Friends Of Harvard Squash Celebration A Huge Success
by Rob Dinerman
Dateline October 27th---
Nearly 200 aficionados of Harvard squash crammed the Lee Family Hall of
Athletic History at the Murr Center in Cambridge this past Saturday
evening to commemorate the storied and championships-laden history of
Harvard squash, now entering its 94th year, dating back to the
inaugural 1922-23 season. There were titans from both the quite distant
and very recent past (ranging from Charlie Ufford ’53, who twice won
the Intercollegiate individual title, to just-graduated four-time
Individuals champ Amanda Sobhy ’15), as well as from all the eras in
between, and members from the current varsity teams got to meet the
Crimson legends of yesteryear and understand the nature of the
tradition they are joining and carrying forward. The event constituted
a “gathering of the tribe” the likes of which may never have been
equaled in college squash, and the presence of iconic players and
coaches everywhere one looked was reminiscent of Old Timers Day at
Yankee Stadium.
Head men’s and women’s coach Mike Way, whose teams have
won either the Potter Cup or the Howe Cup (emblematic of the college
men’s and women’s national team championships respectively) each of the
past four years, welcomed the gathering, as did present-day co-captains
Devin McLaughlin and Isabelle Dowling ’16 on behalf of their teammates.
Then former (from 1986-92) head coach Steve Piltch delivered some
memorial reflections on two Harvard squash alumni, Colin Campbell ’92
and Mike Masland ’95, who have recently passed away, in each case after
bouts with cancer. After Piltch’s moving presentation, Friends of
Harvard Squash long-time (10 years) Co-Chair Hope Nichols Prockop ’90
thanked the players, donors, parents and coaches associated with the
program, following which Rob Dinerman, whose recently-completed
hardcover book, “A History of Harvard Squash, 1922-2010”, was handed
out to all attendees when they arrived at the registration desk, gave a
brief author’s speech chronicling his experience of researching and
writing the manuscript.
Dinerman thanked the many interviewees for their
involvement, as well as Joe Dowling ’87, for inviting him to write this
History when the two of them met, with squash balls thwacking in the
background, on the eighth floor of the Harvard Club of New York in
February 2013. Becky Tung Hahn ’80, the first two-time first-team
all-American in the annals of Harvard women’s squash, then described
what the early years of the women’s squash program were like and
discussed some of the growing pains leading up to the program’s
emergence as a national power during the 1980’s.
The four living Harvard coaches --- namely Dave Fish ’72, now entering
his FORTIETH year as Harvard tennis coach, during the first 13 of which
he also coached the squash team; Piltch, the current Head of School at
Shipley School in suburban Philadelphia; Bill Doyle, whose
men’s/women’s teams won 13 Ivy League titles in a combined 14 seasons;
and Satinder Bajwa, whose youth-enrichment charity in India is a
foreign affiliate member of NUSEA, the National Urban Squash &
Education Association --- were showered with praise and affection
throughout the night by their grateful former players. Each of them had
a chance to speak after being “presented” by their respective protégés,
with Glenn Whitman ’74 speaking on behalf of his former teammate Fish,
Ingrid Boyum Ellen ’87 and Jeremy Fraiberg ’92 honoring Piltch, Libby
Eynon Welch ’95 and Andy Walter ’97 speaking together on the podium as
they presented Doyle, and Blair Endresen Metrailler ’00 and Hilary
Thorndike ’05 leading in to Bajwa’s speech.
After a brief break for dessert, Friends Co-Chairs Bill
Kaplan ’77, Reed Endresen ’11 and Jason Michas ’13 introduced Greg
Zaff, whose founding of SquashBusters, the first urban youth enrichment
organization in 1996, was aided tremendously by then-Coach Doyle’s
forceful advocacy in securing Harvard’s permission for the fledgling
charity to use Harvard’s squash courts every Saturday morning. There
has been a close relationship between Harvard squash players and NUSEA
ever since, and Zaff gave a detailed summary of the many Harvard-NUSEA
connections that ensued and thanked the many Crimson squash alums for
all the support, financial and otherwise, that they have provided
throughout the past two decades. Mike Way then wrapped up the evening
and invited everyone present to return to Murr for as many home
dual-meets as possible during the forthcoming season and beyond.
The entire night became a series of exuberant mini-reunions as
former teammates from every generation reconnected and relived the
years they spent as part of the truly magnificent history of Harvard
squash. The 2014-15 men’s team won the Ivy League title and the women’s
team captured the Howe Cup --- with that recent backdrop and the
addition of some impressive freshmen to both rosters, the current crop
of players seem well poised to make some new and exciting Harvard
squash history of their own.
Photo Captions:
Steve Piltch and his former players
Steve Piltch, Satinder Bajwa, Mike Way, Bill Doyle and Dave Fish
Attendees at the Lee Family Hall of Athletic History
Bill Doyle and his former players
Satinder Bajwa, Sarah Thorndike Kelly '07 and Mohammed Ayaz
Dylan Patterson '03, Satinder Bajwa and Audrey Duboc Chastain-Chapman '07
