In light of several seemingly more technically difficult acts, some people were surprised Alan Jacobs won the U.S. Nationals championship this year. As a mailer of fact, Jacobs himself was a little surprised. However, the IJA's leading club swinger later noted that there was plenty of wisdom in the decision.

"I hope what it demonstrated is that the judges are looking for clean acts, and not necessarily a great number of tricks or objects," he said.

 

Jacobs performed his two strongest skills - club swinging and 3 club juggling - and nothing else during his routine. His movements were carefully choreographed to Hatian music and rock­and-roll, each beat of the tunes reflected in a move of his body or props.

 

Jacobs was additionally satisfied that this was the first time in IJA competition that another form of manipulation besides toss juggling was viewed by judges on an equal basis with the traditional 3-or-more object juggling.

 

A native of Massachusetts, Jacobs introduced the IJA to club swinging at the 1979 Amherst convention. He has been performing that, club juggling and cigar boxes with the group "Slap Happy," for the past few years.

 

There was some criticism of the judge's decision from some conventioneers. Jacobs was aware of it, but said it was irrational. "Is ball spinning not acceptable in competition? Is frisbee tossing not great juggling? How about the Harlem Globetrotters passing a basketball around their circle? I don't care to have people tell me that what I'm doing is not juggling," he commented.

 

The judges were most impressed by Jacobs' stage presence and continuous dance across the stage, giving him the highest presentation score of the evening.

 

Jacobs stressed that he approached the whole event quite seriously. Nearly a year ago, he began picking tricks and moves from old routines and adding new ones with Purchase in mind. For three months prior to the event, he worked closely with dancers and sound engineers to tighten the routine.

 

Edward Jackman finished second with a comedy routine which included combinations of 3, 5 and 7 ball juggling, ball spinning, and 3 clubs. He performed a tripIe pirouette while throwing one club high, and finished the act balancing a 10-speed bicycle on his forehead and juggling 3 clubs.

 

Third place juggler Anthony Gatto, freshly back from a circus tour of Australia, showed the polish of that practice, dropping only once in his technically demanding routine.

 

He did double-spin back tosses with clubs while turning in a circle, and juggl­ed the clubs backhanded over his head. He added a ball to the clubs. and performed various manipulations with those. He concluded with a flawless 5 club cascade. Lotte Brunn, guest judge for the U.S. Nationals, gave Gatto a perfect 10 presentation score. He compiled the highest technique score of the convention.

 

Other competitors added heavily to the entertainment value of the event. The crowd of 1,300 saw Lorenzo Caruso do 5 balls on a skateboard. Tim Downey did 3 plastic baseball bat-clubs and Larry Forsberg contributed characterizations of Guru Baba Juggleananda and John Q. Cumber. Juggling political satirist. Bob Nickerson successfully avoided amputation while juggling 3 full-sized axes.

 

RESULTS

 

1. Allan Jacobs	41.5	45	86.5
2. Edward Jackman	41.5	44.5	86
3. Anthony Gatto	44.5	39	83.5
4. Steve Mills	38	34.5	72.5
5. Bryan Wendling	36.5	33.5	70
6. Daniel Holzman	3.5	34	65.5
7. Llynda Gobbe	32	32	64
8. Scott Burton	33.5	30.5	64
9. Alan Howard	32	32	64
10. Thien Phuc	29	32	61

 

Also competing: Bill Bouldin, Lorenzo Caruso, Tim Downey, Didier Dupin, Larry Forsberg, Barry Friedman, Robert Nickerson, Alan Streater.