Randy Wackerle (Right) and Chad Krager teamed up to claim the 34th Annual Bean-Smith Paddleball Tournament at the Bay Area Family YMCA

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Wackerle-Krager Claim Bean-Smith Paddleball Honors

34th Annual Tourney Will Be Last in Old YMCA Building

April 3, 2011       Leave a Comment
By: O. J. Cunningham

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Bay City's Chad Krager, last year's National Doubles Champion teamed with Randy Wackerle to squeeze out first place in the final standings.

The Open Division competition saw some of the top players in the Nation compete for the top spot. Mike Wisniewski, last year's National Singles Champion, teamed with Bay City's Chad Schwall to claim 3rd place. Sandy DeGreif (Bay City) and Saginaw's Andrew Price earned 2nd place on points and wins in the round robin play.



Wackerle, a 2001 inductee into the Bay County Sports Hall of Fame, has now claimed 45 doubles titles with 31 different partners. This is his second title with a former student.

The names Herb Bean and Fred Smith are well-known among veteran paddle-ballers at the Bay Area Family YMCA. Bean, a circus clown and acrobat, and Smith, a local businessman, were both long-time paddleball players from Bay City.

When Bean passed away unexpectedly during surgery, Fred Smith started a paddleball tournament in Herb Bean's honor. The following year, Smith also passed away unexpectedly and thus the Bean/Smith Tournament was born - Now in its 34th year.

Fourteen teams from around the State competed in the 34th Annual Bean/Smith Paddleball Tournament at the Bay Area Family YMCA in Bay City over the week-end.

This will be the last paddleball tournament held at this site. The 2012 tournament will be played at the new Dow Y.

Ron Harris and Rick Clewis from Ann Arbor defeated Bay City's Judy Pretzer and Ted Jevicks in the Class "B" final in a close tie-breaker.

Two Midland teams battled for the "C" title with Keith Thurlow and Gary Levandowski defeating Don Traxler and Todd Carr in two games.

Tournament Director Nancy Powers ran another smooth tournament for the 34th year. Coca-Cola and Ideal Party Store were T-Shirt sponsors for the event.

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O. J. Cunningham
O. J. Cunningham is the Publisher of MyBayCity.com. Cunningham previously published Sports Page & Bay City Enterprise. He is the President/CEO of OJ Advertising, Inc. More from O. J. Cunningham

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