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Jai Alai Gets A New Lease On Life In St. Pete

Tribune photo by JULIE BUSCH

Jai alai player Dave Watson serves the pelota during practice at the new jai alai cancha.

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By RICH SHOPES

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 28, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG - Chris LaRosa caught the jai alai bug as a child but hung up his cesta 10 years ago after Tampa's fronton closed.

"I was heartbroken, but figured it was some kind of sign," he said.

Since Tampa's fronton closed, amateur jai alai players have found few places to compete in the Tampa Bay area.

Many have settled for the backs of shopping centers, theaters and schools. All they needed was a tall, concrete wall to sling the ball, or pelota, against.

These days that's less of a problem.

St. Petersburg opened the nation's first public jai alai court, the St. Petersburg Cancha, last month. Built on part of an old racquetball facility at Jack Puryear Park, the cancha includes a tournament-style, three-walled jai alai court and three practice courts.

For LaRosa, a Town 'N Country resident and formerly of South Tampa, the cancha is a sign jai alai is making a comeback after a long hiatus. It's a welcome relief to hard-core jai alai junkies.

"Once you get into it, you just don't want to stop," he said.

'Gambling Ruined It'

After giving up years ago, LaRosa stumbled across a group of players who got together Sunday mornings at a parking lot behind the Britton Plaza Shopping Center in South Tampa. Soon, he was hooked again.

The players didn't seem to mind the location but were told they had to clear out by 11:30 a.m. to make room for the plaza's employees, shoppers and theatergoers.

That's a sure way to kill an adrenalin buzz, said LaRosa.

The pelota, a rock-hard ball covered in calf skin, can get whipped around at well over 100 mph. Some amateurs play with lacrosse balls.

Players in teams of two use cestas, elongated, semicircular baskets, to catch and hurl the pelota in one continuous motion. The game originated in northern Spain and enjoyed popularity in South Florida in the 1960s to '80s.

"You see all types, CEOs, regular people, retirees," said LaRosa, whose father was a referee at Tampa Jai Alai. "Not everyone can pick it up and do it. It's a kind of extreme-sport game."

Long linked to betting, jai alai suffered setbacks with the emergence of Indian casinos and other forms of gaming in the 1980s and '90s. Allegations of rigged tournaments didn't help as fewer gamblers were showing up at Florida's frontons.

About a half-dozen frontons operate today in Florida. Tampa Jai Alai, formerly off Dale Mabry Highway in South Tampa, closed in 1998 to make room for a Home Depot and Sam's Club.

Now that the sport has gained its first official toe-hold in the Bay area, supporters say it could again become popular - provided gambling is not part of the picture.

"I want to preserve the sport, keep it going. This way, there will be another generation of kids to learn the sport," said Paul Kubala, a director on the St. Petersburg-based National Jai-Alai Association. "Gambling ruined it."

Kubala and two fellow jai alai fanatics, Tom DeMint and Jeff Conway, led efforts to build the St. Petersburg Cancha, starting first with the Edgemoor Neighborhood Association. Puryear Park is in Edgemoor.

City Council Came Through

After getting the association's blessing, the group turned to the St. Petersburg City Council.

"The city made a deal with us. They said if you come up with $10,000, we'll provide the labor," Kubala said.

Conway, the owner of Clearwater Enviro Technologies, which manufactures water purification systems, agreed to provide the money.

Work began last June to extend the side wall of a tennis practice court and build a third wall. The front wall already existed. The entire surface was painted green.

The group got another $39,000 from a fund set up after St. Petersburg sold the 440-acre Weeki Wachee recreation area in Hernando County, purchased in 1940 because of its spring.

The land was sold in 2001 for $15.9 million, and the proceeds were set aside for recreation.

"That's what we are doing now, providing recreation to the neighborhood," Kubala said. "It makes sense to use the money."

The group set aside $29,000 to erect fencing and nets, and put the remaining $10,000 in a maintenance fund.

Organizers Have Ambitions

Kubala and Conway said they see the St. Petersburg Cancha as eventually hosting regionwide tournaments as well as youth leagues similar to Little League Baseball.

"Once you get into it, there's nothing more exciting," Conway said.

With the St. Petersburg Cancha, the sport is moving out of the shadows, Kubala said. Before the facility, Kubala and his friends flung pelotas against the old tennis practice court at Puryear Park.

They were forced to play in the hot, late afternoons when nobody was around so no one would get hurt by a ball flying off the court.

"Nobody knew we were here, because nobody saw us playing," he said. Since the cancha opened officially in mid-April, Kubala said, he's gotten calls from players across Florida.

LaRosa, a building materials salesman, always hoped the sport would regain its popularity of 20 years ago. He still plays behind Britton Plaza but is showing up at the St. Petersburg Cancha more regularly, about once a week.

The new court is a "fantastic facility," he said. "I'm kind of jealous. It's too bad our city council couldn't have done something like this."

Reporter Rich Shopes can be reached at (813) 259-7633 or rshopes@tampatrib.com.

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