Pacific Northwest Handball

Meranto Memorial 3-wall Doubles

August 20, 2005 Participants in the 2005 Meranto Memorial 3 Wall tournament: I want to thank all of you for your continued support of this event. I thought we had a great outing; good weather, good hospitality (read food and beer), and great competition. It wouldn’t have turned out as well as it did if many of you hadn’t been willing to step in to replace the injured players. I don’t recall injuries such as we had this year. Greg Bellinger went down after tangling up with the wall; Maguire strained his arm trying to shoot through, rather than around, his opponents; Pete didn’t have enough beer early so his legs cramped up; and Joe Cox strained his back but played on anyway with pain. And Larry Hoff just wanted out this year so reported direct from the infirmary but still carrying a large capacity for beer. I hope all of you have fully recovered. Also I wanted to personally thank those of you that put in the extras that have always made this tournament memorable. Mike Bennett again brought some special items including a hat that boldly announces that the wearer finished last. Since the two true last place finishers, Joe Cox and Al Vinson, had departed before the dust had settled and the beer was gone the award went to Isaac Gmazel who accepted it grudgingly but hasn’t been seen in it since. Bill Burke brought everything from his house that Maria didn’t need that day including his barbeque grill, the food and drinks and waste barrels. Denny Bruce again furnished the individual trophies (with the proviso that he had to win one of them which he did). Ernie Fistolera brought some new particpants, his son Nick and friend Jesse Bramen, and enough fresh caught salmon for all of us. I continue to thank Sharon for her cookie contribution. Ernie McGarry helped getting players on the right side of the roster and Larry Hoff agreed to recycle the mountains of waste we created. And to Tim Fry for retrieving the bootie trophy from Bryce Siegel. Thanks again all of you. For those of you that weren’t around to see the results I’ve attached an order of finish; congratulations Bill Hayes (he dropped only two points all day) and Dennis Bruce who dropped forty pounds or so to get ready for us. And finally I want to add some comments about the namesake for this tournament, Dr. Philip J. Meranto. There aren’t many of us left here on the west coast that have had the pleasure of being on the court with Phil but it seems fair to let those of you that didn’t know him just why it is that we are active in keeping his spirit and memory alive. Off the handball court Phil was a teacher. More precisely he was a professor in his field of Political Science. He taught at the U of Illinois-Chicago, U of S. Illinois, UW and the University of Denver among others. He was a scholar and author of note (In making a point regarding the purging of liberal thinkers from positions in universities, Noam Chomsky, a professor at MIT and one of the most prominent liberal voices today, in his book Necessary Illusions, quotes from Phil’s book Guarding the Ivory Tower.). Among Phil’s works are School Politics in the Metropolis (1970); The Politics of Federal Aid to Education in 1965: A Study in Political Innovation (1971); The Persistence of Institutional Racism in Higher Education: Its Roots and Remedies (1981); and Guarding the Ivory Tower: Repression and Rebellion in Higher Education (1985). This latter work was finished on the eve of his death twenty years ago. As one can see by the subjects of these books Phil was dedicated to fairness and justice. He was determined to act on behalf of the oppressed by his actions not only in the classroom and on campus but also in his daily life. I’ve been impressed by his willingness to put himself on the line for his beliefs and one example above all others reminds me of this. In January of 1984 Phil and his friend Oneida Mascarenas made their first visit to Nicaragua. (At that time the government of the US, mostly in the form of the CIA, was waging a war in that country that would be identified later by the International Court of Justice as an “unlawful use of force” and a violation of existing treaties. That war was also condemned by the United Nations Security Council but the declaration was vetoed by the US; when the subject was taken to the General Assembly in was endorsed by every country with the exception of the US, Israel and one country that abstained.) Phil was a ‘brigadista’ – a worker that volunteered with some 100 or so others. They helped bring in the cotton and coffee crops since so many other Nicaraguans were busy defending themselves and their communities from the right wing death squads that were trained in the School of the Americas at Fort Benning Georgia. During that trip Phil organized the first Nicaraguan handball tournament with balls and gloves he and Oneida had stuffed in their luggage (see Handball magazine, July, 1984). In this way the Nicaraguans had their first taste of our great game. In December of ’84 Phil and Oneida were married. They returned to Nicaragua in January ’85 for their honeymoon and to continue support and solidarity with the Nicaraguan people despite the fact that American warships were visible offshore. Five months later he was gone and one true character and friend went away. We used to meet on the three wall courts at Garrison Creek Park in Kent after work. On one of those days I was playing singles against Phil while we were waiting for others to show up. For some reason I’d gotten off to a 17-0 lead. He called a time out and, in his characteristic way, went stomping about the court with his fists doubled, sniffing his gloves and asking his muse for some help in putting the situation right. He beat me 21-17. That was his way. He could reach back and get something extra. Finding that something extra was the way he lived his life; that spirit and the memory of it is what I remember and what we want to keep alive every summer on the three wall courts. Thanks again for being part of doing just that. LeRoy Gmazel & Sharon Swenson ORDER OF FINISH PHILLIP J. MERANTO 2005 3 WALL DOUBLES A SIDE FINISH : 1. Bill Hayes 2. Colin Clement 2. Sean Lenning 4. Christian Santos 5. Bill Maguire 6. Ernie McGarry 7. Tim Fry 8. Ernie Fistolera 9 Pete Halfaker10. Mike Ewing 11. John Hohol 12. Joe Cox B SIDE FINISH 1. Dennis Bruce 2. Bellinger/Gmazel 3. Howie Clark 4. Bill Burke 5. Jim Merritt 6. Nick Fistolera 6. Maxx Bennett 8. Martin Mott 8. Mike Bennett 10. Jesse Braman 11. Isaac Gmazel 12. Al Vinson

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Posted on 16 Feb 2006 by Glenn