by Alan Hodge



DAVIDSON – He might need to change his name to Mr. Record Book.
Steve Langley, better known as The Paddleball King, helped 356 people at Davidson’s 22nd annual Hurricane Hugo Festival last weekend set the Guiness Records, as the largest group to simultaneously paddleball together.
Langley, who made the record books earlier this year when he bounced seven paddle balls at once, helped organize the record attempt and helped get Active People to provide the equipment.
“This is good, free, family fun,” Langley said.
And popular too.
So many people showed up organizers quickly ran out of the 300 paddle balls originally donated for the attempt.
Ten-year-old Holly Greenough and her friend, Grace Haynes, were in the thick of the paddleball action.
“I’m not that good at paddleball,” Haynes said. “But I thought it would be fun to take part.”



Greenough thought Haynes was being modest.
“She has some mad paddleball skills,” Greenough said of her friend.
In addition to the paddleball event, there were several on the Village Green that morning practicing their juggling for the Hurricane Hugo Festival’s Vaudeville Extravaganza later in the evening in Davidson College’s Duke Family Performance Hall. Jugglers Luke Eden and Jon Jackson drove from Athens, Ga. to take part.
“This is a top notch festival,” Eden said.