Geoff Capell
Silver Creek Handball Club
Inducted as a Contributor in 2016
By Jay Capell
Geoff's teaching career began at San Jose's Samuel Ayer High School in 1966. There were handball games going on, usually unsupervised, no gloves, and 'pinkies' were the ball of choice. Geoff started teaching handball classes and had to win to gain respect. A team was formed and they competed against other schools. The competition was fierce and lunch money frequently changed hands.
Transferring to Silver Creek High School, he started from scratch to promote handball. He found smooth walls against the music building. He was able to get the surface asphalted with painted lines so they could play. Retrieving balls from the roof involved getting the janitor's keys to the building. The Silver Creek Handball Club was officially established in 1972 and would continue until 1999 when school portables doomed the courts. Geoff often ran tournaments (50-cent entry fee). During, the 27-year run, the courts were always full and the place to be and handshaking, sportsmanship, and fair play were mandatory.
Geoff went on to work with Sol Aber to encourage the youth to play indoor 4-wall. Richardo Diaz and Joe Sandoval were the best players to come out of Geoff's program. Geoff didn't stop there and went on to head the Hall of Fame nominating committee in the early 1980's and did so until 2015. With his induction, Geoff becomes one of a select few to be inducted into the NCHA Hall of Fame as both a player and contributor.