History/Lore

JAI-ALAI: WHERE IT CAME FROM

Jai-Alai at the Dania fronton is the 20th century offspring of handball--a game the ancient Greeks had a word for and that pharaohs may have viewed on the banks of the Nile 4,000 years ago.

What is now the super-speeded up and sophisticated Basque sport of jai-alai developed from a simple game which was played long before an anonymous Mesopotamian built the first wheel.

Handball was old when ancient Greeks called it "pilos" and played it as a form of exercise outdoors on rough ground. The Romans played "pilatta", while French and English monarchs tried their royal hands at the game in the 14th and 15th centuries.

However, it was the Basques, those mysterious people with the tongue-twisting language,who polished one-wall handball into what is now the fastest ball game in the world.

Jai-Alai at the Dania fronton today is actually "pelota vasca" - Basque ball. In the Basque provinces of Spain and France that straddle the rugged Pyrenees mountains, "pelota" was played on stone courtyards and against church walls in the 15th century. Today the game is still played the same way in many small towns.

In the Basque language, jai-alai means "merry festival". It was at religious and holiday festivals that the game became popular. The game is still a tradition at celebrations in the Basque provinces of France and Spain.

Basques first played pelota with bare hands, then with leather gloves, wooden paddles and primitive rackets. The cesta, the woven basket that is the throwing and catching tool,came into use in the mid-1800's.

Legend has it that a young French Basque who couldn't afford an expensive leather glove tried hurling the ball with a curved basket which he obtained from his mother's kitchen. The new basket or "cesta" was to change the concept of the game. More practical designs for the cesta have evolved and today each one is tailored to the individual player.

Jai-Alai also changed with the discovery of rubber and its use in ball-making. That development transformed "pelota" into the spectacular sport of speed, skill and courage that thrill Dania fans today.

By the latter part of the 19th century, jai-alai was being played wherever Basques lived - Mexico, Cuba, the Philippines and South America. Early in the 20th century, at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, the sport was seen for the first time in the United States.

Before World War II, jai-alai was played in Havana and such exotic places as Shanghai and Tientsin, China. Nowadays, it is a popular contemporary sport not only in Spain and France but also Italy, Mexico, Indonesia, the Philippines and Macao. It was played in the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games. In the United States, it is played in Florida, Connecticut and Rhode Island.

America's first permanent jai-alai fronton was built in 1924 on what is now the parking lot of Hialeah race track. Dania Jai-Alai was the second fronton to be built and opened its doors for the first time in 1953. There are now seven frontons in the United States, five of which are in Florida.

While early jai-alai exhibitions in this country featured "partido" games, where matches were played up to 20 or 30 points and had only two teams, today's game is called "quiniela" jai-alai.

The "spectacular seven" scoring system was introduced in the 1970's to speed up the game and add excitement for bettors. Most games last from 8 to 14 minutes. According to pedometer studies, each player runs about one mile per game.

Jai-Alai's enduring popularity in Florida and its growing attraction for fans elsewhere may be attributed to the fact that the sport is both thrilling to watch and simple to understand.

Explanation of the Game | Strategy | The Equipment | The Court | The Rules | The Basques | Celebrity Fans | Terminology | The Shots | The Signals | Questions and Answers

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Big Horn Sheep at Leslie Gulch
Photo Courtesy of Delores Scott
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