LIVING THE JAI LIFE VOL 7: U.S.A. Based Jai-Alai in the '70's - Growth In Florida
- May 19, 2025
- World Jai-Alai League
The tumult of the player's action in1968 had little impact on demand. Although the sport was now without some of its greatest players in history, those players had dominated for a decade while much young talent was being developed throughout the Basque country, Mexico and now even the United States. The U.S. frontons supported schools in the Basque Country, most notably in Gernika. The Miami Jai-Alai school was established at North Miami Amateur Jai-Alai which was one of 3 Amateur Jai-Alai facilities in Dade County. It was preceded by outdoor courts in South Miami operated by Stan Leeds and later competed with Orbea's Amateur Jai-Alai in Medley.
Growth was not limited to amateur play in Miami. Nearly a decade passed between the opening of Orlando Jai-Alai in 1962 and "Brevard Jai-Alai" which opened on November 1st 1971. Later known as Melbourne Jai-Alai, the fronton would later share a roster with Daytona Jai-Alai and would go on to welcome several American players. Like Orlando, Daytona, Palm Beach, and Melbourne would have 2 to 3 dominant Basque teams with the remainder of the roster developing their skills for coveted positions in South Florida.
Chronologically the next two frontons to open in Florida were Ocala Jai-Alai in 1973 and Fort Pierce in 1974. But they were not built solely to take advantage of the growth in central Florida and The Treasure Coast. The tremendous success of Miami and Tampa Jai-Alai resulted in the development of World Jai-Alai, Inc. Ocala & Fort Pierce were built to take advantage of open spring & summer parimutuel dates and to establish a multi-site, year-round operation for both players and support staff. Ocala would become something of a "Tripple A" training ground for players hoping to make it to Tampa Jai-Alai and Fort Pierce would welcome some members of the Miami roster in the off season, while becoming a "Tripple A" facility for players potentially destined for Miami Jai-Alai.
The last fronton to open in Florida as part of Jai-Alai's Northward growth in the 1970's was "Big Bend Jai-Alai" in Quincy, Florida. Big Bend was built by the Calder family in 1978 to serve as the sister facility to Orlando Jai-Alai. Regretfully Big Bend had the shortest life span of the Florida frontons which were built in the 1970's. Attendance and handle were always an issue in that part of the State. It ran seasonally 1978 to 1990 and though it was very popular among all who played there and the building still stands almost all the available media falls into the category of "abandoned places," which will not be re-posted here.
