UNDER CONSTRUCTION. CIICK ON THE TITLE ABOVE FOR A MATT KOLLIG ARTICLE
Pig Roast and Human Sacrifice
How many of you have had the opportunity to play in this annual tournament? This year we celebrated our 50thAnniversary. This started as a Paddleball tournament and about eight years ago pickleball was added.
The Pig Roast started as a small tournament/party at WMU. The idea was born by R. Douglass Averitt other wise known as the Chopper and fellow paddleball players Andy JR Kasalo and Andy Dog Meat Mitchell. This small tournament was to honor Mark Pappy Smith as he graduated from WMU. The boys thought this would be a great event to celebrate Pappy’s accomplishments. After the tournament was held the party commenced at Toad Hall which was Chopper’s place of residence. During the party the boys commented “wouldn’t this be great to do every year”! They were all hoping it would last for 5 years. Boy were they wrong, here we are celebrating our 50th anniversary! I do want to add that the champions for the first year were Ron Delph and Jim Swinderis both from Ann Arbor. Part of the tradition was the champions always got the “pig iron” which was the most sought-after trophy!
Over the years 50 people have been honored. 49 of them with t-shirts celebrating accomplishments, sports or whatever on their shirts. A caricature of the honoree and other things that go along with the honoree. Most of them have been amusing, some more than others! Just ask my wife. I was roasted in 1986 and there was a ball and chain on my leg with the name Kathy in the ball. Needless to say, she wasn’t pleased! She just found out two years ago who was responsible for that. Thanks Meat! We laugh about it now, but….!
Back in 1981 a “Sow Bake” was added for the woman. That was the brainchild of Lorri Brigham and Gail Potgiesser. This event lasted until 1993. 13 women were honored over those years and added to the fun. I can’t remember if they bought extra eyeballs for the ladies?!
The Pig Roast first started out with ribs and chicken on the grill. Everyone that comes to the party brings a dish to pass and its always incredible food. Grits always brings his pickled eggs including this year! In the 90’s the number of players jumped so the decision was made to roast a pig. That gave a new tradition that is the most talked about tradition around. Who gets to eat the pig’s eye! It was always the honoree, and someone would step up to eat the second one. Typically, someone who was honored before this wonderful tradition started. In 1986 a new award came up which was the “Woody” award. This was named after Woody Burkham who was Jeff Hammer Burkhams father. Woody came to all the tournaments and was very supportive of the Kalamazoo group. So, this was a sportsmanship award and has been awarded every year since then. Getting back to the pig’s eye, the Woody Award recipient would eat the second eye.
Back in the late 80’s when Paddleball was growing, I believe the most players at the pig roast was over 150 players. For a number of years, it was a strong event and we’d get players from all over the state including some from Illinois. Multiple divisions were played for both men and woman. It would typically start on Friday night and end on Saturday afternoon.
Of course, the paddleball was second place to the party. There are so many stories about the Pig Roast. I remember playing all day and then being at the Pig Roast until 4AM. I hate to say this, but this year’s party started around 5PM and last person left at 8:30PM. Oh…how embarrassing!!
One story I must tell. This took place in the mid 80’s. The party was at Jeff Hammer Burkham’s house. I can tell you that year was the only one at Hammer’s house! Typical crazy, crazy party. Hammer had a swimming pool which adds different stories. The next morning rumors were spreading that cars that we’re parked along both sides of the driveway had been hit. One of our fellow guys from Kalamazoo was playing bumper cars with these cars as he was leaving. There were some unhappy partiers that next day and somehow, it was worked out! Now it’s become a legendary story which keeps growing! I can’t tell you who did it, but he did get a nickname from it. Don’t worry Demo, I kept your real name out of it!!
As years have gone on, the number of players has declined. Quite a few of the paddleball players in Kalamazoo had started playing pickleball around 2015 just for the summer and then we’d play paddleball in the winter. That lasted for a couple of years more and then most of us went entirely to pickleball. I will add that a number of guys stuck with paddleball and play at the downtown YMCA which still is going on. I’m guessing around 10-15 guys with a group playing at 6AM and another group at noon. In 2019 we added pickleball to the Pig Roast. First couple of years we’d have 20+ guys playing paddleball and around 40 playing pickleball. This year we had close to 70 people playing pickleball and another 16 playing paddleball. We had a number of players that did double duty, playing both paddleball and pickleball.
I want to mention the paddleball champions this year. Chad Krager and Jim Swinderis. For those keeping track, yes Jim Swinderis did win the first year and the last year. That’s a great feat! The honoree this year was Mark Pappy Smith. He was also the first Honoree. Reason for two honors was because he didn’t get a T-shirt in his honor the first year!
Mixing Paddleball with Pickleball has been great. We’ve developed some great relationships with our Pickleball friends, and they love to hear the paddleball stories! Some have even gone to watch the Paddleball tournament at the YMCA which has been on a different day for the past two years.
As it goes, everything must come to an end. There’s four of us on the Pig Roast committee. Lorri Brigham, Andy Mitchell, Andy Kasalo and myself. It’s hard work putting this on. We decided that we were going to end after 50 years. It’s been a great run! Having a yearly party with your best friends is something that won’t be forgotten! Plus, for most of the years playing a game that we all truly love…Paddleball.
Earlier this spring we started signing up for the pig roast. I communicated by email and said this was going to be our last year. I immediately got push back that you can’t do this! I have to laugh because it was the pickleball players not wanting it to end! To our surprise a pickleball player in the area is taking at least the pickleball tournament on. She loves the tradition and doesn’t want to see it end. Andy Kasalo has indicated that he could be talked into hosting the party again. Who knows, possibly the “Pickle Roast” will start a new tradition!