Myopia Through the Years

Member enthusiasm keeps the country’s oldest polo club thriving. / by Bill Burke

THE OLDEST CONTINUALLY ACTIVE polo club in the country, Myopia can trace its roots back to the 1800s— when the sport was first introduced to the United States.

As polo traveled up the coast from New York in 1887, Randolph M. “Bud” Appleton, who played on the Harvard Polo Team, encouraged a few enthusiasts to knock a ball around at Gibney Field. The following summer, more than 200 people traveled by carriage to

watch players scrimmage and to listen

to a performance by the Salem Cadet Band. Although a witness to that event declared that “the best playing was done by the band,” Myopia was emboldened by its popularity and issued a challenge to the Dedham Country and Polo Club, igniting an intense rivalry that was to last almost 50 years.

“There have been so many great things about Myopia,” former Captain of Polo Lyle Graham says about the venerable club. “You’re looking at a history which has this blend of British aristocracy, ordered military and the can-do attitude of Americans. That’s compelling. That’s what Myopia was and is today.”

1887-1930

POLO GRIPS NORTH SHORE ELITE

In 1890, when the United States Polo Association formed, Myopia joined as a charter member. Five years later, the young team from Hamilton competed in the Senior Championship, the equivalent of the National Open today, and managed to take the top prize. Ties to the Harvard Polo Team, which are strong to this day, grew in 1907, when the team started practicing at Gibney Field; it was there that Harvard defeated Yale during the country’s first formal college game.

Pictures from those early days show the sidelines crowded with carriages and spectators enjoying the proceedings under parasols. When automobiles first appeared on the scene, they were segregated to one corner, so as not to scare the horses.

1930-1958

THE LEAN YEARS

Cars soon became an accepted fixture on the sidelines, but the Great Depression and World War II brought growth of the sport to a virtual standstill; polo was simply too expensive during those years. Loath to give up the game entirely, some players took to bicycle polo to keep costs down, but even that disappeared when news of Pearl Harbor was brought to a group of bicycle poloists on the Myopia club practice field in 1941.

1958-1990

THE GLAMOR YEARS

It took years after the war for polo to regain momentum in South Hamilton, but the youthful energy of players like Adam Winthrop, Crocker Snow and the late Don Little—the latter of whom organized impromptu matches during his time as a B-47 bomber pilot at the Strategic Air Command Base in Tucson, Ariz.—inspired veteran players like Tim Clark, C.G. Rice, and Neil Ayer to retake Gibney Field, which had been turned into a hay field. Polo became so popular that members, many of whom had demanding weekday jobs and could only play on Sundays, were inspired to build an outdoor arena so they could also play on Wednesday nights. The arena, built entirely by the players using timbers from a torn-down dance hall in Peabody, became the site for several national tournaments.

Hollywood discovered Myopia in 1967. Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway shot polo scenes for The Thomas Crown Affair, which tells the story of a jaded Boston playboy who robs a bank for kicks (in addition to playing polo at Myopia). The money from the two-week experience enabled Myopia to build a 24-stall polo barn, still in use today.

A year later, the Myopia team was invited to play in Iran, the birthplace of polo, as part of that nation’s 2,500th anniversary celebration, according to the book “Myopia: 1875-1975,” compiled and edited by Edward Weeks. As the book notes, “Each player chose three [Arabian stallions] from an original string of 30, and began to get accustomed to the [pebble] field…the steady diet of lamb kebab, vodka and Caspian Sea caviar, and the hot desert air.”

In the 1970s, an Iranian team visited Gibney Field, as did teams from New Zealand, Pakistan and Argentina. The resurgence of polo on a national level, combined with the inspiration of Myopia captains like Ayer, Little and Michael Fawcett, attracted more players and more teams. The annual Forbes Cup, a New England championship game generally played against Fairfield, Conn., gained a strong following during this time, as did the renowned East Coast Open, at the 20- goal level, which attracted 11 teams at its height, with top high-goal players and enthusiastic crowds.

1990-2020

A COMFORTABLE PLACE

Under the captainship of leaders like Neil Raymond, Rob Wilkinson, Lyle Graham, Albert Ellis and, currently, Franz Colloredo-Mansfeld, Myopia Polo has achieved a storied place on the polo scene. Further accolades have come to the club through a solidified relationship with Harvard Polo and the great honor bestowed upon Adam Snow, who achieved the USPA’s cherished 10-goal handicap—only the second Myopiatrained player to do so.

In 2013, the club sent many local players to intercollegiate, national and international tournaments. The club has also placed emphasis on horse welfare. Above all, Myopia remains dedicated to introducing young players to the honorable sport of polo.