Brief History
The game of racquetball was invented back in 1949. It was created by a man named Joseph Sobek at the Greenwich YMCA, located in Connecticut. Originally called paddle rackets, the game was based on squash, handball and paddleball, but used a strung paddle. The game originally grew successful due to the 40,000 handball courts available throughout the country. From the 1950s to the late 1980s, there was a steady increase in popularity. Popularity started to decline as courts in fitness centers were replaced. But since that time, there has been a steady number of players, which is approximately 5.6 million (The History of Racquetball 1).