Rocky Carson

Rocky Carson (born May 21, 1979) is an American professional racquetball player.

Carson has won a record 5 International Racquetball Federation (IRF) World Championships in Men's Singles, and 2 Pan American Games gold medals in singles.

Carson's first title was in U10 in 1990.

In 1992, he began a streak of five consecutive titles with a win in U12, followed by two U14 wins in 1993 and 1994, and two wins in U16 in 1995 and 1996.

He won Boy's U16 Singles and Doubles (with Ryan Staten) in 1995.

Then Carson won Boy's U18 Singles three consecutive years: 1996–1998, becoming the second boy to do so after Sudsy Monchik.

He'd played a few events in previous seasons – including the first US Open Racquetball Championships in 1996, when he lost to Michael Bronfeld in the Round of 32 – but in 98-99 he played most of the tournaments, and finished 11th on tour.

Carson reached a semi-final in that first season, when he lost to Sudsy Monchik in the semis in Rochester, New York.

He and Tyler Siggins won in 1997, and he won with Josh Tucker in 1998.

Carson also successfully competed several times at the International Racquetball Federation (IRF) World Junior Championships.

Carson's final US junior title was a win in U18 in 1998.

Carson won two US junior doubles titles in U18.

Carson attended Saddleback College, and he competed for that school at the 1998 USA Racquetball Intercollegiate Championships, winning the Men's #1 title.

Carson played on Team USA for the first time at the 1998 Racquetball World Championships (Worlds) in Cochabamba, Bolivia, where he finished with a bronze medal in Men's Singles, and gold in the Men's Team event.

Carson was a quarterfinalist at the USAR 1998 National Doubles Championships in October 1998 in Baltimore.

He and James Mulcock lost to Doug Ganim and Dan Obremski – a two time World Championship team, 15–7, 5–15, 11–7.

Ganim was complementary to Carson saying "We pretty much kept it away from Rocky, but when he got his racquet on it, he put it away about every time."

Carson began to play the International Racquetball Tour tournaments in the 1998–99 season.

The following season, 1999–2000, Carson made the quarterfinals at the US Open for the first time, losing to Cliff Swain, 11–3, 11–8, 11–9.

Carson's second semi-final happened in his second season in Las Vegas, when he lost to John Ellis, 11–6, 11–5, 10–12, 11–5.

In 2000, Carson won the USA Racquetball National Singles Championship for the first time.

He was seeded 6th, and defeated 8th seed Doug Eagle in the final.

15–7, 15–7. To reach the final, Carson beat Brian Fredenberg in the quarterfinals, 15–7, 15–13, and Jack Huczek in the semi-finals, 15–11, 15–6.

He also played in Worlds for the 2nd time in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, and came home with two silver medals.

Carson and James Mulcock finished in the quarterfinals at the 2000 USAR National Doubles Championships in Baltimore, where they lost to Todd O'Neill and Derek Robinson, 15–11, 15–13.

In 2000–2001, Carson reached two IRT finals.

First in February 2001 at the Michael Lanning Pro-Am in Minneapolis, he beat Jack Huczek in the quarterfinals, John Ellis in the semi-finals, before losing to Monchik in the final, 12–10, 11–7, 11–5.

Then at the Howard McKahand Memorial Pro-Am in Coral Springs, Florida, Carson reached the final by defeating Derek Robinson in the quarters, Swain in the semis, and then lost to final to Ellis, 11–9, 11–8, 10–12, 11–9.

He finished ranked 5th at the end of the IRT season.

Carson won the 2001 Pan American Racquetball Championships in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, where he defeated Canadian Kane Waselenchuk in the final, 15–9, 15–13.

Carson was the defending champion at the 2001 USAR National Singles Championships, and had a chance to defend the title, but lost to Jack Huczek, 15–11, 15–6, in the final.

He was the #1 player on the International Racquetball Tour (IRT) in 2007-08 & 2017–18.

Carson has also played outdoor racquetball, and in 2008, he became the first man to win Men's Singles at the World Outdoor Championship, as well as the indoor IRF World Championship, and US Open.

Carson has won 27 International Racquetball Tour (IRT) titles and has been ranked in the top 10 for a record 23 seasons.

Carson played multiple sports as a boy, and was good at several: baseball, basketball and tennis.

But he had a passion for racquetball.

That passion led to Carson playing a lot of racquetball as a junior, and doing so successfully.

He won Boys' Singles in several age categories at the USA Racquetball Junior Olympics.

He played in seven events in all, and finished in the top 10 at the end of the season for the first time in 7th position.

He finished 2nd in Men's Singles, as he lost the final to Mexican Álvaro Beltrán, 15–10, 12–15, 11–6, and the USA men were 2nd in the Men's Team event.