Art Shay Inducted Into Racquetball Hall Of Fame, Profiled On ChicagoSide

By Chuck Sudo in News on Jun 4, 2012 3:40PM

Art Shay with racquetball champion Bo Keely in the early 80s. (Image Credit: Art Shay)

Regular readers of Art Shay's posts here at Chicagoist know he was BFF's with Nelson Algren, could sneak a camera anywhere, and was a champion racquetball player in his 50s and 60s.

Art's racquetball career takes a prominent position in Ben Strauss's ChicagoSide profile of our favorite photographer. Art went from shooting a Sports Illustrated assignment on the sport to winning the over-60 national title in 1982. He also recently donated his entire collection of racquetball negatives—over 5,000 in total—to the U.S. Racquetball Museum.

Art also received another recognition for his racquetball career when he was inducted into the Illinois Racquetball Hall of Fame during the USA Racquetball Regional Championships.