houston Daily Post's 23 numbered handball rules (13 Mar 1898, p.15) were set from a NUMBERED printing of the code fi](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-94)
- [H-97: By April 1915 one-wall handball, played outdoors with gloves, was a tournament game in New York City: the Evening World](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-97)
- [H-98: James Dunn (chair of the Metropolitan Committee, New York, Feb 1876; 'Alderman James Dunn' 1874-76) and James Dunne (ex-](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-98)
- [H-99: Until about 1902 the championship-match convention in the Jersey City/Brooklyn game was service from a centre space; the](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-99)
- [H-100: Handball was played in New York racket courts and saloon alleys before 1860: the Clipper's April 1860 notice 'Hand Ball](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-100)
- [H-101: The A.A.U.'s era as American handball's rule-maker ends with the 1950 championships: ushandball.org's champions page lab](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-101)
- [H-102: The Irish Amateur Handball Association (first meeting 27 Jan 1924, from a secondary source) and the Irish Handball Counc](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-102)
- [H-103: GAA Handball became the name of the Irish governing body in 2009, succeeding the Irish Handball Council; this record has](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-103)
- [H-104: Irish 60x30 softball was a separate championship code by 1925 (the All-Ireland senior softball roll begins in 1925, All-](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-104)
- [H-105: The Sun's 1889 code already provided for courts 'with boundary lines drawn, and no side walls' (The set rules of the gam](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-105)
- [H-106: The USHA four-wall court of 20 x 40 ft (Four-Wall Rulebook (2025) Rule 2.1/A) replaced the A.A.U.'s 24 x 48 ft court (Of](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-106)
- [H-107: The era of USHA as the sole US governing body (USHA alone: one body, three codes, online rules (1978-)) begins in 1978 o](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-107)
- [H-109: The seven 'new rules for hand ball' printed in the Honolulu Hawaiian Star on 23 Oct 1907 as adopted on the Y.M.C.A. cour](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-109)
- [H-111: The four-wall hand-ball code printed as 'Hand Ball Rules' in Ed. James, Manual of Sporting Rules (New York: Ed. James, 8](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-111)
- [H-113: The March 1922 A.A.U. national handball championships at the Milwaukee Athletic Club were played one-wall, not four-wall](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-113)
- [H-114: The twelve 'regulation' handball courts that the Brighton Beach Baths (Coney Island) opened free to the public in May 19](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-114)
- [H-115: The Wheeling Intelligencer's serial 'HAND BALL RULES' of 17-18 May 1922 (rules 1-14 and 15 onward; sn86092536 p7) is a n](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-115)
- [H-118: The title line 'With Interpretations and One-Wall and Three-Wall Addendum Revised 1991' dates the whole USHA rulebook pu](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-118)
- [H-119: USHA adopts rule changes at board meetings and dates its rulebook texts by them: printed dates found are 'amended June 2](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-119)
- [H-120: The USHA four-wall rules of 2005 (amended Jan. 16, 2005; published as of April 15, 2005) are a revision of the 1999 text](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-120)
- [H-121: An undated Irish Handball Council rule book, titled 'Official Playing Rules' and sponsored by The Willwood Sports Founda](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-121)
- [H-122: Phil Casey died on 11 July 1904 (headstone and Find a Grave memorial 170807793), not 12 July as Phil Casey, for 25 years](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-122)
- [H-123: H-32 update: the AAU's 1960 Official Rules Handball (copyright 1960) lists 'United Four-Wall Rules Adopted by A.A.U.-Y.M](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-123)
- [H-124: AAU Official Rules Handball 1962 (copyright 1962) still prints 'Unified Four-Wall Rules Adopted by A.A.U.-Y.M.C.A.-U.S.H](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-124)
- [H-125: The unified four-wall rules were prepared by a 'Unified Handball Rules Committee' of four bodies (USHA, YMCA, AAU, JWB)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-125)
- [H-126: A later unified booklet 'Handball Official Unified Playing Rules for Four Wall, Three Wall, One Wall courts' names only](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-126)
- [H-127: The 1952 YMCA Handball Rules (National Y.M.C.A. Handball Committee) and the 1940 YMCA Hand Ball Rules (revised Feb. 15,](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-127)
- [H-128: The AAU's 1962 handball book dates the three-wall jai-alai type court's official opening to November 29, 1959 at Forrest](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-128)
- [H-129: The 1968 'Handball Official Unified Playing Rules' booklet (AAU-JWB-YMCA) is a revision of the 1958 four-organization un](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-129)
- [H-130: The 1963 'Official rules' recorded in a UK union catalog (Open Library OL19862672M; author heading 'Irish Handball Assoc](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-130)
- [H-131: The 46-page 'The New and official United States Handball Association rulebook: with interpretations, one-wall, and three](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-131)
- [H-132: The Open Library record 'Official unified handball rules: AAU-YMCA-JWB for four-wall, three-wall, & one-wall courts. Off](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-132)
- [H-133: The AAU still issued an 'Official Handball Rules' in 1983 (cited 'Official handball rules, New York, 1983, The Amateur A](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-133)
- [H-134: The 'official rules for play' printed in O'Connell, How to Play Handball (American Sports Publishing, c1931, 104 p., Spa](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-134)
- [H-135: Spalding's Official Handball Guide issues registered 30 Dec 1925 (A875688; LC 26010065) and 16 July 1927 (A997984; LC 27](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-135)
- [H-136: The 'Y.M.C.A. Hand Ball Rules' indexed in 1909 (Y.M.C.A. Hand Ball Rules (index entry) (1909)) are the YMCA single-wall-](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-136)
- [H-137: The AAU one-wall text reprinted in H. C. Buck's Rules of Games and Sports (YMCA Publishing House, Calcutta; 1943-44, c.1](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-137)
- [H-138: The A.A.U. Hard Ball Rules printed in O'Connell, How to Play Handball (1931, pp. 102-104; A.A.U. Hard Ball Rules (in Cha](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-138)
- [H-139: The YMCA single-wall 'Hand Ball Rules' revised at Thousand Island Park in June 1900 (Hand Ball Rules (1900); printed 190](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-139)
- [H-140: The revised YMCA single-wall text first seen in the 1913 handbook (Hand Ball Rules: Single Wall Court (1913): 'Revised b](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-140)
- [H-141: The June 1900 Thousand Island Park single-wall revision was adopted by the Athletic League's Governing Committee in 1900](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-141)
- [H-142: The handball rules in Draper & Maynard's Official Rules of 1 April 1931 (31 rules, 'Governed by the Amateur Athletic Uni](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-142)
- [H-146: USHA's one-wall rules were revised between 1998-01-28 and 1999-08-23: the 1999-08-23 interpretations page renumbers the](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-146)
- [H-147: The USHA began in 1950 as a Players' Fraternity pulled together by Bob Kendler and became an operating national body wit](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-147)
- [H-148: The USHA magazine's 1971 tribute to Charles J. O'Connell (Handball, Dec 1971 p.17) credits him with 'instrumental constr](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-148)
- [H-149: The USHA Hall of Fame page's first inductions (Al Banuet and Joe Platak, 1954; then 1955, 1957, 1959...) are the Helms A](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-149)

## Corrections

Found a mistake, or a source we missed? Email perfectshipllc@gmail.com with the subject "History correction: Explore (/history/explore/)". Please name the page and, if you can, the source.