October 2021 Polo Players' Edition - Memory Fields

Memory Fields

Players Reminisce About Their PCO Victories

By Megan Kozminski for the Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club

Vic Graber, John Stringer, Dick Walker and Hershall Banham compete in 1954.

In honor of 110 years of polo in Santa Barbara, we uncover some undocumented memories behind the prestigious Pacific Coast Open tournament. The memories from the field, the team dynamics, the opponents, the ponies, and ultimately, the win. Based on interviews with past winners, we shed new light on the exciting unwritten memories of players who battled in tournament finals to win the ultimate: their names forever etched onto the prestigious PCO trophy.

A Polo Passport

A native of Hawaii, Ronnie Tongg caught the polo bug at a young age from his father Ruddy, who had a vision of polo as a passport to the world. The 1962 PCO was one of Tongg’s first big wins alongside his mentor Billy Linfoot, the legendary Bob Skene, and Ronnie’s childhood friend from Hawaii, Harold Merck. Later that same year, the team of Ronnie, Billy and Bob traveled to Chicago and won the U.S. Open—with Roy Barry Jr. playing instead of Harold and Tony Veen as their horse transport manager.

“Billy Linfoot was a great team general, and a lot of credit goes to him for our wins,” reflects Ronnie. Billy and Ronnie won the PCO again in 1966 alongside Bill Atkinson and Tom Hughes.

“Bill Atkinson was a bit unorthodox, but he played a great back. And Tom Hughes was a charger up front,” Ronnie says. Ronnie notes that between 1961 and 1966, Santa Barbara had the best nucleus of high-goal polo players anywhere in the U.S., with Skene at 10 goals, Billy Linfoot and Roy Barry Jr. at 9 goals, and himself, Bill Atkinson, Bud Linfoot and Alan Scherer at 6 goals.

Come 1977, the PCO tournament handicap was lowered as fewer high-rated players were available to play, and Ronnie Tongg pulled together a lastminute entry.

When Iñigo Zóbel came from the Philippines to play with Ronnie Tongg in the 1977 Pacific Coast Open, they decided to do something fun and different for team jerseys so they wore Mickey Mouse shirts. The team ended up winning.

“The son of a good friend of mine from the Manila Polo Club, Iñigo Zóbel, decided to come play and I let him decide about the team jerseys. He wanted to wear something fun and different, so we wore Mickey Mouse shirts. Our team ended up winning—it was a surprise to everyone!” he says.

Golden Games & Gambles

Corky Linfoot was a freshman in college in 1968—he wore bell bottoms, sported a long, shaggy hairstyle, and considered shoes to be optional. At the same time, he was a natural horseman and a talented young player. The Greenhill team needed a No. 4, so Billy Linfoot enlisted his son Corky on horses supplied by their generous teammate Hap Sharp.

“Harold liked to have fun with me,” admits Corky, “and he declared that if we won the tournament, he got to cut my hair however he pleased.”

Two weeks later, after securing the 1968 PCO, Harold sent Corky to his favorite barber who sheared Corky’s long locks down to the bare skull. Harold gave Corky another special bonus for his efforts in the game: a little Argentine mare that was one of Corky’s very first ponies.

A few years later, Corky Linfoot received a phone call from Bob Skene: “Corky, I just broke my arm and I need you to come play for me—the semis are on Friday.”

Corky boarded a plane and arrived to replace Skene in short order, joining the team alongside Antonio Herrera, who they warmly referred to as the “Golden Mexican” because of the sizable gold chain and cross perpetually adorning his neck. Rated 6 goals at the time, Corky and the 9-goal Herrera had a strong lead going into the final chukker. This lead was a blessing in the end, remembers Corky.

“There were a few minutes left and Antonio is off his horse, walking the field near the 40-yard line, while the game is on! His gold chain and cross broke and he got off to find it, without finishing the game first. Luckily, we got the win, and he also found his golden treasure,” he explains.

In 1979, Corky Linfoot achieved big wins in the Palm Beach Open in Florida and the U.S. Open in Texas and had limited horsepower remaining for the PCO final in Santa Barbara. But he pulled together a string and joined the Retama team alongside Tommy Gose, Mike Conant and Carlos Gracida. In the final, Corky was mounted on a lessthan-impressive pony named Bobcat Bernie.

After winning the Palm Beach Open and the U.S. Open in 1979, Corky Linfoot was a bit horse-short for the Pacific Coast Open, playing with Retama. One horse ran him into a goal post leaving him with a lump on his head. The team still won.

“The pony had no run, and was almost no help to me on the field,” he remembers. After an uneven ride-off, Bobcat ran Corky straight into a goal post, leaving him on the ground with a melon-size contusion forming on his left side. Corky finished the game and his team secured the win. The infamous Bobcat Bernie did not make any subsequent appearances on Field 1.

Best Ponies & Big Hitters

In 1984, Fred Mannix’s Fish Creek team included Joe Barry, Rob Roenisch, and Kenny Fransen. It was the first time Fred played with the big hitting Joe Barry.

“Joe hated hitting Penalty 4s at the south end of the field because his balls always ended up on the freeway causing a screech of tires. At the north end, the penalty shots always ended up traveling through condominium windows!” Fred recalls.

One of Fred’s best chukkers was on a pony named 011 (Oh Eleven), a Tommy Wayman horse who went on to teach all the Mannix kids how to play. Fred’s eldest son Frederick was there to witness his dad’s first PCO win, although he was only a few months old at the time.

In the 1985 PCO final, the Old Pueblo team was the reputed underdog: John Hall, Corky Linfoot, and Mike Conant signed up Kevin Ittig to join their team, although Kevin had limited high-goal experience at the time.

“Kevin was light on speed in his string, so I lent him one of my talented go-to ponies, Constant Comment. In the practice game, all I can hear Kevin saying is ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa’ and he returned her to me shortly after the chukker. A little too much fire he complained! Somehow our long-shot team managed to win. My wife Kathy likes to remind me that our team was not a natural fit, but Mike and I adapted well and made a success of the team by working together,” remembers Corky.

Around the same time, Glen Holden was in search of a 9-goal player for his Gehache team. He reached out to friends in Argentina, who highly recommended Daniel Gonzalez. Daniel and his family made their way to Santa Barbara and he and Glen became excellent teammates and lifelong friends.

“I am lucky to have played with him and have his expertise in finding talented horses in Argentina. I am also grateful that Daniel introduced me to Alfonso Giannico, who was my longtime horse trainer and polo manager,” Holden says.

Holden claims his best chukker in the 1986 PCO final was on a mare named Rotunda, who he almost sold less than a year prior because she was such a handful on the field. But Alfonso convinced Glen to keep the mare while he invested months of training into her.

“As it turns out, Rotunda became one of the best horses that I played in my lifetime,” Glen admits.

F.D. Walton describes his 1986 PCO experience with the Gehache team akin to playing football on a team with Tom Brady. “Daniel Gonzalez was that good at passing up the ball. I was lucky to join such an organized and seasoned team. Daniel put me at No. 1, which had not always been my favorite position. But I had great players behind me,” Walton says.

F.D. Walton said playing with Daniel Gonzalez in 1986 was like playing football with Tom Brady. Walton scored six of the team’s seven goals, thanks to passes from Daniel. The team included Daniel’s son Mariano Gonzalez and Glen Holden.

Walton relied on a string of ponies that he trained himself to mount up against some of the best players in the U.S. that Sunday afternoon. In an attempt to keep up with his older brothers, he had started training horses when he was just 12 years on the family ranch in Modesto. Walton’s horsemanship and sensibility near goal made up for his lack of experience in high-goal polo. Gehache put a lot of faith in Walton and he really delivered, scoring six of the team’s seven goals to win.

“I’m glad that I made good on the great opportunity that Glen Holden offered to me—it was a team and a game of a lifetime,” he says.

The following season saw Maui secure the PCO win, with Joel Baker, Bill Mayberry and Peter Baldwin, recruiting a young Joe Henderson from his arena polo success out onto the grass.

“It was a really hard game. Joel Baker had great knowledge of high-goal polo, so we deferred to him and he led us to victory. It was one of my very first wins on the grass,” remembers Henderson.

His best chukker that afternoon was on a horse from Scott Cunningham, a mare named Trixie who almost flipped over on him the first time he tested her breaks.

“Everyone presumed Corky’s great mare Equal Rights would get the Best Pony prize. I was surprised and thrilled when they gave the prize to my Trixie instead!” he says.

The Fish Creek team qualified for the final of the 1991 PCO, although Mannix was absent for many of the games with his wife Li-Anne expecting their son Julian in Calgary. Mannix put his groom Julie Roenisch in to play on his behalf during the qualifying games.

“Fred never hesitated to put me in, and neither did Julio [Zavaleta]. They could have found some 1- goal superstar kid, but they always went with me instead,” remembers Roenisch.

Mannix flew down from Calgary in time to play in the final game, but he refused to do so. He called Julie over and said, “I’m not going to play, you got us to the finals, I want you to go play.”

Roenisch not only had the backing of her boss, but many other players were also supportive of her game.

“I never felt like I was treated differently by the men in the tournament. I was just another player out there on the field. My teammates and also Bob Skene were always very encouraging and gave me helpful advice about my games,” she says.

Roenisch was the first woman to win the PCO and went on to become the first woman to play in the U.S. Open in 1992.

Winning Traditions

Pat Nesbitt recalls a devastating loss in the last 30 seconds of the PCO final in 1996. Come 1997, his Windsor Capital team fought their way through the tournament, and were determined to get the win. When JW Hall was injured in the semi-finals, the team enlisted Matthew Gonzalez as a substitute.

After a devastating loss in the 1996 PCO final, Pat Nesbitt and his Windsor Capital team were determined to win. The underdogs faced Tim Gannon’s Outback team. Playing hard, Windsor Capital ultimately prevailed.

“Matthew was a great all-around player and was instrumental in our win,” Nesbitt says.

Windsor Capital faced Tim Gannon’s Outback team in the final, whose winning streak stretched back three tournaments. “We weren’t supposed to win,” suggests Nesbitt.

However, Outback reportedly hosted a team party the night before the final—maybe in anticipation of the trophy.

Nesbitt recalls, “Our team fought hard to get to the final and weren’t taking anything for granted. We wanted the win and played hard to get it. And they might have been a little tired from their previous night’s festivities!”

Duende team patron Mike Hakan fondly recalls perpetual excitement that surrounded the annual PCO calcutta throughout the ‘90s.

“Every year, on the final day of the America Cup, the winner would open up the clubhouse bar in celebration. Then as the champagne flowed, each team in the tournament would be auctioned off. There was a lot of jostling and joking among the teams and players, but there was a pretty serious side to it as well,” Nesbitt remembers.

Hakan’s Duende bought their own team in 1998, and reportedly “made out like bandits” with the calcutta pot after their win.

Santi Trotz describes the Duende team (he, Francisco Lanusse, Mariano Gonzalez and Mike Hakan) that year as “the greatest of friends.” The foursome was very superstitious and maintained a regular game-day routine of eating breakfast at Stacky’s down the street in Summerland. Sitting at the same table each morning, the team would go over their horse lists and prepare their game strategy. When the day of the PCO final came, the team arrived at Stacky’s and found their usual table taken. They were accustomed to waiting for it to clear occasionally, but this day the customers did not seem to be in a hurry to leave.

Mike Hakan, Francisco Lanusse, Santi Trotz and Mariano Gonzalez’s game day routine included eating breakfast at Stacky’s, sitting at the same table each time. When the table was taken the morning of their PCO final, they asked the occupants to move to another table. They complied and the superstitious team went on to win.

“After waiting 15 minutes, I walked over to the table and explained to the people sitting there that it was our team table. We had a big final that day and we had to eat at the specific table because we could not break our routine. They laughed at us but picked up their things and moved to a different table. We won that day!” Trotz says.

The Santa Barbara polo fields have seen Pacific Coast Open action for 110 years.

Building the Win

Mike Conant, who claimed an epic total of six PCO wins, reflects on his success with a quote from Santa Barbara legend Vic Graber: “The game of polo is played on horses.” With these sage words in mind, Conant always arrived to games with more horses than he needed, including some extra to share with teammates if required.

“In 1990, there were 10 tournament games and

then a final. We had to make sure to keep our best horses sound and ready for the final game, and not run them down during the qualifiers. We watched the other teams and their lineups, and we were smart about which horses we played in each game,” he explains. Conant’s best advice in becoming a polo champion: Build your win with your string.

More recently, a team with superb horsepower claimed both the 2017 and 2019 PCO titles: Farmers & Merchants Bank. Their first win in 2017 ended in a dramatic fashion, playing almost two full overtime chukkers. Team owner, Dan Walker, reflected on their celebration.

Farmers & Merchants Bank’s Lucas Escobar, Felipe Vercellino, Lucas Criado and Danny Walker played almost two full overtime chukkers in the 2017 PCO victory. Walker remembers being so exhausted he hardly enjoyed the after-party.

“I was so exhausted I could hardly enjoy the after-party. But in 2019, my adrenaline was so high that the after-party started as soon as we got off our horses and continued until the next morning. Our 2019 team earned the nickname Band of Brothers as our lineup changed almost weekly due to injury,” he says.

The FMB team earned its way to the 2019 final winning most of their games by a strong margin but found themselves in an unusual position down, 8-5, in the final chukker of play.

“We fought back, scoring four unanswered goals. It was an amazing win that I’ll never forget,” he recalls.

The historic Pacific Coast Open trophy was made by Shreve & Company at a cost of $4,000 for the Coronado Country Club in 1908.