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Show ,' ' f ' . ' i.,. Page 1C North Edition Lakeside Review Wednesday, May 4, 1983 Already a Racquetball Champion eimtferalle By KENT SOMERS Review Sports Editor Luzell Wilde enjoys showing the club to his visitors visitors who have trouble keep ftflom. ing up with him as hebounds up stairs as quick as a child gets away from his mother in a department store. Luzell Wilde is no child, but he Improving leing 'fff the Wall' tf doesnt look like hes ready to the club. The start checking the mail box at Wilde guides the first of the month for his the visitors to the squash courts, social security checks either, the basketball courts, swimnot when hes prancing around ming pools and racquetball courts. Finally, the racquetball courts. Thats what the visitors came to hear Wilde talk about. Never mind that Wilde is 65, still active and in shape. And never mind that Wildes tri- weekly (sometimes more) workouts would make a younger mans lungs burn with exhaustion. Wilde is much more than who is still another active, alive and not living in a nursing home. Hes a national masters racquetball champion, and has never finished below fourth place in a national or state tournament since 1974. Wilde, who has lived in Cen- V m t v: i. i, ,t . at ' , six-inc- Wur?. ?W W&xM i ; r1-- J f H; f C LUZELL WILDE, one of the top racquetball players in the masters division, recently won I,;:; .While Davis Highs soccer team tucked its last region win of the season in its duffel bag f and took Monday evening off, the Viewmont and Woods Cross teams were battling to improve their positions in the state playoffs. Davis! had beaten Bountiful and finearlier in the day, ished the regular season with a !; 6-- 0, -2 record and the region championship. But-Monda- y night the Vikings and Wildcats were meeting at Woods Cross in a national invitational title in Tennessee. Wilde lives in Centerville. a game that Viewmont won By winning, Viewmont goes to the state playoffs as the regions number-tw- o team and forces Woods Cross into a playoff with Highland for third place in the region. That game will be play-e- d 3-- 2. today (Wednesday) at Millcreek Junior High School in Bountiful at 4 p.m. The Wildcats have defeated Highland twice this year and that worries Woods Cross Coach Kevin Rigby. Were a little disappointed. It worries me that Highland will get lucky. But I think were better, and if we play to our potential well make the playoffs. For Viewmont Coach Roger Cushing, the win was another encouraging indication that his team is playing well at the end of the season. Weve beaten Davis once and Woods Cross twice and I would say the kids are just at their peak and played aggressive ball. Weve had injuries throughout the season. By KENT SOMERS V ' v 4 I ts New-Yor- k, a few players in Richfield! wanted some personal instruct; tion. They wanted individual; help and in the three days I was! there, I spent 23 hours on the; court. The only instruction Wilde has had in racquetball is trad-- ; ing ideas and tips with other players. But that training Wilde profits such as the! National Golden Master Rac--; quetball Championship in division in Chattanooga has-give- the-65-ag- e last month. ; Id J v. six. s 'fcX's. s Get out your slide rule, compass and pocket calculator, its time to figure out which teams make it to the state baseball playoffs and who they will be playing. Got your pencils ready? O.K., here goes. In Region One, Lay-to- n and Weber played Tuesday (aftpr presstime) to determine the first place team in the region. First place is not only important because you can tell everyone when youre 30 what a great team you played on, but also because the top team draws a bye in the first round of the state playoffs. 1 Layton won Monday, 4 over Sky View, and is now 2 on the season. Weber was upset by and now has a Roy Monday, 3 record in the region. Now for the part that confounds and confuses. If Layton beats Weber, the Lancers will be in first, Roy, 4 with record would be second and Weber third. The Royals split with the Warriors this year but scored more runs than Weber, and as a result would be in second place. If Weber beats Layton, the Warriors would be in first place because of a previous win over the Lancers, who would then take the second spot, leaving Roy in third place. Those three teams will play 17-- 7-- 1. 10-- 5 6-- - CDC 6-- -- I, Staff photo by Dan Millor KENNY HEATH of Layton fouls a pitch off against Sky View in a game played Monday. Layton won the game, 17-- 4. He allowed his opponent only; four points in the two games ta 21-win the title Wilde, often plays doubles in the tournaments also, but rarely has the! same partner for two tourna-- ; 21-- 2, 2. ments. He plays with people he; and Georgia have met on their! way to games, and often sees; old friends at tournaments. !; Wilde even has the patience to! show one of his visitors a proper! stroke. Wilde hits the ball softly,-bu- t low, against the front wall.! Then, for emphasis, slams the ball against the base of the wall near the wooden floor. ; - Not bad for a some people might think. May-- ' be this Wilde fellow will hit his peak at 70. No doubt hell be r working at it. ld . Four Soccer Championship Review Sports Editor IJi. threfc-poin- h But Cushing said most of his players have recovered from the injuries and his team is now at full strength. Rigby said the deciding factor in the game may have been mental and not physical. He said Viewmont may have been more mentally ready for the game than his Wildcats because the Vikings faced elimination from any play if would lost. have they Maybe Viewmont was up a little higher than we were, post-seaso- n Royals Clinch Playoff Berth i$ fojr-advi- -- il i h will I pass on the highway and terville, started playing the how long will it take? game in his early 50s, and he plays when he hasnt quit since then, not even andItshisa game wife, Georgia, hop into on a saw fell his leg, when chain motor home and their small a One day gash. leaving to another tournament in later, Wilde was playing dou- travel like Buffalo, N.Y., San bles on the right side of the places or Houston. Diego They stop at court. clubs along the way, where Ive never kept off of it (the Wilde plays and talks to people. court) for a day, he said. I also It gives Georgia and Luzell or four times usually play three a week. The older you get the a chance to visit their four chilmore you have to keep at dren, who are spread about the country. things. Hes better now than he was Its a pretty expensive hob- yesterday or last year, always by to go to all of those places,, improving. Ive kept working Wilde said. Not only are the at it all the time, and the last travel expenses high, but some two or three years Ive been of the tournaments entry fees are also steep. competitive nationally. Competitive is an incompeAll the awards, the traveling, tent word to describe Wildes the notoriety and the friendplay. He has a list of the awards have come to a man who ships lonwon in tournaments he has never competitive sports ger that a polygamists grocery before,played not even as a kid growlist. in Carey, Idaho. But dont get the idea that ing up I just never had the opporWilde plays like old men using lob shots to keep opponents con- tunity (to play), Wilde said. I fused. No, Wilde likes the fast, lived on a farm and had to milk 10 head of cows a day by hand. power game. He hits a few shots with one of And when my family started his visitors, who is a third of growing I never had the time or Wildes age. Wilde toys with money to do anything. But Ive him awhile, letting him return always been active and Ive althe ball while the two talk. ways kept physically fit. He is so physically fit that he But the conversation ends, and Wilde begins to hit the ball plays men in their 20s and 30s ; i for competition. One of his playing partners and friends is Tom when Wilde is on the court. He Nissalke, coach of the Cleve!; hammers the ball with a fluid, land Cavaliers and formef-coacof the Utah Jazz. short stroke, hammering kill ;! shots that the visitor hears, but to Wilde, Nis-- ! According doesnt see. He cuts the ball, salkes game improved when he ! putting spin on it and uses all was fired by the Jazz. For a; four walls, using angles, always year he did nothing but plajf; figuring the angles. racquetball. He was probably, highest paid player in the; Its a game of angles, the nation. !; Wilde said, and much like life in And many of the players who; that way, he said. see Wilde play come to him It intrigues him. Where will or lessons, which Wilde! the ball land and what speed never bothered to take. When i; will it be going when it gets October to na!--; was last going there? Its a question Wilde con- tionals in Buffalo (N.Y.) I stoppr-- ! stantly answers on the court, ed at a new club in Richfield,! without thinking and without ev(Utah) and played the pro.; er making a fool out of himself. Wilde said. He got two or He plays the game when hes on me. ;! driving. How fast is the car When he returned from ahead of me going and where harder, and lower. There is no safe corner where dust can hide Rigby said. We played well, perhaps not our best game, but a break or two and it could have gone our way. Cushing said his team will play the third place team in Region Three Friday with the next round of state playoff games beginning next week. In Region One, Layton is the only area team that will be playing in the state tournament. Layton lost Monday to Weber in double overtime, and finished tied with Weber for second 2-- 1, place with a record. But Layton Coach Andy John-- ; ston is concerned about his, teams play in the second half of . the season. I think weve let down and were not playing as well as we should. You play two! games a week and practice and; theres a burnout factor. The Lancers will meet Tay lorsville Friday at Layton be!; ginning at 3:30 p.m. and John- ston thinks the loss against Weber may help his club play! better against Layton. ; -- wy, For Layton Coach Brad Hawkins, there has been no time to think about play-of- f games, especially with Weber hovering over the Lancers shoulders like storm clouds that haunted Mon Fridays days games. AndView gave game against Sky Hawkins no reason for security despite the 4 win. It was not a very good game, Hawkins said. We kind f i came out here and played around, but its always good to get a win before a big game. There were big wins in Region Four also. Viewmont dropped to Woods Cross Monday, to The its record improve Wildcats are now also and if Highland beats league-leadin- g East Tuesday, there will be a three-wa- y tie for second place in the region. , That tie will be broken by a playoff game, said Viewmont 17-- 6-- 6-- 4. 6-- 4 (7-- 2) Coach John Edwards. Woods Cross Coach Val Cullimore said his team did something unusual made against the, Vikings to lose the costly errors game. Their first four runs were unearned, said Cullimore. We booted a lot of ground balls. If Highland lost to East Tuesday, East would still go to the tournament as the leagues e team. State playoff games are first-plac- either Brighton, Hillcrest or scheduled to begin this ThursBrigham of Region Two, and day. The state tournament, that proposition concerns Roy which will be held in Salt Lake Coach Fred Thompson. Those City, is scheduled to begin next people are scoring some runs Monday and run through down there, he said. Saturday. A PAUL HERALD runs out a ball against Sky View Monday. Layton will play Weber today for the region championship. |
