It’s doubtful racquetball will ever return to its heyday of the 1980s when Keith Mahaney turned Bangor into one of the most lucrative stops on the pro tour.

Harry Riley would settle for much less. Riley would settle for Bangor hosting a tournament – big or small – on a regular basis.

Riley, a firefighter at Bangor International Airport, is the tournament director for an upcoming nationally sanctioned racquetball tournament at Gold’s Gym in Bangor Jan. 25-27.

Riley has dubbed the tourney “The Battle of Bangor.”

“It’s nationally sanctioned by the United States Racquetball Association. Players earn [competition] points,” Riley says.

The tournament is intended to put Bangor back on the racquetball map.

It wasn’t all that long ago that Bangor could boast of having the biggest tournament in the United States. Mahaney, then president of the Holiday Health and Racquet Club, came up with an idea for bringing the best players in the world to Bangor.

“I went out to the nationals at Tempe, Ariz. That was in 1980. I got Marty Hogan and all the top pros in the world to come [to Bangor],” Mahaney explained.

The tournament’s purse of $10,000 was the largest amount of prize money on the tour and players came in droves.

“There were over 400 people. It was unbelievable. It was the biggest tourney in the United States,” Mahaney said.

Players were attracted by the prize money, naturally enough. But the facilities were also a drawing power. The club had 11 racquetball courts.

“We were one of the first places in the United States to have glass walls,” Mahaney said.

Seats along the glass walls went for $100 each. Bleacher seats topped out at $50 and Mahaney said the place was packed.

The tournaments went on for seven years. Mahaney also brought the women’s pro tour to Bangor for three years.

“We had Heather McKay, she was from Australia, and Lynn Adams. She was the champion. McKay went undefeated as a squash player for 20 years and then took up racquetball and became a world champion,” Mahaney said.

He says the tournaments ended because people grew tired of seeing the same players each year.

“They’d seen them so much, we broke about even [in the last tournament], so that was that,” Mahaney said. “If I had it to do over, I’d have the men one year for $10,000, then the women one year for $10,000. Alternate them each year.”

Since then, Riley said local players have had to hit the road to compete.

“We’ve been traveling to Portland and Lewiston for the last 10 years [for tournament play], but we decided to bring it back here,” Riley said.

A tournament was played at Gold’s Gym in November. Riley said he expected 30 players but more than 50 entered. For “The Battle of Bangor” he expects between 70 and 100 players.

“Some of the players who are coming are nationally ranked in the top 20 in the nation,” Riley said. “Four of the players we have coming are from Nova Scotia and are in the top 10 there.”

There is an entry fee of $30 for one event, with an additional $10 for a second event and another $5 for a third. There will be play in Open singles, A, B and C divisions, age-group divisions, and men’s, women’s and mixed doubles.

Ward family to be honored

The Downeast Harness Horsemen’s Association will honor the family of Ken Ward with its Distinguished Service Award. The presentation will take place Saturday night at the association’s winter awards banquet at Miller’s Restaurant in Bangor.

Ward died last July. He was well known for his love of harness racing and for his highly popular column on the subject, “Railbird.”

The banquet begins at 5 p.m. and is open to the public. Tickets are $13.

The Maine Harness Horsemen’s Association will hold its annual banquet at John Martin’s Manor in Waterville on Jan. 19 beginning at 4 p.m.

Don Perryman’s column is published each Wednesday. He can be reached at 990-8045, 1-800-310-8600 or dperryman@bangordailynews.net