Governance timeline

Who adopted the handball rulebooks, and when. 28 rulebook texts of 90 name an adopting body: 7 bodies, 16 adoptions, and 5 chairs with 7 dated roles. The other 62 name no body, or give only an as-of date.

Status: automatic. A program built this from the research records; no person has reviewed it yet. Where the book does not say in words which body adopted it, the link is marked as inferred. No rulebook is named here; they appear as counts and code names, so rulebooks whose text is not published are counted too.

Skip the timeline to the tables

Key

1900191019201930194019501960197019801990200020102020Physical Directors' Conference, 1900: meeting date on record, body inferred; 1 rulebookPhysical Directors' Society, 1915: meeting date on record, body stated; 1 rulebookAmateur Athletic Union of the United States, 1922: meeting date on record, body inferred; 1 rulebookAmateur Athletic Union of the United States, 1927: meeting date on record, body inferred; 1 rulebookAAU National Handball Committee, 1931: rulebook date only, body inferred; 3 rulebooksUnited States Handball Association, 1990: rulebook date only, body inferred; 1 rulebookUnited States Handball Association, 1994: rulebook date only, body inferred; 1 rulebookUnited States Handball Association, 1999: rulebook date only, body inferred; 2 rulebooksUnited States Handball Association, 2005: rulebook date only, body inferred; 2 rulebooksUnited States Handball Association, 2006: meeting date on record, body stated; 3 rulebooksUnited States Handball Association, 2007: meeting date on record, body stated; 1 rulebookUnited States Handball Association, 2008: rulebook date only, body inferred; 1 rulebookUnited States Handball Association, 2014: rulebook date only, body inferred; 1 rulebookGAA Handball, 2025: meeting date on record, body inferred; 8 rulebooksUnited States Wallball Association, 2026: rulebook date only, body inferred; 1 rulebookCharles J. O'Connell, Vice-Chairman, Handball Committee (AAU), 1931: first and last year in print; term not printedCharles J. O'Connell, Chairman, National Handball Committee (AAU), 1956–1965: term as printedCharles J. O'Connell, Chairman of the Unified Handball Rules Committee (YMCA, AAU, USHA, JWB), 1960: term as printedJ. Rogers Flannery, Chairman, National Handball Committee (AAU), 1931: first and last year in print; term not printedJoe Templeton, Chairman, USHA Rules Committee, 1960: first and last year in print; term not printedRobert Quinn, Chairman, National Handball Committee (AAU), 1966–1968: term as printedPete Tyson, USHA Rules and Referees Chairman, 1998–2000: first and last year in print; term not printed
Timeline from 1900 to 2026: one lane for each of 7 adopting bodies with a mark for each adoption, then one lane for each of 7 published roles with a bar over its years. The same facts follow as two tables.

Adoptions by body

Each row is one meeting, or one rulebook date where no meeting is named. A rulebook is a text state of one code at one date.

Rulebooks with a linked adopting body, in date order within each body
BodyMeetingDatePlaceChairRulebooksHow sure
Physical Directors' ConferencePhysical Directors' ConferenceJune 1900Thousand Island Park1 rulebook: American one-wall, small ballBody: inferred; meeting: stated
Physical Directors' SocietyPhysical Directors' Society meetingMay 1915Asilomar, Cal.1 rulebook: American four-wallBody: stated; meeting: stated
Amateur Athletic Union of the United StatesAAU Annual MeetingNovember 20, 19221 rulebook: American one-wall, small ballBody: inferred; meeting: stated
Amateur Athletic Union of the United StatesAAU Annual MeetingNovember 20, 19271 rulebook: American one-wall, small ballBody: inferred; meeting: stated
AAU National Handball CommitteeNone named1931 (rulebook)J. Rogers Flannery3 rulebooks: American four-wall; American four-wall hardball (1930s-40s); American one-wall, small ballBody: inferred; chair: inferred
United States Handball AssociationNone named1990 (rulebook)Pete Tyson1 rulebook: American four-wallBody: inferred; chair: inferred
United States Handball AssociationNone named1994 (rulebook)1 rulebook: American one-wall, small ballBody: inferred
United States Handball AssociationNone named1999 (rulebook)1 rulebook: American four-wallBody: inferred
United States Handball AssociationNone named1999 (rulebook)Pete Tyson1 rulebook: American four-wallBody: inferred; chair: inferred
United States Handball AssociationNone named2005 (rulebook)2 rulebooks: American four-wall; American one-wall, small ballBody: inferred
United States Handball AssociationUSHA BoardJune 20063 rulebooks: American one-wall, small ball; American four-wallBody: stated; meeting: stated
United States Handball AssociationUSHA BoardMay 20071 rulebook: American four-wallBody: stated; meeting: stated
United States Handball AssociationNone named2008 (rulebook)1 rulebook: American one-wall, small ballBody: inferred
United States Handball AssociationNone named2014 (rulebook)1 rulebook: American one-wall, small ballBody: inferred
GAA HandballCongressFebruary 9, 20258 rulebooks: International four-wall (40x20); Irish handball, hardball (60x30 alley game); Irish handball, softball (60x30); Irish one-wall / Wallball (GAA)Body: inferred; meeting: stated
United States Wallball AssociationNone named2026 (rulebook)1 rulebook: American one-wall, big ball (wallball)Body: inferred

Published roles

These are the chairs named in the sources. Each is shown by name and published role only, because a person may be living. A hatched bar is not a tenure: it covers the years the role appears in print, and the term may have been longer.

Published roles of the people named as chairs
NameRoleBodyFromToWhat the dates meanHow sure
Charles J. O'ConnellVice-Chairman, Handball Committee (AAU)AAU National Handball Committee19311931First and last year in print; term not printedstated in the book
Charles J. O'ConnellChairman, National Handball Committee (AAU)AAU National Handball Committee19561965Term as printedstated in the book; read from photographs of a booklet, not yet checked against a copy
Charles J. O'ConnellChairman of the Unified Handball Rules Committee (YMCA, AAU, USHA, JWB)Amateur Athletic Union of the United States19601960Term as printedstated in the book; read from photographs of a booklet, not yet checked against a copy
J. Rogers FlanneryChairman, National Handball Committee (AAU)AAU National Handball Committee19311931First and last year in print; term not printedstated in the book
Joe TempletonChairman, USHA Rules CommitteeUnited States Handball Association19601960First and last year in print; term not printedstated in the book; read from photographs of a booklet, not yet checked against a copy
Robert QuinnChairman, National Handball Committee (AAU)AAU National Handball Committee19661968Term as printedstated in the book; read from photographs of a booklet, not yet checked against a copy
Pete TysonUSHA Rules and Referees ChairmanUnited States Handball AssociationMay 19, 1998September 14, 2000First and last year in print; term not printedstated in the book

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