Bud Muehleisen (October 9, 1931 – September 8, 2024) was an American dentist, racquetball and paddleball player from San Diego, California.
He won an unprecedented 41 national titles, was a coach and teacher, a regular contributor of instructional material to early magazines and worked with most of the major equipment manufacturers in developing racquets, balls and other products.Muehleisen's vast collection of age group national titles made him the namesake of USA Racquetball's "Bud Muehleisen Age Group Award" given annually to the nation's best age group racquetball player.
On account of his four national titles, his championship paddle is a permanent trophy in a display kiosk near the racquetball courts at the University of Michigan where the sport of paddleball was born.
That expression came to mean a four-walled racquetball court with smoothly plastered concrete walls, a varnished suspended maple floor, and an overhead viewing gallery.
In Memphis, in January 1972, Muehleisen played perhaps his most famous match versus Paul Haber then the world champion handball player.
Sports Illustrated described Haber as "a man who takes a drink or eight, [and] has been known to wink at a girl", characterizing the match as "Mr. Clean versus the Devil" and making the outrageous claim that "There hadn't been anything remotely comparable in, say, a millennium or two, at least not since Spartacus and the slaves made it nets and tridents against swords and shields."
[10] According to Sports Illustrated, Haber was characteristically late to the court due to a gin rummy game that went into overtime, after which he couldn't find his shoes.
[11] Racquetball grew tremendously during Muehleisen's era, though it remained a strictly amateur sport during his prime.
In its Fall 2009 edition, Racquetball magazine ranked Muehleisen as the "best player never to win a professional tournament" (page 31).
Bud' shifted to age group competition and continued to win national titles in age group divisions through the Golden Master's (55 and over), amassing a total of 41 national championships and numerous international championships.
Bud continued to practice dentistry in San Diego, but played mostly table tennis instead of racquetball.