Up against the wall

Former Austrian finds what he needs for handball

Gerhard Wiesner needs a wall. He also needs a partner to play handball with. But the wall would always be there.

Wiesner is 83 now, and hardly anyone else for handball is available. He’s also had a heart operation and has fragile knees.

Lately, he’s discovered a wall. A real one. It’s the concrete monolith in Linden at the Crow-Heath Park that is an enclosed racquetball court.

This mystery building has both inside and outside walls. The outside wall makes up part of the tennis court.

But what’s on the inside few know, because the huge slab building is mysterious and a bit scary. It’s abandoned. One cannot tell from the outside what the inside is like.

But Wiesner goes anyway, because being from Atlanta, he has no wall to hit against there either, abandoned or adoptable. Atlanta is wall-less as far as having an expanse for a handball, racquetball or tennis player to practice against.

Thus, he has no opponent to return the ball he hits away with either the palm of the left or right hand. This was something he did passionately in his younger days. These days he uses a racket, but hand or racket, the concept of an enclosed space with walls to hit against is the nature of the game.

Wiesner looked and made do. It’s his nature. He’s a native of Vienna, Austria, who came first to Canada and then the United States as a young electrician. He’s outspoken, not one to hold back.

Some years ago when the court was built, Wiesner helped install the electric lights and other power equipment. He’s repaired and upgraded the interior since then. In the early days, several locals played racquetball. Wiesner remembers Donnie Dowd, Gary Clayton and Russell Green.

But now the structure is not used. Nevertheless, Wiesner’s been busy.

“I’m going to get a shovel. Dig a ditch to take the water away that brings the sand in. Make the lights work. Install a timer. See if the video camera still works,” Wiesner said.

“It’s awful hard for a small town to afford park upkeep,” a Linden citizen said. And the truth is, no one plays handball or racquetball any longer.

Wiesner will keep on, however. He’s very punctual. Keeps score. Wants to know who wins because, one gets the impression, in younger days, he might have pretty often been the winner.

“Let’s play!” Wiesner likes to say. And the Linden park concrete wall? “A pretty tough competitor,” Wiesner agrees.

Staff photos by Neil Abeles ■ One can play as hard and long as one wishes against the concrete wall of a racquetball court, as Gerhard Wiesner is doing.

■ THIS PHOTO: It doesn’t look very welcoming, but Gerhard Wiesner is going inside the racquetball court at Linden’s Crow-Heath City Park. ■ BELOW: Wiesner, 83 and recovering from heart surgery, still plays racquetball for a few minutes a day. Here he’s inside the racquetball court at Linden’s Crow-Heath Park.