Landmark Women's Tour Event History

Landmark Women's Tour Event History

A note before you read: this is very skeletal right now; we'll include more details as we get them.

2024-25: Tour Champion: Paola Longoria

6/16/25: Thanks to the results at the Northern Virginia Invitational, Paola Longoria has an insurmountable lead in the 2024-25 tour race and has officially secured her 14th Pro title.

2/28/25: Dan Jaskier, owner and President of the Glass Door Swim & Fitness club in Lombard, Illinois, announces that the club is closing after 48 years. The 3/16/25 tournament will be the last major pro stop at the club, ending a decades-long association with both pro tours. https://www.facebook.com/groups/208962609136484/permalink/10076808775685102

1/15/25: Former LPRT #1 Christie (Van Hees) Huczek has been elected to the USA Racquetball hall of fame. Its the first Ladies pro player elected since Gudinas was selected as part of the class of 2019.

12/9/24: Longoria re-takes #1 on tour for the first time since Dec 2023 with a win at the Xmas Classic.

12/6/24: Manilla makes her return to the tour, seeded 16th at the Xmas classic. She won her opener but fell to #1 Vargas 4,8 in the round of 16. The injury ends up costing her 10 months of the tour and she'll have her work cut out for her to get back to the top 10 by season's end.

11/5/24: Erika Manilla does a FB live session giving updates on her playing status, hip rehab, etc. She's going to play her first tournament back at the IRT Golden State Open to test out fitness, hip, recovery, etc. https://www.facebook.com/erika.manilla.7/videos/578796077938112/?notif_id=1730831123507246¬if_t=live_video&ref=notif

10/31/24: young up and coming Bolivian Micaela Meneses announces her intentions to leave the sport due to a lack of financial support from the Bolivian ministtry of Health and sports and a lack of recognition to the Bicentennial Dream program. This seems to be a common refrain from Bolivian athletes, more than a dozen of whom have switched away from their home country of bolivia to compete internationally. https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid02DkhJwe2uJG9sYfi9gGW9vShCEG8H8d7Vy6r9hC61AdKhRdgmq6Q25aHRRLbZ2a3ol&id=100063772320897

9/1/24: Word comes out that Longoria has been selected by her party (Movimiento Ciudadano, or Citizens' Movement, abbreviated MC) to serve in the 66th Legislature of the Congress. This has the likelihood of restricting her travel flexibility and could impact the 2024-25 title race. Longoria lost 11-10 in the final of the season opener to Gaby Martinez.

8/3/24: after missing basically the entire 2023-24 season, Valeria Centellas is back and committed for the new season.

2023-24: Tour Champion: Maria Jose Vargas

6/9/24: Vargas officially wins her first ever pro title by entering the season's final event in Chesapeake and advancing past the opening rounds. She had a large enough lead on Longoria to essentially have the title wrapped up after Greenville, so this was a formality to complete her dominant season. She becomes the third different pro to win the last three LPRT seasons.
6/5/24: Neither Longoria nor Salas, both of whom were running for the Mexican chamber of Deputies, were directly elected in the National elections. They can still be selected/appointed by the party.
4/28/24: Maria Jose Vargas wins her 5th event of the season at the Sweet Caroline grand slam, essentially wrapping up the 2023-24 title. It's her first title, and she dominated the tour this year. She topped Paola in the final 11-10, and Longoria's husband posted ugly rants on social media in the aftermath, claiming biased refereeing (one of the line judges was Argentine for the final) as the main reason that Paola lost and has been losing all season.
3/24/24: Erika Manilla is featured in a full-page story in the Denver Post.
3/3/24: Paola Longoria announces her candidacy for the Mexican Chamber of Deputies (the US Equivalent of the House of Representatives) from District 5/Nuevo Leon. https://euro.eseuro.com/sports/2273249.html . Elections are in June. Salas also claims to be running, cannot find evidence.
3/3/24: Despite losing in the semis, Vargas ascends to #1 on tour for the first time in her career. She now leads both the rolling 365 calendar and the season to date points rank and is the odds-on favorite to take the title. Defending tour champ Mejia drops to 2nd on tour, and now sits a distant 3rd in the season to date points race, having failed to win an event this season after her dominant 2022-23.
2/11/24: LPRT #4 and USA #1 Erika Manilla is forced to retire the US National singles final due to what was thought to be a back injury at the time. Subsequent test and MRIs show that Erika suffered a hip labrum tear. She goes in for surgery to correct the issue mid March, but the injury costs her several LPRT stops, and she'll be laid up for 6 months.
1/14/24: Maria Jose Vargas wins her third straight tournament in a row, taking a commanding lead in the season to date points ranking.
12/11/23: With her semi-finals loss at the 2023 Xmas Classic, Paola Longoria will drop to #3 on tour. It is believed to be the first time since roughly October 2008 that Longoria was not ranked #1 or #2 on tour. Vargas takes the event and moves to #2 ahead of Longoria and is now within strikign distance of #1 Mejia, who she's beaten twice in the last three LPRT events.
10/18/23: Cristina Amaya releases a video ahead of the Pan Am games that details her struggles with the Colombian olympic committee, revealing that she was cut off of her government salary in November 2022 and that furthermore even though Amaya and Riquelme had qualified for the Pan Am games that their spots were given away. Amaya still traveled to Chile to referee, but her dreams of competing in the Pan am games were shattered.
6/21/23: Just ahead of the 2023 Central American & Caribbean championships, an article comes out that seems to indicate that Longoria's long-simmering conflict with Conade has reached a conclusion in her favor. She implies that the lawsuit that conade filed against the athletes for back payments has been dismissed.

2022-23: Tour Champion: Montse Mejia

6/18/23: For the first time since 2008, the LPRT #1 year end comes down to the last tournament. Longoria goes into the event ranked #1, but knows that she has to finish a round better than Mejia to keep her title. Mejia has the advantage in season-to-date points, which will be comes season-ending points at the end of the event. When Longoria loses in the semis to Vargas, Mejia (who earlier in the day had won her semi final) is guaranteed to be the new #1. It is the first time since the 2010-11 season that Longoria has not been #1 on tour.
5/7/23: with a chance to seal the season ending championship at the Sweet Caroline open, Mejia is upset in the semis after Longoria shockingly is beaten in the 16s. The player who vanquished her so early? Gaby Martinez, who went on the become the rare #16 seed to win a tournament.
3/5/23: Montse Mejia wins her fourth consecutive LPRT tournament, the first time a player not named Longoria has had such a winning streak since the mid 2000s. Longoria continues to have a very spotty season, already with more losses in this season than in the past few combined, and she seems in danger of losing her year end title.
1/5/23: Rhonda Rajsich appears on the Phoenix Business Radio X podcast/facebook livestream to discuss her career and her new endeavors. On the podcast, she says that she has "stepped back" from touring for the time being to focus on writing a Book and to build her speaking career, but that she's not retired and that she plans on honoring her existing US Team committments and to compete in the 2023 US National team competitions.
11/28/22: Team DOVETAIL and the Ladies Professional Racquetball Tour Announce Youth Clinics at LPRT Events. Doveteail and Mike Kinkin will begin hosting complementary youth clinics at all LPRT events.
8/31/22: Guevara responds to Longoria's complaints by accusing Longoria of owning CONADE more than 1 Million pesos (1,665,810 pesos or more than $80,000 dollars) due to lack of documentation of expenses for which these funds were supposed to cover. In some cases, the onus is on the federation to submit expense reports for its players, in other cases it is on the players themselves. The truth is likely somewhere in the middle, as there is no love lost between Guevara and Longoria.
8/12/22: Longoria heavily criticizes CONADE and their new director Ana Gabriela Guevara for their lack of support for Racquetball players. See for more. Withholding support for hte team for this event is one thign: CONADE apparently has decided to curtail or outright cease its direct financial support for its athletes altogether. Mexican athletes (like those from several other countries) get monthly stipends to offset expenses, and those apparently have been stopped.
8/10/22: Another gofundme pops up, this time to fund the two Colombian female players Cristina Amaya and Maria Paz Riquelme to attend Worlds. Apparently there "is no more Colombian racquetball federation." Private inquiries discover that the Colombian federation owes 10s of thoudsands of dollars in past dues to IRF, when confronted the former lead of the organization quit, and IRF won't let the association back in until someone pays their past debt.
8/9/22: Multiple pros, including Mexio's leading players like DLR, Beltran, Montoya, Longoria, and Samantha Salas, post GoFundMe pleas when it is revealed that the Mexican Federation has pulled all funding to support athletes traveling to the World Championships. This is especially curious since the Worlds are being held IN MEXICO, in San Luis Potosi this year. According to other back channel inquiries, FMR nearly cancelled the entire event due to lack of funds, but found enough to host the event but not support their players.
7/27/22: Comedian Dane Cook meets up with Paola Longoria for a hit-and-giggle/training session and posts it to his Instagram page.
7/1/22: the LPRT appoints Dr. Tim Baghurst, their long-time lead broadcaster, as the Deputy Commissioner. He'll also become a board member and will assist with administrative duties on tour going forward.
7/13/22: Paola Longoria wins the 2022 World Games gold medal over Gaby Martinez in the final, and does it with a 2nd degree ankle sprain. Her ankle was wrapped during the final and she was favoring it, and at the medal ceremony she was on crutches and in a walking boot.
6/12/22: At the last 2021-22 season tournament in Kansas City, long-time touring pro Rhonda Rajsich quietly makes the decision to step back from touring, due to loss of sponsorship and changing finances in the game. She honors her US National team commitments later in the summer, representing the USA at both the 2022 World Games in Birmingham and at 2022 Worlds in San Luis Potosi, but does not attend the 2022 US Open, nor any of the fall LPRT events, nor the 2022 Outdoor Nationals/3WallBall events (all events where she's been a mainstay for the better part of two decades).

2021-22: Tour Champion: Paola Longoria

6/12/22: Longoria wins the Kansas City Super Max 14,10 over Mejia, a rematch of last year's final/upset win for Montse. It was a close match, with Mejia looking comfortable against the GOAT, but Paola ground out a win. This closes the book on the 2021-22 season.
6/11/22: Thanks to some major upsets at the SuperMax, three American women advance to the quarter finals for the first time since 2016.
6/11/22: Maria Jose Vargas plays the final event of the season 4.5 months pregnant. She takes an uncharacteristic loss early in the singles, but the bigger news will be her likely missing a good chunk of the 2022-23 season due to her expecting her 3rd child in the fall. This will have significant ramifications to the top of the tour, opening up some pathways for the current #3 ranked player.
6/10/22: Sunshine Arterburn makes history, becoming the first known transgender woman to compete on the LPRT. Arterburn previously competed as Michael Arterburn on the IRT as recently as Sept 2019, then began the transition process. She lost in the first round in both the pro and Open draws in Kansas City, both times ostenably withdrawing with an injury, but her presence at the tournament had the predictable effect on social media and with the tournament's sponsor, Randy Root. Root posts at the end of the event that he will not sponsor a "sanctioned" event in the future, after learning that LPRT events play under USAR sanctioning guidelines, which inherit USOPC guidelines on transgender athletes.
6/1/22: Herrera posts on social media herself in a walking boot: turns out she had a grade 2 ankle strain a couple weeks back but still traveled to Kansas City to compete in the Super Max. She forfeited out of singles early, but still managed to win the Doubles draw with Erika Manilla serving as a roving player. Herrera misses an opportunity to move up in the rankings ahead of the beginning of next season, but is still well positioned to challenge Longoria at the top in 2022-23.
5/15/22: Longoria holds off Herrera in the final of the Sweet Caroline Grand Slam to reverse the trend of the last two events, and to seal the 2021-22 year end title, her 13th.
4/22/22: In the latest incicent of Bolivian-born players lamenting the lack of support from their Ministry of sport, newly crowned PARC champion Angelica Barrios heavily criticizes the Bolivian organizations for promising and then reneging on financial support for Barrios, yet continuing to use photographs of her accomplishments with their logo attached. This comes hot on the heels of the Men's PARC 2022 champion Conrrado Moscoso also criticizing the lack of support and possibly considering a switch to another country.
4/10/22: PARC 2022 kicks off without a slew of major pro names, not the least of which was #1 Paola Longoria, who misses a "major" IRF event for the first time since 2014. Her absences are referred to vaguely as being due to a "lack of support" by the Mexican federation, and led to a significantly weaker Mexican team. The women's singles is eventually won by Bolivian #5 Angelica Barrios over #3 Vargas in the final.
3/6/22: Alexandra Herrera tops Longoria for the second final in a row, the first time Longoria has lost two finals in a row since Sept 2010. Is this the start of a new rivalry on tour?
1/17/22: Rhonda Rajsich is named the Mark Bingham Athlete of the Year for 2022.
10/11/21: Longoria takes her 11th US Open title, but not before an upset-laden tournament results in multiple top-8 seeds taken out in the 32s and 16s. Erika Manilla is the biggest shock, advancing out of qualifiers and into the semis despite never making a round of 16 previously.
10/2/21: Argentinian Natalia Mendez signs an agreement with Nike,
8/23/21: Mattel Latin America included LPRT's #1 Paola Longoria as one of three Latin American athletes to create Barbie doll likenesses for, in order to recognize Latin american athletes.
7/11/21: LPRT #1 Paola Longoria is heading to the Tokyo Olympics as a Sports Commentator for TUDN.

2020-21: Tour Champion: Paola Longoria

4/12/21: LPRT #2 Maria Jose Vargas gives birth to her second child Julian, likely precluding her from attending the LPRT Grand slam to be held next month in Greenville, SC. This absence may shake up the rankings in a similar way that the previous tournament did, given so few events happening right now.
3/17/21: Sportspedia releases its 2021 World Sport Rankings, which attempts to quantitatively measure sports dominance across 150 global sports. Current IRT #1 Kane Waselenchuk comes in ranked #19 and LPRT #1 Paola Longoria comes in #23. This is a great recognition for the sport, which often goes unnoticed when discussing the global greats.
2/21/21: LPRT commissioner T.J. Baumbaugh sends out an newsletter email discussing some new initiatives that the LPRT is pursuing, including equitable prize money between the IRT and LPRT players at combined events, equitable streaming time on show courts, and making a statement that the LPRT has no interest in a merger with the IRT.
1/29/21: The IRT and LPRT announce a joint marketing collaboration agreement between the tours.
1/8/21: Paola Longoria is nominated to be the Racquetball representative in the World Games Greatest Athlete of all time. She's up against leading athletes in other World Games disciplines, which are an Olympics-style sporting event for sports that are excluded from the current Olympic slate.
12/15/20: At the PANAM SPORTS General Assembly, Racquetball was confirmed as a full medal sport to be competed at the 2023 XIX Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile. News came out a few days earlier of this news, but this is a reversal of the initial decision to drop the sport from the 2023 games.
12/6/20: The first full pro stop since March is held in Kansas City, sponsored by long-time LPRT sponsor Randy Root of Teamroot.com For safety reasons, no spectators and no non-professional athletes are allowed in the facility. The tournament is a super-max grand slam, with total prize money of $60,000. The pro draw has 33 ladies present, 18 of the world's top 20. Two traveling south americans with Bolivian ties (Valeria Centellas and Angelica Barrios) make huge impressions, with Barrios making teh pro final, Centellas winning the Women's open and then teaming with Mendez to topple the #1 doubles team enroute to the pro doubles title. Longoria wins her 100th tier 1/107th pro title.
12/4/20: #2 Maria Jose Vargas announces that she is expecting; as a result she is playing just one event at the SuperMax event. Her normal doubles partner Mendez is playing with newly minted Argentine Valeria Centellas, a pairing that might continue for some time with the forthcoming time-off for Vargas.
10/18/20: After competing in 3WallBall, USA national team member Kelani Lawrence was the subject of an assault at the Wynn in Las Vegas, leaving her with cornea lacerations after an altercation with an aggressive male guest in the casino. Her eye suffered some damage that may be lasting; it remains to be seen how this affects her racquetball career.
10/18/20: with the absence of LPRT events, a number of top players play the 3WallBall outdoor event in Vegas, giving it one of the strongest draws it has ever had. #1 Longoria, #6 Rajsich, #10 Rivera, #11 Parrilla, #12 Munoz, #15 Riveros plus a slew of other tour regulars are signed up. Longoria ends up with a double, winning 3-Wall singles and doubles, topping Rajsich in the singles final
10/12/20: the IRT and LPRT (among other NGAs in the sport) announced their collective support for the "Live Like John" organization, founded in memory of SPC John A. Pelham, a racquetball enthusiast soldier killed in the line of duty in Feb 2014. See here for the official announcement. The plan is for a nationwide tournament series to be launched in 2021, involving multiple professional and amateur organizations.
10/8/20: Guatemala international and current LPRT #20 player Maria Renee Rodriguez is profiled by the International Olympic Committee in their Young Leader's program for her "Athlete Leaders" educational program. See here for more.
8/22/20: LPRT staff member Jerry Josey Jr. proposes to #20 touring player Maria Renee Rodriguez on the court at a shootout event in South Carolina. They met on the tour and are both staff members of the LPRT.
9/15/20: LPRT #3 Samantha Salas has surgery on her "non-throwing" left shoulder. It is unknown whether the injury was racquetball related, nor how long she'll be sidelined from touring. The timing comes as events continue to be postponed thanks to the global pandemic.
7/15/20: Doug Ganim announces in various forums that the 25th anniversary 2020 US Open will be postponed for one year due to the ongoing Covid19 crisis. Thankfully, per the same press release and the event's home page, all other factors for the event will remain in place; the host city and clubs, major sponsors, etc. In addition, Ganim has agreed to stay on for the 2021 event despite his recently announced retirement.

2019-20: Tour Champion: Paola Longoria

6/8/20: Commissioner TJ Baumbaugh officially declares the end of the 2019-20 season when it becomes clear that the last remaining event on the calendar could not be held prior to the 6/30 deadline.
3/15/20: Covid-19 Corona Virus has had a huge impact on the sporting world, but the LPRT is able to complete its Boston Event before having to take a hard look at traveling pros. During the days following the Boston event, we learned that the annual WOR florida event was cancelled, as was USAR's intercollegiates and the annual PARC event in Bolivia. It remains to be seen whether the next tier 1 LPRT event on the schedule will come to pass.
Feb 29, 2020: #9 ranked Colombian Cristina Amaya suffered a bike incident and had to get surgery on her left wrist. It is unknown how long she will be out of action; it is not her racquet hand, but nonetheless she forfeits out of the next event she was entered into.
Jan 7 2020: Paola Longoria is nominated as 2019 Athlete of the Year by the World Games along side
Dec 2, 2019. Canadian legend Jen Saunders announces her retirement from active competition. Saunders was a regular tour players in the late 2000s/early 2010s, finishing in the top 10 three times and having a career-best showing of reaching the semi finals of the 2010 Ektelon WPRO Texas Open in Dallas in Auguest, 2010. Saunders is much better known for her accomplishments for Racquetball Canada, where she won an astounding 24 combined National titles in her career (11 singles, 13 doubles). She retires soon after accepting a position working for the national organization.
Oct 15, 2019: Longoria is selected to carry the Olympic torch ahead of the Tokyo 2020 games. One of the main sponsors of the 2020 games has invited Longoria to travel to Tokyo and carry the torch at some point during its travels through the country ahead of the opening ceremonies.
Oct 6, 2019: Paola Longoria wins her 100th career LPRT pro title. These 100 titles include 93 tier 1 or grand slam titles and 7 satellite or LPRT sanctioned exhibition events from earlier in her career. Here's some coverage from Marca of her 100th pro title.
Oct 1 2019: the US Open draw features 41 ladies and 33 of the top 35 players by ranking. Ana Gabriela Martinez is playing, as is Frederique Lambert in her first appearance of the pro season/post Medical school graduation. This makes for a very deep draw and a slew of excellent round of 32 matches.
Sept 8, 2019: Longoria is upset in the final of the Chesapeake LPRT by the Beach event, going for her 100th professional win. She'll regroup and attempt the feat at the sport's biggest event next month.
Aug 30, 2019: Freddy Ramirez, official photographer and website master of the LPRT, announces his decision to part ways with the LPRT. He takes all his content with him, taking down all his images from the website, in apparent violation of his usage agreement with the tour, causing possible further actions to be considered by the LPRT board.
Aug 13, 2019: Paola Longoria was elected to the Panam Sports Athlete Commission by fellow Pan American athletes to represent the rights of Athletes in the region.
Aug 12, 2019: the LPRT issues a major announcement: the tour is moving to standard scoring 2-games to 15, tiebreaker to 11 for the new season. They become the final major racquetball organization to standardize the scoring on the long-held "amateur" or "international" convention.
8/10/19: Mexico Sweeps the Pan Am Games Singles and Doubles titles, taking Mens and Womens, Singles and Doubles.
July 2019: the Guatemalan national team for the Pan Am Games includes Ana Gabriela Martinez; is she coming out of "retirement" or is this just a one-off competition? Perhaps her "retirement" was more about retiring from the LPRT and not international competitions.
July 2019: Paola Longoria is specifically named as a player to watch for in its Pan American Games preview.

2018-19: Tour Champion: Paola Longoria

Jun 2019: Paola Longoria completes another undefeated season, with Samantha Salas making the finals of 9 of the 10 events on the year, clearly establishing themselves as the two top players on tour. Last season's #2 Lambert has fallen all the way to #9 on the season, having finished medical school in May.
Mar 2019: The Bolivian Grand Slam event happens, the first time an LPRT event has been held in the country. Unfortunately, Paola Longoria suffered a slight injury and missed the event. Despite Longoria's absensce, the Ladies had a strong showing, with 8 of the top 10 players traveling (Lambert also missed the event). The local Bolivian players had a great showing, with Angelica Barrios making the semis and upsetting several top LPRT pros, and naturalized Bolivian Maria Jose Vargas taking the title in a hard fought 5-game tiebreaker over Samatha Salas.
Mar 2019: Ana Gabriela Martinez suddenly announces her retirement from the sport at age 19, to focus on her studies and other interests. She made the announcement on her Facebook fan page on 3/19/19. She retires ranked #9 on the tour despite only playing part time. In 2018 she defeated Longoria to take the IRF World Championship as an 18yr old, then later in the year missed out on a rare chance at the Adult/Junior double by losing to Mejia in the 18U world Junior final. Note: Martinez' "retirement" is short lived; she took some time away and then returned to regular touring and international events.
Mar 2019: Jessica Parrilla returns to the court for the first time since her June 2018 injury, competing in the Mexican Nationals. She played both singles and doubles in the event but did not travel to the subsequent LPRT event in Bolivia. She ends up playing just one LPRT event on the year, the season's last tourney in Kansas in June.
Jan 2019: Bolivian junior champion Valeria Centellas is awarded "Best Athlete of 2018" at the 1st annual Bolivian Tigo Sports Awards. Her World doubles title-winning partner Yazmine Sabja comes in 2nd, and Bolivian male #1 Conrrado Moscoso comes in third in the voting to give Racquetball a sweep of the top athletes.
Jan 2019: 4 time Pro tour Champ Cheryl Gudinas is elected to the USA Racquetball hall of fame, the first time a LPRT pro has been elected since the legenday Michelle Gould was enshrined in 2012.
Dec 2018: at the half-way point of the new year, #1 Longoria and #2 Salas have separated themselves from the rest of the pack; five of the six tournaments have been #1 vs #2 in the finals, and they've opened up a significant gap to the next tier of players. Frederique Lambert has fallen nearly out of the top 10 thanks to school committments: she's finishing Medical school.
June 2018: Jessica Parrilla, just finishing up the 2017-18 season ranked 3rd on tour, suffers a knee ligament injury while competing in the 2018 Mexican Worlds Selection event. This injury costs Parrilla most of the 2018-19 season; she does not return to the court until the 2019 Mexican Nationals event in Feb 2019.
June 2018: Word comes out that World #1 Paola Longoria has failed to notify WADA of her whereabouts three times in a 12-month period, triggering an automatic suspension. However, a few weeks later Longoria joined the Mexican team traveling to the Central American & Caribbean games, indicating that her appeal was successful and no suspension was given. She competes (and wins) the final over Guatemalan Gaby Martinez.

2017-18: Tour Champion: Paola Longoria

June 2018: Longoria wraps up a dominant 2017-18 season, winning her 9th pro title by a significant margin ( season wrap-up FB post here).
Aug 2018: Guatemalan Gaby Martinez shocks the women's racquetball world by upsetting #1 Longoria in the 2018 Worlds final in Barranquila, Colombia. She made a statement early, downing Vargas in the RRs, then easily beat Salas in the qtrs, Mendez in the semis.
Dec 2017: Paola Longoria is named Univison Deportes's Female Athlete of the Year for 2017.

2017-18: Tour Champion: Paola Longoria

June 2017: Samantha Solis takes a 5-game match from Longoria in her namesake season-ending event, breaking a 14-tournament and 99 match winning streak for the Paola. Longoria still easily wins the year end title, having won 10 of the 12 events on the year. Nonetheless, Longoria's 8th pro title now makes her the most decorated ladies pro champ of all time, breaking a tie she held with Michelle (Gilman) Gould.
Dec 2016: Four-time tour Champion Rhonda Rajsich fails to reach the semis of any of the first five tournaments of the season, and subsequently misses the next three LPRT events after the death of her father. She hasn't missed three tournaments in a row since the 1999-00 season, nor has she had such a long string of futility since she started playing.
Dec 2016, also pointed out in the Restrung magazine review of 2016; the complete collapse of American female touring pros. In the first half of the 2016-17 season, just two Americans advanced even to a semi final of a pro tournament, and at the halfway point there's just one American (Rajsich, who may be retiring) in the top 10. There's just 3 americans in the 11-20 range, meaning 16 of the top 20 players are from outside of the USA. 9 of the top 20 are from Mexico.
Sept 2016: per Restrung Magazine's 2016 top 10 Racquetball stories, LPRT deputy Commissioner Andy Kulback "abruptly dropped the tour." This leaves the tour with no commissioner and with President TJ Baumbaugh acting as commissioner.
Aug 2016: Maria Vargas suddenly steps back from the tour; she had finished #2 on tour in 2014-15 with two tourney wins and having reached the final of the 2014 US Open. Per her confidants, she has gotten engaged back in her home country of Argentina and has business interests there, and has decided to focus her time away from racquetball.
May 2014: Another long time tour player Kristen (Walsh) Bellows retires after having played the tour for 14 years. She retires with 9 seasons in the top 10 and one tournament win.
May 2013: Kerri (Stoffregen) Wachtel retires from active touring after a 12 year career that featured 9 top-4 finishes and several tournament wins.
Mid 2013: Paola Longoria is recognized as one of the 50 most influential women in Mexico by Forbes Magazine (mexico edition), and a tournament in her name is broadcast live within the country. Longoria's success is transcending the sport in the country of Mexico.
August 2012: the Ladies Professional Racquetball Tour (LPRT) was formed current tour player T.J. Baumbaugh installed as President. They oust Rock and the WPRO management group to return controlt o the players. She is joined at the helm by Andy Kulbeck as deputy commissioner. New website is www.lprtour.com. see the Press Release via archive.org
Fall 2011: #3 ranked Samantha Salas suffers a shoulder injury that costs her the entire 2011-12 season.
Mid 2011: Gigi Rock takes over as commissioner from Shannon Feaster.
Nov 2010: Paola Longoria is named the Mexican Sportswoman of the year for 2010. See this link for the story of her receiving the "Premio Nacional de Deporte" from the Mexican president (link in spanish). In an ironic twist, Longoria has to skip the Olympia LPRT event in Nov 2010 to accept the award, and skipping that event essentially cost her the 2010-11 LPRT title (she lost by around 25 points to Rajsich, which is about the number of points you get for losing in the round of 16 at a normal tier 1 event). One has to think the tour should have made an exception for this situation.
May 2009: Paola Longoria becomes the first Mexican player (man or woman) to finish #1 on the pro tour.
Nov 2008: Paola Longoria becomes the first Mexican player (man or woman) to take Racquetball's biggest prize; the US Open.
Early 2008: Top player Rhonda Rajsich is assaulted outside her home and left hospitalized. At first her career was in doubt, but she recovered well and was back on the court competing within two months.
March 2007: #4 Angela Grisar from Chile becomes the first Latin American player to win a women's pro tour, Winning the Miami tour stop. It was her only career tour win and she retired from the tour after the 2011-12 season.
Mid 2007: www.ladiesproracquetball.com is retired and migrated to www.wpro-tour.com
2006: tour player Lori-Jane Powell is forced to retire due to a knee injury.
2/5/2006: LPRA goes to WPRO: Womens Professional Racquetball Organization as the players take back responsibilty for the tour. Shannon Feaster takes over as Commissioner. See the Press Release via the wayback machine.
Nov 2005: Christie Van Hees wins the first three events of the 2005-06 season, including the US Open, and then doesn't play on tour for a year. She still finishes the year ranked 3rd.
late 2004: Merle Walker takes over as commissioner from Crocker.
2004: Claude Crocker is named as the Commissioner, in a "leasing" agreement to take over the tour from Munger.
Fall 2003: Van Hees unretires and comes back full-force, eventually winning the 2004-05 tour championship and staying in the top 5 for several more seasons.
Mid 2003: USRA divests itself of the LPRA, having stabilized the tour and increased the number of events from 5 in the 1998-99 season to 12 in the 2002-03 season. Alaskan veteran Stephanie Munger takes over LPRA from USRA as commissioner.
2003: 3-time tour champ Jackie Paraiso retires from full-time touring, but continues to play events and stay active in the amateur realm.
2002: USRA enlists DC-area tournament promoter Ed Willis II to take over as the Ladies pro tour commissioner.
Aug 2001: up and coming player Christie Van Hees retires from tour at the age of 24. The press release in Racquetball Magazine's July/August 2001 issue cites a sickness and a change of priorities for Van Hees. She eventually marries former IRT pro champ Jack Huczek and settles in Dallas, TX, but not before un-retiring and having a hall-of-fame pro career throughout the 2000s.
2000: When Marcus is outsted from the IRT, the WIRT effectively ended as well. In its place was the LPRA: Ladies Professional Racquetball Association. Stephanie Munger is listed as the President and a council of current players is installed as the LPRA Board of Directors. The LPRA is owned and administered by the USRA (United States Racquetball Association), the amateur governing body at the time, in a move considered "odd" but necessary to continue women's pro racquetball. Jim Hiser is the Executive Director of USRA. New website to support the new tour eventually is www.ladiesproracquetball.com. A link to the online article "Dr. H and the Women" is located here at archive.org.
June 1998: Michelle Gilman Gould abruptly retires from tour due to injuries; She had a period of dominance heretofore unseen in the sport. She went undefeated on tour for multiple seasons during the 1990s and was so dominant that the sport changed its scoring rules in an attempt to mitigate her unreturnable serve. She went 106-2 over a period of four seasons (1994-1998), winning 18 consecutive tournaments and 30 of 33 during the timeframe.
June 1998: Marci Drexler wins the final event of the 97-98 season in Las Vegas and promptly retires from playing, having been a top player on tour for more than a decade. She retires with 6 career wins, multiple in the top 3 of the world, and perhaps the title of "Best player never to finish #1."
1995: Hank Marcus of the International Racquetball Tour (IRT) came forward with a proposal to consolidate the top level of the sport and the Women's International Racquetball Tour (WIRT) was formed. This guaranteed the presence of the women's events at the marquee Men's events (events such as the US Open, Pro Nationals and other "major" tournaments). Tour name officially started with fall 1995 beginning of 95-96 season.
1991: 5-time champ Lynn Adams is forced to retire from the tour due to complications from Multiple Sclerosis.
1989: Michelle Gilman (eventually to become Michelle Gilman Gould) bursts onto the scene, finishing 2nd on tour in her first full pro season.
1987: Lynn Adams is diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, but continues to play at a top level, including the 1989-90 championship and two #2s on tour.
1985: Marci Greer (seemingly?) retires from the tour
1985: 4-time champ Heather McKay returns to her native Australia, leaving the tour and her rivalry with Adams. Adams immediately follows up McKay's departure by going undefeated during the 1984-85 season.
1980: Legendary Squash player Heather McKay (who was unbeaten in Professional Squash from 1962-1981) retires from professional Squash and begins playing competitive Racquetball at the age of 40. She immediately begins dominating the sport, winning four titles in five years. Her biggest rival is Lynn Adams.
Jan 1980: the first official stops of the new Women's tour, called the Women's Professional Racquetball Association or WPRA, is held in Long Island.
Sept 1979; NRC leaders Bob Kendler, Charlie Drake, Al Mackie, and Joe Ardito (USAR commissioner) meet with the breakaway group, attempting to keep thm in the NRC fold. The women demanded $10k purses and 8 guaranteed events. the NRC balked, so the women walked away and officially started their own tour.
May, 1979: At NRC Nationals in Tempe, the Women met as a group and created the new tour. quoting Racquetball Magazine from Dec 1979, "At their Tempe meeting, the women created a non-profit organization and elected a board of directors with Janell Marriott as president , Judy Thompson as vice president and Jennifer Harding, Rita Hoff and Jean Sauser as voting members. Recalls Jennifer Harding : ' 'We agreed at the Tempe meeting that we wanted a tour in which we controlled site, sponsors, referees, scheduling, seeding, purses -the whole ball of wax.'' The alternative, she says, was to continue playing second fiddle on the NRC tour for less than half the money the men were getting. Currently on the NRC tour, the women split $ ,000 in prize money per stop, while the men get around $15,000 .”
Early 1979: the women organizers approach Playboy Magazine as an underwriter of the tour. There was some interest from Playboy enterprises, but the deal fell apart when it came to selecting sponsors and with some of the women concerned about being underneath the same sort of "stifling authoritatism" that they were experiencing under the NRC and Bob Kendler's rule.
Late 1978, at a Racquetball trade show in Anaheim, several leading Women's professionals approached Dan Seaton, a Las Vegas based district attorney, to help them organize a new organization. Seaton agrees and begins to lay the groundwork for a breakaway women's pro tour.
1976: the NRC begins including Women's events and formalizes a real women's tour.
1973: National Racquetball Club (NRC) formed when Kendler breaks away from IRA (resigns 4/73, forms NRC 6/73)
1970-1975: IRA Champ considered World Champ in the absence of an organized Women's pro tour.
1968: International Racquetball Association (IRA) founded by Robert Kendler. IRA is (over the years) eventually renamed American Amateur Racquetball Association (AARA) and then United States Racquetball Association (USRA). For several years the IRA holds