Handball

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Professionals and amateurs: the world title and the A.A.U.

1872-1951 · American four-wall, Irish 60x30 (hardball and softball)

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American handball had two championships for thirty years. The older one was professional and press-conferred: stake matches for $1,000 (Chicago v Brooklyn, 1872), 'champion of America' and 'champion of the world' decided at Sweeny's and Casey's courts, Casey's title after Lawlor (1887), then Carney, Fitzgerald, Egan, Drew, Twohill, Bowles and Kelly trading the words 'world's champion' in the papers until 1922, with no body ever awarding them. The younger one was amateur and institutional: a Brooklyn club tournament with gold medals (1889), and from November 1896 the A.A.U.'s national championship, created on the Jersey City club's application under the Sun's rules and won first by a nineteen-year-old Mike Egan, who turned professional within three years and was 'the world's champion' by 1900. The two lines shared courts, rules, balls and players; the amateur line won. By 1908 the A.A.U. constitution claimed handball, by 1916 schools and colleges played under it, by 1919 it wrote the rules and ran a national every year, and the last 'world title' claim in the facts is a pair of Brooklyn doubles players in 1922. When the players founded their own body in 1951 it was an amateur association.

The take

The 'championship of the world' was never a title anyone could lose except in print, and that is why the amateur line replaced it: the A.A.U. could sanction, schedule and record. The received history keeps the professionals as color; the facts show they held the rules (Casey's court, the Sun's code) until a federation adopted them.

Moments in order

22 moments. Each shows its status in words and its source.

  1. 19 June 1872 · Documented

    A $1,000 'championship' match: Casey and Everett of Brooklyn against O'Brien and Foley of Chicago, the first five games at Chicago. The professional title begins as a purse.

    Source: Chicago Tribune (Chicago), 14 June 1872, p. 6

  2. 22 February 1876 · Documented

    New York's handball and racket players elect a Metropolitan Committee at McQuade's court to hold an international tournament and form a permanent organization; nothing follows (H-88).

    Source: The New York Herald (New York), 5 March 1876, p. 6

  3. 1880-1886 · Documented

    Stake matches make champions: $100 a side at Madison Street (1880); a Chicago doubles match billed as the 'amateur championship of the United States' (1881); Dunne v McQuade for the 'championship' and Casey, 'champion of the world', at Sweeny's (1884-85); Dunne v the Spaniard 'for the championship of America', $200 a side (1886).

    Source: The Sun (New York), 24 November 1880, p. 1. Also: Chicago Daily Tribune (Chicago), 19 September 1881, p. 8; The Sun (New York), 10 October 1884, p. 1; The Sun (New York), 9 April 1885, p. 3; The Sun (New York), 23 February 1886, p. 3

  4. 4 August 1887 to 29 November 1887 · Documented

    Casey beats Lawlor of Dublin over Cork and Brooklyn for the 'championship of the world', a title the papers would still credit him with at his death in 1904.

    Source: The Sun (New York), 5 August 1887, p. 3. Also: The Sun (New York), 30 November 1887, p. 3

  5. 1888-1889 · Documented

    Keenan of Australia challenges Casey (1888). The Brooklyn Handball Club holds a three-class tournament at Degraw Street with gold medals (1889): the earliest amateur-style competition in the facts, run by the professional champion's club.

    Source: Evening Post, 28 May 1888, "Additional Mail News" (Papers Past). Also: The Sun (New York), 12 March 1889, p. 6

  6. 1893 · Documented

    John Egan opens a court at 223 Mercer Street, Jersey City, with Casey, Lawlor and McQuade invited; Deshong's Spalding book is announced. The next generation's court and the first rule book.

    Source: The Jersey City News (Jersey City), 29 August 1893, p. 4. Also: The Jersey City News (Jersey City), 31 October 1893, p. 4

  7. 17 November 1896 to 4 December 1896 · Documented · A turning point

    The A.A.U. takes jurisdiction over amateur handball and its Board creates a national championship on the Jersey City club's application, adopting the Sun's rules; John Egan challenges on behalf of his brother Mike for the amateur championship of America. A governing body begins for half the game.

    Source: The Evening Times (Washington, D.C.), 9 November 1896, p. 3. Also: The Sun (New York), 18 November 1896, p. 4; The Jersey City News (Jersey City), 5 December 1896, p. 3; The Jersey City News (Jersey City), 20 October 1896, p. 3

  8. 7 January 1897 to 29 April 1898 · Documented

    The first A.A.U. national, Jersey City, won by Michael J. Egan, aged 19; the second (1898) split between Jersey City and Brooklyn, Egan retaining the title after losing a leg to Dr Gillen.

    Source: The Jersey City News (Jersey City), 9 January 1897, p. 3. Also: The Jersey City News (Jersey City), 1 April 1898, p. 3

  9. 4 July 1897 to 25 March 1900 · Documented

    Meanwhile the professional title changes hands at Casey's court and in Chicago: Carney beats Fitzgerald for the 'world's championship' (July 1897) and defends against Keegan; Fitzgerald and Keegan beat Carney at Chicago (January 1900); Corby and Lawlor beat Egan and Scott at Greenpoint (March 1900).

    Source: Worcester Morning Daily Spy (Worcester), 5 July 1897, p. 5. Also: Kansas City Journal (Kansas City), 15 November 1897, p. 5; New-York Tribune (New York), 16 January 1900, p. 6; The Jersey City News (Jersey City), 26 March 1900, p. 3

  10. 9 July 1899 to 25 November 1901 · Documented

    The lines cross: Fitzgerald, backed by Alderman Dunne for $1,000, challenges Egan, 'former three-year amateur champion turned professional' (1899); in 1901 Egan challenges Fitzgerald for $1,000 a side, both claiming the championship, and no match is reported.

    Source: The Jersey City News (Jersey City), 10 July 1899, p. 3. Also: The Jersey City News (Jersey City), 25 November 1901, p. 4

  11. 22 May 1902 to 3 April 1904 · Documented

    The world title as a series: Drew beats Egan 4-3 at Jersey City, first of a planned best-of-15 for $250 a side, under written conditions (21 aces, service from inside a short line, an 'alley cracker' ball); the series is 'postponed indefinitely' in a dispute over conditions; Egan beats Keegan 8-1 for the 'national' title (1903) and Twohill 7-0 in an 'international' match (1903), then Fitzgerald at San Francisco (1904); a Drew rematch is postponed.

    Source: Waterbury Democrat (Waterbury), 8 May 1902, p. 7. Also: The Jersey City News (Jersey City), 23 May 1902, p. 3; The Jersey City News (Jersey City), 28 May 1902, p. 3; San Antonio Daily Light (San Antonio), 21 March 1903, p. 6; The Minneapolis Journal (Minneapolis), 26 May 1903, p. 18; The San Francisco Call (San Francisco), 24 March 1904, p. 10; Waterbury Evening Democrat (Waterbury), 30 January 1904, p. 9

  12. 23 June 1903 to 12 July 1904 · Documented

    The old title retires with its holder: a wire story says Casey held the world's championship for thirty years and resigned it in 1896; he dies in Brooklyn in July 1904, 'for 25 years handball champion of the world'.

    Source: The Worcester Spy (Worcester), 24 June 1903, p. 3. Also: New-York Tribune (New York), 13 July 1904, p. 4

  13. 9 January 1904 to 29 August 1905 · Documented

    'The world's champion' becomes a publisher's credit: notices of Mike Egan's handball book (1904), Spalding No. 13 'by the world's champion' (1905), and a benefit for Egan's illness at the Olympic Club. Whether the author and the 1897 amateur champion are one man is H-10; H-26 traces the credit.

    Source: Lewiston Evening Teller (Lewiston), 11 January 1904, p. 4. Also: The Spokane Press (Spokane), 29 August 1905, p. 2; Waterbury Evening Democrat (Waterbury), 18 March 1905, p. 9

  14. 12 January 1905 to July 1908 · Documented

    Drew's turn: he beats Ordoizoiti for an 'international' championship (1905), is 'fast coming to be recognized as the champion handball player of the world' (1906), is hired as instructor by the Illinois Athletic Club (1907), and loses to Martin Carney at Chicago (1908). The professional title has become a club appointment.

    Source: Waterbury Evening Democrat (Waterbury), 13 January 1905, p. 9. Also: Waterbury Evening Democrat (Waterbury), 2 April 1906, p. 9; The San Antonio Light (San Antonio), 28 November 1907, p. 6; The Washington Times (Washington, D.C.), 31 July 1908, p. 10

  15. 8 April 1905 to August 1908 · Documented

    The amateur side acquires authority: a Yale dispute is referred to 'the handball expert' of the A.A.U. (1905); by August 1908 the A.A.U. constitution lists handball among the sports it claims jurisdiction over (H-33).

    Source: The New Haven Union (New Haven), 8 April 1905, p. 1

  16. 11 July 1909 · Documented

    Bowles of Limerick against Kelly of Brooklyn for the 'International Handball Championship of the World': the last professional world-title match reported in the facts.

    Source: The Richmond Palladium and Sun-Telegram (Richmond), 15 January 1909, p. 2

  17. 1913-1916 · Documented

    The amateur game spreads through institutions: a Newark paper gives the A.A.U. ball size and names Egan 'the champion' (1913); an intercollegiate league is 'now being formed' in February 1916, Yale inviting Columbia; the Public Schools Athletic League adopts handball (1916).

    Source: Newark Evening Star and Newark Advertiser (Newark), 6 May 1913, p. 12. Also: Chicago Eagle (Chicago), 5 February 1916, p. 8; The Sun (New York), 13 December 1916, p. 14

  18. 6 April 1915 · Documented

    James Dunne, 'amateur champion of the world' by the Tribune's obituary and founder of the Brooklyn Handball Club, dies aged 73.

    Source: New-York Tribune (New York), 7 April 1915, p. 9

  19. 1919-1920 · Documented

    The A.A.U. national runs every year from 1919 (Los Angeles, Ranft); the Union warns its associations off the Detroit A.C.'s unsanctioned 'junior national' (1920); the same autumn Jim Kelly, 'world's champion', and Pete Burke play leather-ball exhibitions at Casey's old Degraw Street court. Sanction on one side, memory on the other.

    Source: Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), 28 April 1919, p. 17. Also: New-York Tribune (New York), 8 April 1920, p. 12; The Washington Times (Washington, D.C.), 24 September 1920, p. 18

  20. 14 June 1922 · Documented

    Heaney and Bryan, 'Brooklyn doubles claimants of the world title': the last world-title claim in the facts.

    Source: The New York Herald (New York), 14 June 1922, p. 14

  21. 20 November 1923 to 26 December 1923 · Documented

    The A.A.U. awards 1924 nationals in four-wall (senior and junior), one-wall and hard-ball: the amateur body now defines the codes as well as the champions.

    Source: The Seattle Star (Seattle), 20 November 1923, p. 13

  22. 1951 · Documented

    The players' own body, the USHA, begins its national championships (four-wall at Chicago, three-wall at Detroit) as an amateur association: the professional line has no successor. Highlight in The USHA, the common rules and the end of A.A.U. handball (1951-1978).

    Source: US Handball Association, "National Champions" (seen 28 October 2026)

What the sources do not show

  • No body ever awarded the professional 'championship of the world'; its line is a chain of press epithets and challenge notices, several of them (1899, 1901, 1906) without a reported match.
  • A.A.U. championship results 1899-1918 are not in this record; the ushandball.org list starts at 1919 (G2).
  • Whether the 1897 amateur champion, the 1900-04 'world's champion' and the author of the Spalding book are one Michael Egan (H-10) is unproven; the person records are kept separate.
  • Casey's 'thirty years' and 'twenty-five years' as champion are obituary arithmetic, not a dated title; his 1896 'resignation' has no contemporary report.
  • Stakes and purses are press figures; no articles of agreement survive except the 1902 Egan-Drew conditions as reported.
  • The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, the paper of Casey's and Dunne's city, is unread for the whole period; the Chicago side (Carney, Keegan, the Illinois A.C.) is known from wire stories.
  • A.A.U. minutes for 1896, 1908, 1919-1923 are not saved; the Union's jurisdiction claim is known from a handbook page (H-33) and press notices.
  • Whether professional handball continued anywhere after 1922 (club instructors, exhibitions, the leather ball) has not been looked for.

Eras this thread crosses

Sources