Handball

Thread

The Y.M.C.A. and the gym game

1898-1968 · American four-wall, One-wall (small and big ball), Three-wall

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The Young Men's Christian Association ran a parallel handball from the 1890s to the 1960s, in gymnasiums rather than saloon courts or athletic clubs, and it wrote its own rules. The Athletic League's handbook of 1899 prints a thirteen-rule hand-ball code approved by the Physical Directors' Conference in 1898; a committee at Thousand Island Park revised it in June 1900 as rules for a single-wall court, printed in the handbooks from 1904 to 1913, fifteen years before Brokaw's 'American hand ball' and the A.A.U.'s one-wall code; the Physical Directors' Society adopted four-wall court rules at Asilomar in May 1915. Branches adopted local rules (Honolulu, 1907), fielded teams (Washington, 1909), owned one-wall courts (Norwich, 1916) and the field next to which the first one-wall tournament match was reported (the West Side Y.M.C.A., 1915); a Y.M.C.A. hosted the 1921 A.A.U. nationals and a West Side Y.M.C.A. man won the Metropolitan titles of 1921-22. The General Board registered four-wall and single-wall leaflets in 1929, revised its rules in 1940 and again in 1952 under a National Y.M.C.A. Handball Committee, built the first all-glass court (Aurora, 1958, secondary), and sat on the Unified Handball Rules Committee of 1958-60 with the A.A.U., the USHA and the Jewish Welfare Board; the 1968 unified booklet was issued by the A.A.U., the J.W.B. and the Y.M.C.A. without the USHA.

The take

The Y.M.C.A. is the missing third author of American handball: a national code older than the A.A.U.'s own writing (1920), a one-wall text older than any other we hold, and a committee seat at the unification. This record now has its texts for 1899-1915 and photographs of its covers for 1940-1968; what it lacks is the Association's own championship record and the date it stopped.

Moments in order

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

  1. 1898-1899 · Documented

    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.

    Source: Athletic League of the Young Men's Christian Associations of North America, Official Handbook (1899)

  2. June 1900 · Documented · A turning point

    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 (Canada), 1906, 1907 and 1910: the earliest one-wall rules text in this record.

    Source: Athletic League of the Young Men's Christian Associations of Canada, Official Handbook (1904), pp. 79-81

    Read the rulebook: Hand Ball Rules

  3. 19 October 1907 to 5 March 1908 · Documented

    Honolulu: the Y.M.C.A. courts adopt seven new rules (eleven-point games, a red boundary line, a limit of three games when others wait), printed in two papers (New handball rules (Y.M.C.A., Honolulu) (1907)); the branch runs a tournament 'for the championship of the Territory' in 1908. Local rules, not the national text (H-109).

    Source: The Hawaiian Star (Honolulu), 23 October 1907, p. 6. Also: The Pacific Commercial Advertiser (Honolulu), 19 October 1907, p. 5; The Hawaiian Star (Honolulu), 4 March 1908, p. 6

    Read the rulebook: New handball rules (Y.M.C.A., Honolulu)

  4. 1909 · Documented

    Spalding's Official Sporting Rules indexes 'Y.M.C.A. Hand Ball Rules' in the Association's own handbook, No. 302 (Y.M.C.A. Hand Ball Rules (index entry) (1909) is a pointer to the single-wall text, H-136); the Washington Y.M.C.A. fields a first team in 'a newly developed sport'.

    Source: Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), 6 April 1909, p. 13. Also: [James E.] Sullivan, Official Sporting Rules (1909)

  5. 1913 · Documented

    The single-wall text is revised by J. H. Scott for the 1913 handbook (Hand Ball Rules: Single Wall Court (1913)): an 'Irish Ace' ball named, a shorter rule 10, a fourth kind of hinder (H-140).

    Source: Athletic League of the Young Men's Christian Associations of North America, Official Handbook (1913), p. 119

    Read the rulebook: Hand Ball Rules: Single Wall Court

  6. May 1915 · Documented

    The Physical Directors' Society, meeting at Asilomar, California, adopts rules for the four-wall court, printed in the 1915 handbook after the single-wall rules (Hand Ball Rules: Four Wall Court (1915)): the Y.M.C.A. now has both codes in print, five years before the A.A.U. drafts its own.

    Source: Athletic League of the Young Men's Christian Associations of North America, Official Handbook (1915), p. 181

    Read the rulebook: Hand Ball Rules: Four Wall Court

  7. April 1915 to February 1916 · Documented

    The first one-wall tournament match reported is at the Van Kelton Field 'next door' to the West Side Y.M.C.A. (April 1915); the Norwich, Connecticut, Y.M.C.A. has a one-wall court on its street floor (1916). The gym game and the playground game are neighbors.

    Source: The Evening World (New York), 26 April 1915, p. 12. Also: Norwich Bulletin (Norwich), 17 February 1916, p. 8

  8. 16 November 1920 to 12 November 1922 · Documented

    The A.A.U. convention awards the 1921 senior nationals to the Detroit Y.M.C.A.; Jack Byrne of the West Side Y.M.C.A. wins the Metropolitan A.A.U. championship (1921) and the Metropolitan one-wall singles (1922).

    Source: The Birmingham Age-Herald (Birmingham), 16 November 1920, p. 10. Also: The New York Herald (New York), 12 December 1921, p. 12; The Evening World (New York), 17 October 1922, p. 20

  9. 7 June 1929 · Documented

    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 Association still prints its own codes seven years after the A.A.U.'s one-wall rules.

    Source: Internet Archive, Catalog of Copyright Entries 1953-1970, searched for handball (seen 30 October 2026)

  10. 15 February 1940 to 1952 · Documented

    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 photographs, their four-wall Rule I in the same wording (H-127).

    Source: eBay listing 800803333404: seller photographs of Y.M.C.A. handball rules (revised 15 February 1940) (seen 30 October 2026). Also: eBay listing 237044877541: seller photographs of Y.M.C.A. handball rules (1952) (seen 30 October 2026)

  11. 1958 · Documented

    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).

    Source: eBay listing 178429923015: seller photographs of an A.A.U. handball rules booklet (1962) (seen 30 October 2026)

  12. 1958-1960 · Documented

    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 chairman from the New York A.C. (H-123, H-124, H-125; seller photographs; secondary dates 1958 or 1959, H-19, H-03).

    Source: HathiTrust Digital Library, catalog record 102896696 (seen 28 October 2026). Also: eBay listing 206605328625: seller photographs of the unified handball playing rules (Y.M.C.A., 1960) (seen 30 October 2026); eBay listing 286432748460: seller photographs of an A.A.U. handball rules booklet (1960) (seen 30 October 2026); eBay listing 178429923015: seller photographs of an A.A.U. handball rules booklet (1962) (seen 30 October 2026)

  13. 19 January 1968 · Documented

    '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, H-126; a library copy adds racquetball rules, H-132). The Association's last rule text in this record.

    Source: eBay listing 800810243429: seller photographs of "Handball Official Unified Playing Rules" (A.A.U., J.W.B., Y.M.C.A., 1968) (seen 30 October 2026). Also: eBay listing 117431883952: seller photographs of "Handball Official Unified Playing Rules" (A.A.U., J.W.B., Y.M.C.A., 1968) (seen 30 October 2026); Open Library, editions of work OL10794547W (seen 30 October 2026)

What the sources do not show

  • The Y.M.C.A.'s own championships (secondary accounts say nationals from 1925) have no results, dates or venues in this record.
  • Spalding No. 302, the Y.M.C.A. Official Handbook that the 1909 index points to, is unseen (H-27); the handbooks of 1908, 1909, 1911, 1912 and 1914 are unseen (H-140).
  • The 1929 leaflets, the 1940 and 1952 rules and the 1960 and 1968 unified booklets are known from copyright registrations and seller photographs; none is held in full, and the 1940-68 texts are in copyright (quote limits apply).
  • Whether the 1920 A.A.U. text borrowed from the Y.M.C.A. four-wall rules of 1915 (H-83 names the Y.M.C.A. as a candidate source) has not been tested against Hand Ball Rules: Four Wall Court (1915).
  • When and why the Y.M.C.A. stopped issuing handball rules, and whether it kept a code after 1968: no source.
  • The 'J.W.B.' (Jewish Welfare Board) as a fourth rule-making body has no record in this record beyond the unified booklets.
  • Gymnasium court dimensions (the Y.M.C.A. four-wall court of 1915, the Aurora glass court) are not recorded.

Eras this thread crosses

Rulebooks cited here

Sources