Full Description
The first comprehensive history of squash in the United States, Squash incorporates every aspect of this increasingly popular sport: men's and women's play, juniors and intercollegiates, singles and doubles, hardball and softball, amateurs and professionals.
Invented by English schoolboys in the 1850s, squash first came to the United States in 1884 when St. Paul's School in New Hampshire built four open-air courts. The game took hold in Philadelphia, where players founded the U.S. Squash Racquets Association in 1904, and became one of the primary pastimes of the nation's elite. Squash launched a U.S. Open in 1954, but its present boom started in the 1970s when commercial squash clubs took the sport public. In the 1980s a pro tour sprung up to offer tournaments on portable glass courts in dramatic locales such as the Winter Garden at the World Trade Center.
James Zug, with access to private archives and interviews with hundreds of players, describes the riveting moments and sweeping historical trends that have shaped the game. He focuses on the biographies of legendary squash personalities: Eleo Sears, the Boston Brahmin who swam in the cold Atlantic before matches; Hashim Khan, the impish founder of the Khan dynasty; Victor Niederhoffer, the son of a Brooklyn cop; and Mark Talbott, a Grateful Dead groupie who traveled the pro circuit sleeping in the back of his pickup. A gripping cultural history, Squash is the book for which all aficionados of this fast-paced, exciting game have been waiting.
Contents
CONTENTS
Foreword by George Plimpton
Prologue
1. The Joints Trembled on the Spit
The origins of racquets sports with real tennis and racquets; the invention of squash at Harrow School in England
2. Heaven's Heaviest Artillery
The birth of squash in America at St. Paul's School in 1884; infancy in Philadelphia; the strange and sad history of the game of squash tennis; the saga of standardization and why North American squash developed the narrow court and harder ball.
3. Don't Keep Late Hour
Harvard's squash dynasty, 1922-1937; Harry Cowles, genius coach of seven national champions.
4. Hollow-Eyed and Squeaky
The start of women's squash; Yale and intercollegiate squash; squash on the Titanic; a tour of squash cities and tournaments in the 1920s and '30s.
5. Send for the Drama Critic
The Merion Cricket Club juggernaut; the Diehl Mateer/Henri Salaun rivalry of the 1950s; the start of the U.S.Open and the arrival of the Khans.
6. A Clam in Mud at Low Tide
Victor Niederhoffer; the game expands across the nation; women, juniors and colleges in the 1950s and '60s; Harvard dynasty redux under Jack Barnaby.
7. Sex, Scandal and Celebrities
Public squash in the 1970s -- the great explosion.
8. Box of Rain
The North American professional tour of the 1980s.
9. 18-16 in the Fifth
Mark Talbott versus Jahangir Khan, November 1984.
10. Bait and Switch
The tortuous change from North American to international standards.
11. The Infinitely Greater Game
A short history of squash doubles.
12. This Mollycoddled Age
Squash in the twenty-first century; rebirth and expansion; dreams of Olympic gold and a new generation of players.
Acknowledgments
Bibliography
Notes
Appendix: Record of Champions
Index
