From High Goal to Hollywood – the history of polo in the USA – Part 6
By Victoria Elsbury-Legg
Click here for part 5
The 1950’s in the US might have brought with it the closing and relocation of Meadowbrook to Jericho, Long Island to make way for a highway, but it also brought with it Oak Brook in Chicago, Illinois where the US Open was played for the first time and where interest in polo was reignited in the coming years, aided by a rise in players in Arena polo and intercollegiate polo. By 1967, Oak Brook had become the new headquarters of the USPA, who moved from New York. Also in this year the Polo Training Foundation was established to raise funds for the sport, enabling the teaching of ‘polo fundamentals and improving the sport’ – greatly helped and supported by William T. Ylvisaker.
With the 70’s women’s polo rose to the fore, although women had been playing polo for many years, it was not until 1973 that the USPA Blue Book first assigned USPA handicaps to women, listing six female collegians alongside Elizabeth Dailey, Sue Sally Hale, Virginia Merchant and Jorie Butler Richardson. Three years later in 1976 the first all-woman’s tournament was played at California’s Carmel Valley Riding and Polo Center, followed a further three years after in 1979 by the first US Women’s handicap being played. Women’s polo has continued to grow in the States with Gillian Johnston, Melissa Ganzi and Kerstin Allen (who won the Santa Barbara Open in 2014 as part of team EFG) competing at the highest level alongside their fellow male players.
The 1970’s also marked the start of what has now become the second tournament in the US Triple Crown, with the 26 Goal (now sponsored by watchmakers Piaget) USAP Gold Cup’s inaugural game being played at Oakbrook Polo Club, Illinois in 1974. Held at many clubs during its 41 year history, since 2007 the tournament now synonymous as ‘a symbol of professionalism, good sportsmanship and high goal polo at its finest’ has been hosted by the International Polo Club Palm Beach – a club with roots also dating back to the seventies.
It was William T. Ylvisaker who brought polo and his passion for the game to the people of Wellington, Florida, landscaping simple agricultural land into polo pitches in 1978. By the late 1990’s he was to join up with Summerfield Johnston Jr, Mickey Tarnapol and John B. Goodman, bringing together their private polo fields under the stewardship of John B. Goodman (patron of Isla Carroll Polo team) to form the International Polo Club Palm Beach (IPC) in 2002.
Click here for part 7