Maravilla Handball Court is a Place that Matters to the East LA Latino Community
by Guest Writer on October 14th, 2009Written by Andrea Milly
Tommy Nishiyama, Sr. playing at a down in Downtown Los Angeles which has been torn down. (Courtesy of Tommy Nishiyama, Sr.)
Even though handball is an international sport, it has a special importance in the Latino community of East Los Angeles — which includes the cities of Monterey Park, City Terrace, Montebello, and Commerce. This “barrio sport” only requires a ball and a wall, no expensive equipment or sporting facility. Even though handball is a popular sport in the prison system where rival gangs control their own court, it is also a sport that keeps at-risk Latino youth from becoming a part of that system.
Handball has a different story of origin depending on location. Before the Americas were conquered by European explorers, ball courts dotted the landscape from the American Southwest down through Mexico and as far south as Nicaragua. Spain imported handball to the Americas and the ball courts were the first places handball was played. Ireland has the longest tradition of handball and when Irish immigrants settled in the United Stated in the nineteenth century, they lived side-by-side Latino immigrants. Handball facilitated friendships between the two groups.
Players at the Maravilla Handball Court. (Courtesy of Tommy Nishiyama, Sr.)
This was the case at the oldest handball court in East Los Angeles, the Maravilla Handball Court. Mexican-American Francisco Chavira and Irish-American John J. Keenan were neighbors in the 1920s when the court was built. Chavira owned the court in the 40s, and it seems likely that he purchased it from Keenan.
Maravilla Handball Court is unique because it was the only court in East Los Angeles still playing “bola basca” also known as Basque pelota, a court sport played with one’s hand or a racket. Hand pelota is traditionally reserved for men as was the case at Maravilla. The ball looks like a brown baseball and is almost as hard as the type which causes players’ hand to swell.
Tony Huante (ten time US Handball National Champion) and his most successful mentee, Vicente Munoz in Toledo, Ohio 2005. (Courtesy of Anthony 'Tony' Huante.)
But the court at Maravilla was small and the only way to get in was to know somebody in the neighborhood. It took the dedication of one man, Anthony “Tony” Huante, to make handball a formidable sport in East Los Angeles. Since 1974, Tony has dedicated his life to coaching and mentoring Latino youth where he lives in the city of Commerce. He is the former president of the California Junior Handball Development Association. Thanks to his training, his players compete on the local, national, and international level. His investment in them amounts to thousands of dollars between, providing them with equipment, paying for entrance fees into tournaments, and driving them to competitions all over California and other parts of the United States. Nativad Alvarado and Vicente Muñoz were the first of Tony’s players to win United States Handball Association national championship followed by David Silveyra, Octavio Silveyra, Gia Arias, and Elias Barajas.
I met Elias Barajas September 2009. Tony had invited me to the Annual 16th of September Handball Tournament which he organizes and hosts at Bristow Park in Commerce. Barajas wanted to keep on playing professionally but there is little money in the sport. Since handball is not televised nor is it an Olympic sport, sponsorship is low. Once players marry and start families, they have to get real jobs. Then the sport becomes a hobby played for fun on the weekends or as workouts at their local gyms on the racquetball courts. According to Barajas, “Handball is a pride sport. It’s not about winning money, it’s about pride. It takes the skills of a boxer and the mind of a chess player to win.” In the barrio, sometimes pride is just as important as money.
Read more about the efforts to save the Maravilla Handball Court here »
September 15- October 15 is Latino Heritage Month. Learn more about the stories of Latino Heritage in Preservation.
Andrea Milly is completing a Master’s Degree in Anthropology at California State University, Los Angeles.
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February 3rd, 2010 at 10:57 pm
Great work! In an area of Los Angeles – specifically East Los Angeles that’s under the threat of massive gentrification & the white-washjing of the local people’s history & very existence – working-class people recognize the importance of remembering, commemorating & celebrating a sport that goes back centuries on this continent tied to our cultural roots!
February 5th, 2010 at 3:42 pm
Communitites are defined in larg part by where the people congregate. The Maravilla courts and market are just such a place. Historically, it was a gathering place for community residents to dbate the issues of the day, ranging from overseas wars to their own opportunities at home. The market was also a place efor interaction as well as groceries. It is unique that handball courts could be considered a landmark of any community. But it is this unique quality that makes the courts so important to Maravilla.