Above: Dr. Bud and I at Junior Worlds a few years ago
I received word that the father of racquetball playing and coaching, Dr. Bud Muehleisen, passed away. Many of today’s players may not know of him, but they use the techniques and strategies he used and taught. At the 25th reunion of the Hall of Fame, I was surrounded by racquetball royalty, the pros and contributors of 5 decades. I remember thinking, “ I have to thank Dr. Bud, for the knowledge he passed on to me indirectly through great players like Lynn Adams, Dave and Gregg Peck, and others.”
There was one problem with my thought. There was a line of HOF’ers waiting to thank Dr. Bud. I had to get in line!
He loved watching Kane play and I got to know him and talk racquetball for hours with him. He was the master of shot selection, and a great coach. He told stories of athletes coming to see him, thinking they were good players, and those same athletes were blown away by the knowledge he shared with them.
At the last tournament I saw him he shared this with me while we watched two athletes play.
“Jim, why would this athlete not help his opponent commit racquetball suicide?”
Dr. Bud was referring to shot selection. The winning athlete was helping the losing athlete by taking poor shots from the back court, when all they had to do was to continue to feed their opponent shots in the back so that opponent would defeat themselves!”
Another observation at another tournament.
“Today’s game is monkey see monkey do! Where is the originality? Why do they stand back there to receive serve? Because everyone else does. Nobody is looking at their game and the angles it takes to return serve.”
After that observation I acclerated my learning curve by studying more video and varying positioning for my athletes. Beyond the racquetball he was a gentleman and very respectful. He was the first inductee into the racquetball hall of fame and had more playing accomplishments than I can list.
RIP Dr. Bud-our game misses you. Condolences to Shannon Wright, his partner and a great HOF athlete too.
ps: You might want to check out one of his epic matches below:
In 1972 he took on the greatest handball player, Paul Haber, in a classic match of the hands vs the racquet. Here you can see Dr Bud in his prime.