History
In 1977, Jack Osborn organized five Eastern clubs (including the Westhampton Mallet Club, Croquet Club of Bermuda, Green Gables Croquet Club, New York Croquet Club, and Palm Beach Croquet Club) into the United States Croquet Association (USCA), and wrote a new rule book for an American version of the six-wicket sport called American Rules croquet.
It was Jack Osborn's vision, marketing savvy, energy, and sheer dogged determination that brought together five clubs in 1977 to form the nucleus of the United States Croquet Association. Although the sport had long flourished in the Commonwealth countries, croquet had devolved to a backyard pastime in the United States, and there were no agreed-upon rules.
One of the first orders of business of the new association was to hammer out compromise rules acceptable to all five clubs - the Green Gables Croquet Club, the Palm Beach Croquet Club, the New York Croquet Club, the Westhampton Mallet Club, and the Croquet Club of Bermuda. Since then, the list has grown to nearly 400 member clubs with 3500 members, and the rules have survived with minor periodic adjustments.
Croquet is a sport that involves hitting wooden or plastic balls with a mallet through hoops embedded in a grass playing court.
Polo is a ball game played on horseback, a traditional field sport and one of the world's oldest known team sports. The game is played by two opposing teams with the objective of scoring using a long-handled wooden mallet to hit a small hard ball through the opposing team's goal. Each team has four mounted riders, and the game usually lasts one to two hours, divided into periods called chukkas or "chukkers".
West Palm Beach is a city in and the county seat of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located immediately to the west of the adjacent Palm Beach, which is situated on a barrier island across the Lake Worth Lagoon. The population was 117,415 at the 2020 census. West Palm Beach is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area, which was home to 6,138,333 people in 2020. It is the oldest incorporated municipality in the South Florida area, incorporated as a city two years before Miami in November 1894. West Palm Beach is located approximately 68 miles (109 km) north of Downtown Miami.
Roque is an American variant of croquet played on a hard, smooth surface. Popular in the first quarter of the 20th century and billed "the Game of the Century" by its enthusiasts, it was an Olympic sport in the 1904 Summer Games, replacing croquet from the previous games.
Extreme Croquet is a variation on croquet mainly distinguished by its lack of any requirement pertaining to out-of-bounds or field specifications. A close relative of the croquet played in most backyards and gardens, but expanded by more adventurous enthusiasts and played throughout the world in conditions unfamiliar to official tournament players.
Harold Stirling Vanderbilt CBE was an American railroad executive, a champion yachtsman, an innovator and champion player of contract bridge, and a member of the Vanderbilt family.
Pinehurst Resort is a golf resort in Pinehurst, North Carolina in the United States. It has hosted a number of prestigious golf tournaments including three U.S. Open Championships, one U.S. Women's Open, three U.S. Amateur Championships, one PGA Championship, and the Ryder Cup.
The International Game Fish Association (IGFA) is the leading authority on angling pursuits and the keeper of the most current World Record fishing catches by fish categories. Fishermen who are sport fishers are careful to follow their stringent rules for fair play and line requirements in order to receive the honor of being listed in their annual "World Record Game Fishes" publication. The publication also gives fishing tips, and has an extensive fish identification guide. The IGFA is also an ardent proponent of aquatic habitat conservation, and cooperates with biologists all over the world.
The MacRobertson International Croquet Shield is the premier croquet team event in the world. It is currently competed for by Australia, England, New Zealand and the United States. It is known affectionately as the MacRob or just the Mac.
The history of United States cricket begins in the 18th century. Among early Americans, cricket was as popular a bat and ball game as baseball. Though Americans never played cricket in great numbers, the game grew for some time. Around the time of the United States Civil War, the game began competing with baseball for participants, but then slowly declined in popularity. This was followed again by a brief golden age with the Philadelphian cricket team. This lasted until roughly the start of World War I; at this time, cricket again became less popular. In the latter part of the 20th century immigrants from cricket-playing nations in South Asia and the West Indies helped spark a resurgence in the game's popularity. This led to participation and success in several International Cricket Council events. In 2007, the United States of America Cricket Association was suspended by the ICC because of problems with its administration, but was again recognized beginning in 2008.
The Green Gables Croquet Club of Spring Lake, New Jersey was founded in 1957 by Suzie Linden (1913–1996). It is the oldest continuous croquet club in the United States and among the three founding members of the United States Croquet Association. It is believed that the original property has been sold; on 23 November 2008 the author of this update, who is a resident of Spring Lake, witnessed the demolition of the original house
The United States Croquet Hall of Fame was established in 1979 by the Croquet Foundation of America to recognize individuals with exceptional skill in the sport of croquet or men and women who have contributed to the sport's health and growth. The Croquet Hall of Fame is located in West Palm Beach, Florida, at the headquarters of the United States Croquet Association, the National Croquet Center. Each year, new inductees to the Croquet Foundation of America's Hall of Fame are celebrated at a fund-raising dinner and ball usually held at the National Croquet Center.
The racket sport traditionally named lawn tennis, invented in Birmingham, England now commonly known simply as tennis, is the direct descendant of what is now denoted real tennis or royal tennis, which continues to be played today as a separate sport with more complex rules. Most rules of (lawn) tennis derive from this precursor and it is reasonable to see both sports as variations of the same game. Most historians believe that tennis was originated in the monastic cloisters in northern France in the 12th century, but the ball was then struck with the palm of the hand; hence, the name jeu de paume. It was not until the 16th century that rackets came into use, and the game began to be called "tennis." It was popular in England and France, and Henry VIII of England was a big fan of the game, now referred to as real tennis.
The Gasparilla Inn & Club is a historic hotel at 500 Palm Avenue on Gasparilla Island in Boca Grande, Florida.
The United States Curling Association is the national governing body of the sport of curling in the United States. The goal of the USCA is to grow the sport of curling in the United States and win medals in competitions both domestic and abroad. Curling's recent popularity has swelled the USCA to 185 curling clubs and approximately 23,500 curlers in the United States. The United States Olympic men's curling teams have seen success in recent years, most notably winning the gold medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, led by skip John Shuster.
The National Polo Center (NPC), formerly the International Polo Club Palm Beach (IPC), located in Wellington, Florida, is one of the largest polo clubs in the world. The club includes several natural grass polo fields, two of which are part of stadiums. Since 2022, the facility has been owned by the United States Polo Association (USPA).
Cowboy polo is a variation of polo played mostly in the western United States. Like regular polo, it is played in chukkas (periods) with two teams on horses who use mallets to hit a ball through a goal. It differs from traditional polo in that five riders make up a team instead of four, western saddles and equipment are used, and the playing field is usually a simple rodeo arena or other enclosed dirt area, indoors or out. Also, instead of the small ball used in traditional polo, the players use a large red rubber medicine ball and use mallets with long fiberglass shafts and hard rubber heads.
The International Polo Cup, also called the Newport Cup and the Westchester Cup, is a trophy in polo that was created in 1886 and is played for by teams from the United States and England. The match has varied in length over the years from a single game to the best of three games. Matches were conducted 12 times between 1886 and 1939, suspended during World War II, and not revived until 1992 due to changing times and interests. The most recent match was held in 2019 at the International Polo Club Palm Beach, won by the American team. The next match is scheduled for March 31, 2023.
Ben Rothman is, as of May 2012, the number one ranked Association croquet player in North America. After focusing his life towards the game in 2007, he has become a formidable force and a player to beat in serious competition around the world. Rothman has won many high-profile croquet tournaments and competed in such major competitions as many USCA National Championships, the WCF World Championships, the MacRobertson Shield, and the Solomon Trophy.
Dwight J. Mayer (1927–2013) was a croquet player. Mayer served as the first president of the Croquet Club at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, the largest croquet club in the Western U.S. He also served as chair of croquet at the Beach Club in Palm Beach, Florida for 17 years.
