Myopia through the years

MEMBER ENTHUSIASM KEEPS THE COUNTRY’S OLDEST POLO CLUB THRIVING

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.”

While enthusiastic spectators arrive on Sundays in SUVs instead of horse-drawn carriages, not much else has changed at Gibney Field, where players have been swinging mallets since 1887.

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 it defeated Yale during the country’s first formal college game.

Pictures from those early days showed the sidelines crowded with carriages and 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 glamour 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, Arizona — 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 dancehall 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 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 well as 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, Connecticut, 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.

1990-2014: a comfortable place Under the captainship of leaders like Neil Raymond, Rob Wilkinson, Lyle Graham, Albert Ellis and 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 Myopia-trained 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. It continues to introduce young players to the sport, hosting a number of National Youth Tournament Series qualifiers in recent years. Above all, Myopia remains dedicated to introducing players to the honorable sport of polo.

Crocker Snow discusses the finer points of polo with actor Steve McQueen.

The polo scenes in the 1967 film, ‘The Thomas Crown Affair,’ starring McQueen and Faye Dunaway (below), were filmed on-site at Myopia Polo Club.