Cliff Swain

Cliff Swain is the second player with the most tournament wins in professional racquetball history.[1] He began playing the pro tour - International Racquetball Tour (IRT) - in the 1980s and continued doing so into the 2000s. Known for his great drive serve and on court intensity, the left-handed Swain was a dominant player in the 1990s finishing as the #1 IRT player in 5 seasons during that decade. Swain retired from the IRT following the 2006-07 season,[2] but did play some tournaments in the 2008-09 IRT season. He recently competed in the 2013 US Open, and defeated several top pros before losing in the round of 16. He also played on the Classic Pro Racquetball Tour (CPRT) for former pro players over 40 in the 2008-09 season. Swain was inducted into the USA Racquetball Hall of Fame in 2003.

Early years

Cliff Swain was born on March 21, 1966 in San Jose, California and was raised in Braintree, Massachusetts. Swain was introduced to racquetball by his father, Robert "Red" Swain, a competitive handball player when Cliff was 13 years old.[3] Swain was naturally talented and quickly picked up the game, soon winning Massachusetts State and New England Regional Junior Racquetball Championships. In 1983 Cliff Swain won the US Junior National 16 and Under Racquetball Championship. In 1984 Swain won the Orange Bowl World 18 and Under Junior Racquetball Championship. Swain played on the racquetball team at Providence College in 1984 before turning professional.[3]

Professional career

Swain's 71 IRT tournament wins is more than any other IRT player (Marty Hogan is second with 60), and he has also played more tournaments 277 than any other player (second is Ruben Gonzalez at 216). In addition Swain holds the record for the most professional match wins with 730, next is Marty Hogan with 506 wins.[1] Swain's career highlights are his two US Open Racquetball Championships in 1997 and 2001.[4] Swain was the season end #1 IRT player 6 times: 1990, 1993–95, 1998 and 2002.[1]

Swain won his first professional racquetball title in 1985 at the Tulsa Open in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Swain went on to win the 1985 Ektelon National Championship in his first season on tour, consecutively beating racquetball legends, Marty Hogan, Dave Peck and Greg Peck. Swain was named the Professional Racquetball Rookie of the Year in 1985. Cliff remained one of the top ten professional players from 1985 to 1989. In 1990 Swain finished the year as the number one ranked player in the world for the first time. Swain would go on to finish number one five more times in 1993, 1994, 1995, 1998 and 2002. Swain won over eighty tournaments in his pro career including the 1997 and 2001 US Open Racquetball Championships.

In 2003, Swain was inducted into the USA Racquetball Hall of Fame.[5] In 2004 and 2005 Cliff played the Legends Racquetball Tour winning the Legends 35+ National Championship both years. Cliff Swain teamed with fellow racquetball legend, Marty Hogan to win the 2004 and 2005 Legends National Doubles Championships. In 2008 Cliff Swain teamed with Woody Clouse to win the 40+ USA Racquetball National Doubles Championship. In 2012, he teamed up with long time friend and his very first coach Mike Ladge and has won 4 national 45 + doubles titles: The 2012 Ektelon US Nationals, the 2012 & 2014 US Open, and the 2013 Ektelon US Nationals. He is also an accomplished outdoor player. In 2014, he teamed up with Josh Tucker to win the World Outdoor Racquetball (WOR) Pro doubles division taking out #2 Pro Rocky Carson and #4 Jose Rojas in the semi finals.

Swain would likely have won more racquetball tournaments, but in 1990 at the age of 24, he left racquetball for 2 seasons when he was #1 to pursue a tennis career at the encouragement[3] of Ion Tiriac, one time coach of Boris Becker. That pursuit lasted two years and although Swain had some success, it was not nearly at the level he had experienced in racquetball. When he returned the next season, he reclaimed the #1 ranking.

Coaching Although Swain still competes in professional tournaments, he is also coaching some of the best players in the game including World Junior Champion and Women's Touring Pro Maria Jose Vargas who in 18 months went from amateur to #2 in the world and won her first LPRT tournament in Virginia in December 2014, Brad Schopieray ranked #18 on the Men's Pro Tour, and Canada's Coby Iwaasa.

Cliff Swain Signature Racquet

In 2014 at the World Games in Canada, Swain announced that he was starting his own racquetball company and introduced his own brand new signature racquet and cliffswain.com.

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 IRT Historical Data Archive
  2. ↑ http://www.doubledonut.com/2006/09/25/cliff-swain-announces-retirement
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Sports Illustrated, July 11, 1994
  4. ↑ http://usaracquetball.com/RecordBooks/USOpenChampions.aspx
  5. ↑ http://usaracquetball.com/HallofFame/Inductees.aspx

External links

Sporting positions
Preceded by
Drew Kachtik
Sudsy Monchik
Sudsy Monchik		 Number 1 Men's Pro Racquetball Player
1992-1993 to 1994-95
1997-1998
2001-2002 		Succeeded by
Sudsy Monchik
Sudsy Monchik
Jason Mannino