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Show Luzell wins another title in national racquetball By GARY R. BLODGETT CENTERVILLE Sometimes winning a national championship comes easy but capturing his 17th national crown in the past seven years wasn't easy for Luzell Wilde of Centerville. Luzell was vying for the 1988 Masters Singles' Invitational Racquetball Championship in Las Vegas earlier this month when he' found himself down 0-1 1 in a one-game, one-game, 15-point playoff. "I was shocked to find myself in this position even though my opponent oppo-nent was ranked No. 3 in the nation in the age 65 and over bracket," said Luzell with a shy grin on his face. "I knew I had to get things going, and fast." Luzell did get things going and ended up with a stunning 15-14 victory. vic-tory. "I'm ranked No. 1 in the Senior Division of the American Amateur Racquetball Association, but I'm ot Superman," said Luzell, a hi-retired life insurance salesman. sales-man. "That was one of my toughest tough-est tournament matches I have ever played." He was playing Art Cross of Colorado Col-orado Springs, Colo., in the recent championship battle at the Las Vegas Sports Club. It was the final match of a three-day round-robin tournament. Although he turned 70 years old last Oct. 25, Luzell was playing in the 65-and-over division against 15 of the nation's best in that age group. He had only one shot, one match, when he reached the final round. He and his opponent had met many times before but Luzell had always managed to squeeze out the win. "My only loss to him was in 1984, but now he had me on the ropes." "The only way I could beat him was to put together a string of aces, cutting that vast margin one point at a time. Finally, it was tied at 14 and it was my serve." Luzell said he had been successful success-ful hitting down the left wall, high and hard. This final shot was not only on target but as it careened off the wall it hit his opponent in the stomach. There wasn't even time for an attempted return. "It was all a matter of intensity," intensi-ty," said Luzell. "Once I got it going, Art seemed to lose his (intensity) (in-tensity) and the momentum of the match swung tremendously my way." Luzell will be looking forward to his next title match the Golden Masters Singles and Doubles April 22-24 in Madison, Wise. Meanwhile, Luzell will be "brushing up" on his game by playing Howard Ring wood, manager mana-ger of Towne and Country Racquetball Rac-quetball in Woods Cross. "Howard is a much younger player, he's a real good athlete and a tough competitor," said Luzell. "He's taught me alot and keeps me primed for each tournament." Luzell travels more than 20,000 miles per year to compete in several sever-al national tournaments. It's no wonder that he is not only the No. 1 t;Ust A Luzell Wilde, of Centerville, holds 3-foot tall trophy he captured cap-tured by winning the 1 988 Masters Singles' Invitational Racquetball Rac-quetball Championship in Las Vegas his 17th national amateur racquetball title in the past seven years. ranked senior amateur player in the nation, but he has accrued more than 6,000 points in the last few years more than three times the total tournament points of any other player in any age bracket. |