A large number of Muskegon-area racquetball players submitted a letter to the MASHF board, indicating that if the board ever decided to honor their sport, Lynn Hahn should be the first inductee.  The board listened.

Hahn earned widespread respect from all of his racquetball opponents during a career that began in the early 1970s and continued for many, many years.  Hahn still enjoys visiting the Omni Fitness Center to visit with his old rivals.  Hahn, a Whitehall resident who worked as a chemist at Howmet, said he fell in love with the sport the first time he played it.  He began to beat all of his local competitors, so he started competing in state, regional, and national competitions — where he made a name for himself with his talent and his sportsmanship.

Hahn’s skills made him one of the first two inductees, along with Fred Lewerenz of Birmingham, into the Michigan Racquetball Hall of Fame in 1984.  That honor led to the start of the Lynn Hahn Hall of Fame racquetball tournament in Muskegon, but the honor was hardly the end of Hahn’s competitive racquetball career.  In fact, Hahn said making the hall motivated him further.  He remained a force in age-group competitions for most of the past 20-plus years.