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The Casey-Lawlor Cup was named after the participants of
the first international handball competition. Read the full
story below:
Phil Casey vs. John Lawlor
The Story of the world's first handball championship
by Ben Thum
125 years ago in Ireland, the best handball players played for purses of varying amounts wherever they could find backers and worthy opponents. William Baggs of Tipperary and Davy Browning of Limerick were two such players whose unusual skill caught the imagination of the public back then. Neither seems to have had any real occupation, but they would often appear at markets and faires or wherever a convenient wall provided a chance to showcase their handball talents. Baggs was the first player known to have limited each game to a certain number of points, usually 15 or 21. But it was Browning who stood out as a special athletic talent for more than 30 years according to newspaper accounts which attest to his greatness. He was from Kilkee, county Clare. He was eventually challenged in 1884 by a youthful John Lawlor of Dublin. The stake was 10 pounds. Browning won, 5 games to 4. But one year later Lawlor had his revenge when, in a one day match-up of 21 games he won, 11 games to 7 in a fabulous match that lasted four and a half hours!
After defeating the great Davy Browning, Lawlor issued a public challenge in the pages of Dublin's Sport Magazine to anyone anywhere to play him for the world title.
A reply came from the USA. Written from 263 Court Street in Brooklyn, New York, the letter was published in Sport on January 2nd, 1886. It read as follows:
I recently saw a challenge from a Mr. Lawlor of your city to play any man in the world a series of games for 100 pounds a side and the championship of the world, half the number of games to be played in any court Mr. Lawlor may select and half in any court his opponent may choose. Now if Mr. Lawlor means what he says, let him draw up articles of agreement and publish them in your journal, and deposit 50 pounds in your hands. I will furnish a man to play him on the terms he states for 100 pounds per game or as much more as he desires to play for.
Respectfully yours,
Phillip Casey
Four days later John Lawlor replied that he "could not accept the challenge until the matches were decided in Cork." This was a reference to the big Cork tournament which each year attracted the very best players, the winner generally recognized as Irish Champion. It took place at the Racquet Court in Cork and among the favored entrants were Davy Browning of Limerick, James Dunne of Brooklyn, N.Y. Joe O'Leary and Redmond Tobin of Fermor, John Lawlor of Dublin and Billie O'Herlihy of Cork. In the final, a best of nine games match, Lawlor beat Tobin on scores of 21-0, 21-9, 21-5, 21-11, 21-0.
Lawlor's manager, Tom Waters of the Beaufort Club in Dublin, was then in a position to bind the contract to play Casey, which he did. Alderman Dunne of Brooklyn, on behalf of Casey, agreed to the conditions that the match should be $200 a side, that the rubber should be the best of 21 games at 21 points each, and that the ball would be switched after each game from Irish ball to American ball. Another stipulation was that exactly 'One Minute be allowed after every game to get refreshments, which must be supplied in the court.'
The meeting of these two great players had an interesting personal angle. John Lawlor was born in Glendon, Pennsylvania, while Phil Casey was born in Mountrath, county Laois. As it happened, Casey's father died in 1856 when Phil was just 15, and Mrs. Casey decided to emigrate with her five children to New York. Casey had played some early three-wall ball at Patrician College in Mountrath, and he soon became a familiar figure on the handball courts of New York. In 1868 he won the U.S. title from Bernard McQuade and for the next 25 years it is said that he never lost a match played for money. That was a remarkable feat, for in those days handball had a wide following and stakes were high. In 1872, when Casey and his partner, James Everett, beat O'Brien and Foley for the American Doubles Championship, the side bets amounted to over
$1,000, considered to be big money in those days. Twenty-five years later, when Casey teamed with judge Dunne of Brooklyn to win the same title against Keegan and Carney, the side bets were double that amount.
It is hard to understand the reason why Lawlor decided on Cork as the venue for the first leg of the match. His home court was Kenny's Court in Dublin where he trained and had won many matches. He was probably offered a financial deal to select Cork, which sported a very large gallery. With seats on the day of the match going for a guinea each, this was a matter of importance.
Phil Casey arrived in Ireland with an entourage consisting of trainer, manager, masseur, family members and friends. His arrival at Queenstown was a well attended event. A reporter from the Cork Constitution described the scene:
On disembarking from the ocean liner Servia, Mr. Casey and his group was met by Irish champion John Lawlor with a warm greeting. Casey, who is 45 years of age, weighs over 14 stone, and although he has been playing handball for the past 30 years, he does not look like a fit competitor for Mr. Lawlor who is light and most active and weighs only 9 stones 12 lbs., and from his recent performance with ex-champion Davy Browning, appears to be in splendid form.
The venue for the match, Dan Horgan's court, was a monstrously huge ballcourt by modern standards: 84 feet by 49 feet at the front wall, and 36 feet at the back wall. Phil Casey was 45 years old when he walked onto the court, almost 20 years older than his opponent. He was much bigger and stronger than Lawlor
and the heavy two-inch balls gave him an advantage.
According to a report in Sport magazine, play was not 'the very best we have ever seen in Ireland.' With Lawlor leading 5 games to 3, he appeared either to have tired or become careless, and after leading Casey 9-2 in the ninth game, Casey took control and went up 11-9, much to the disappointment of the bettors. The juiced and boisterous crowd, in no mood to see the money wagered lost through Lawlor's carelessness, effectively stopped the match.
A Sports Magazine reporter described the scene: "Then came a regular row all over the place amidst shouts of "fire", etc. Spectators dropped out of the gallery onto the court, a drop of some 25 feet. With all hell breaking loose the police were summoned, order was restored and the match was ordered adjourned until the next day." That night some handball fans set fire to tar barrels and engaged in other mischievous acts outside Lawlor's hotel.
The following day each player won one game. The betting on the first game was 'half a sovereign to a bottle of stout' on Lawlor, with no takers. Final score for the first part of the world championship was six games to four in favor of John Lawlor.
The second half was due to be played at Sweeney's court at the corner of 35th street and Third Avenue in New York, but it became clear that Sweeney's would not hold the expected crowd, so the match was transferred to Casey's newly built court at 297 DeGraw Street in Brooklyn. Lawlor travelled from Liverpool aboard the Alaska, which arrived in New York on October 24, 1887 (118 years to the day - almost - from a future event at San Francisco's South End Rowing Club that would pay tribute to the names of both Casey and Lawlor). This gave Lawlor almost a month to accustom himself to the American-style court with its wooden floor which made for faster service. Casey's Court, as it came to be called, was perhaps the first handball alley in which thought was given to the game as a spectacle. It was 65 feet long, 24 feet wide with a 35 foot high front wall which tapered down to 30 feet at the back wall. The front wall was of brick faced with marble and the side-walls of cement.
The second half of this historic match-up had a rather quick ending. To quote a New York newspaper: "Casey, with his kills, hops, screwball, murderous toe shots, mixed with hard-driven passing shots, lashed Lawlor to the mast by winning seven straight games and relieving John Lawlor of his crown. In an interview with T.F.O'Sullivan, author of The Story of the GAA, Lawlor attributed his defeat to the boarded floor and the faster ball, adding: "That's what knocked me out."
It is a remarkable tribute to players of that era that despite the length of most matches, some going to best of 21 games, with no such thing as an 11 point tie-breaker, many Irish handballers such as Casey and Lawlor continued to play long after what might be considered retirement age. At the age of 55, Phil Casey and his partner, New York Alderman James Dunne, won the American Doubles Championship. John Lawlor did not give up competitive singles until 1906 when, at 45, he lost the Leinster title to Paddy Lyons at Baltinglass, county Wicklow. At 51, John Lawlor was still playing top doubles competition. According to historian Tom McElligot, few players of that era have stayed in the game quite so long.
The first annual "Casey/Lawlor Cup" is a fitting tribute to these Pro Handball pioneers. May it mark the beginning of a new era of international competition among all countries that play this grand old game.
*Thanks to the late Marty Judnich and Tom McElligot for their extensive research upon which much of this story was based.*
Ben Thum
World Pro Handball League