1929 → PHOENIX → EVERYWHERE

THE GAME
THAT CAME BACK.

Born at the White House. Reawakened in the desert. Now passed from community to community.

THE LONG THROW

Nearly a century separates two groups of people discovering the same thing: movement is better when it becomes a ritual shared with others.

1928

A game aboard a ship

The seed

President-elect Herbert Hoover encountered “bull-in-the-ring,” a medicine-ball keep-away game, aboard the battleship USS Utah during a goodwill tour of Latin America. He enjoyed games more than conventional exercise.

1929

The White House lawn

Hooverball is invented

White House physician Rear Admiral Joel T. Boone adapted that shipboard game into a vigorous morning workout: teams throwing a weighted medicine ball over a high net on a tennis-like court. Members of Hoover’s cabinet and inner circle joined the regular early-morning sessions.

Reporter William Atherton DuPuy dubbed it “Hoover-ball” in 1931. The name stuck.

Historic image connected to Herbert Hoover and Hooverball

1933–1988

Vanished, then revived

The quiet years

After Hoover left office, the game largely disappeared. Decades later, his birthplace of West Branch, Iowa, brought it back. The Hoover Presidential Foundation has organized national championship play since 1988, keeping the original sport alive.

Hooverball players at a national competition

2021

A Phoenix men’s group

HOOV finds its people

Demaris Parker discovered Hooverball while in San Diego and brought the game home to Phoenix. Sean Daly helped gather the first group of players, turning an intriguing new workout into a shared ritual. It quickly became a container for competition, expression, accountability, and belonging.

Quentin Hick and the growing crew helped shape a more dynamic modern game. HOOV NATION formed around a simple conviction: the sport could help people find confidence in their bodies and closeness in community.

The Phoenix Hoov Nation community playing together

NOW

A growing Nation

The next chapter is local

From Phoenix, groups have begun taking shape in Idaho, Washington, Montana, St. Petersburg, and Connecticut. Every chapter starts the same way: one person invites a few good humans to move together.

We are still early. That is the opportunity.

Learn the game →

Modern Hoov Nation players contesting the medicine ball at the net

Historical references

Hoover Presidential Foundation: History of Hooverball ↗National Park Service: Hooverball ↗