There are two different types of handball: 'team handball' and 'handball' (sometimes called 'fives'). Team handball was developed in the 1920s and is played most often in Europe. It involves two teams of seven players who try to score goals against their opponent by throwing a ball into a net protected by a goalkeeper. It is a fast-paced game and resembles a mixture of basketball and hockey. The other version of handball is played by two teams of one, two or three players each, who hit a ball against one or more walls with their hands. It is the latter version that was played at Mount Allison.
Only one picture of a handball court and players at Mount Allison has been found in The Argosy (April 1906) [see below] [1]. The picture shows the handball court attached to the back of the second University Gymnasium. Judging by the photograph, the floor of the court was approximately 20 feet deep and 20 to 30 feet wide, the front wall measured 12 feet high and 20 feet wide, while the side walls were ten feet wide, 13 feet high at the front end, sloping down to five feet at the back.
View looking west. Second Men's University Residence in background.
Reproduced from The Argosy, published by the Eurhetorian Society of the University of Mount Allison College, vol. XXXII, no. 7, Apr. 1906, p. 421.
Handball was the only competitive sport at Mount Allison to provide athletes of the early 1900s an unbroken link to the school's earliest sporting past. The game was first played at the Male Academy in the 1840s [2], and throughout its duration on campus was played only by males. In the 1840s and 1850s there was a handball court on a large playground behind the Academy building [3]. In the 1860s one was built behind the Academy gymnasium [4].
Students and teachers played handball. One of the best players during that time was Humphrey Pickard who was appointed the Male Academy's first principal in 1842 and the University's first president in 1862. James R. Inch, a teacher at the Academy (1854-1869) and president of the University (1878-1891), recalled in an issue of The Allisonia (May 1904) that Principal Pickard's "left-handers brought dismay and defeat to many a stalwart opponent on the old ball-court" [5]. Rev. Cranswick Jost, a student at the Academy (1856-1860) [6] and later its head master (1867-1870), further elaborated on Pickard's prowess in an issue of The Wesleyan (17 January 1923):
"Dr. Pickard, while never relaxing his authority over the whole student body, was at the same time a big boy in different games upon the campus. He was especially fond of 'hand ball.' Frequently in the afternoon he would select five boys to meet him at the ball court, and with three on each side including himself, the ball would be kept busy for an hour or so in pleasurable exercise." [7]
View looking northwest over Main Street. Note: the first Academy building (pictured above) burned down in 1866.
Mount Allison University Archives, Picture Collection, accession 2007.07/165. May be reproduced only with permission of Mount Allison University Archives.
Humphrey Pickard was appointed the Male Academy's first principal in November 1842 and the University's first president in 1862.
Mount Allison University Archives, Picture Collection, accession 2007.07/172. May be reproduced only with permission of Mount Allison University Archives
Faculty and students at the University inaugurated a new handball court in December 1876 by playing a match against each other which was viewed by many, according to The Argosy (December 1876).[8] Regular competitions were also staged between the University and Academy until the early 1880s. [9] Unfortunately, following a fire at the Academy on 7 January 1882 and one at the University on 30 January 1883, handball did not regain its popularity until a new University gymnasium was built in 1887.
Edgar E. Hewson, who entered the University as a freshman in 1887 [10], noted in an issue of The Argosy (9 March 1940) that "Cricket was in vogue as was lacrosse, but hand ball was the prime favorite and the court was usually in use..." [11] Handball continued to receive attention by students through to the turn of the century, but with the rise of rugby football, hockey, and track and field, its status was diminished to that of a pastime. [12]
By 1903 there were two handball courts [13], one inside and one outside on the back of the University gymnasium. [14] After the gymnasium was destroyed by fire on 28 March 1912 [15], a new handball court was built at the rear of the new University gymnasium (Lingley Hall). [16]
[1] Argosy, vol. XXXII, no. 7, Apr. 1906, p. 421
[2] Argosy, vol. XXXIX, no. 5, Feb. 1913, p. 262, "The Old Sackville Academy, By an Old Boy,” p. 262
[3] Argosy, vol. XXXIX, no. 5, Feb. 1913, p. 262, "The Old Sackville Academy, By an Old Boy,” p. 262; Allisonia, vol. I, no. 4, May 1904, "Reminiscences of Mount Allison," "By a Former Teacher" [J.R. Inch], p. 106
[4] Mount Allison Record, vol. XVI, nos. 7-9, Apr.-Jun. 1933, "The Boys' Academy in the Sixties : By an Old Boy," by Arthur E. Cogswell, class of '68, pp. 147-8
[5] Allisonia, vol. I, no. 4, May 1904, "Reminiscences of Mount Allison," "By a Former Teacher" [J.R. Inch], p. 106
[6] Wesleyan, Jan. 17, 1923, "Mount Allison Days," by Rev. C. Jost, p. 4
[7] Wesleyan, Jan. 17, 1923, "Mount Allison Days," by Rev. C. Jost, p. 4
[8] Argosy, vol. III, no. 4, Dec. 1876, "Sackvilliana, p. 54
[9] Argosy, vol. IX, no. 3, Dec. 1882, p. 33
[10] Calendar and Catalogue of the University of Mount Allison College, 1888, "Students, 1887-88, Freshman Class," p. 11
[11] Argosy, vol. LXVI, no. 18, Mar. 9, 1940, "Mount Allison Of Earlier Years," by E.E. Hewson '91, p. 16
[12] Argosy, vol. XXXI, no. 7, Apr. 1905, "Athletics," pp. 253-4
[13] Mount Allison: The Central Educational Institutions of the Maritime Provinces. Eurhetorian Society of Mount Allison University, Sackville, NB, [1903?], p. 46
[14] Argosy, vol. LXVI, no. 18, Mar. 9, 1940, "Forty Years Ago," p. 10
[15] [Moncton] Times, Mar. 29, 1912, "Mount Allison Won in College Debate," p. 1 [report filed March 28]
[16] [Saint John] Globe, May 25, 1912, located in Mount Allison University Archives, R.C. Archibald fonds, accession 5501/2/3, p. 112