1938: Polo

The 1938 polo season was again featured by the fine play of the Old Westbury team, who repeated their 1937 success in the National Open Championship. The team consisted of Michael Phipps, Stewart Iglehart, Cecil Smith, and C. V. Whitney; and the excellent all around play of Phipps in this tournament and during the season merited his being raised to ten goals on the handicap list. He shares this top figure with his teammates — Stewart Iglehart and Cecil Smith — and Thomas Hitchcock, Jr., of the Greentree team.

The Aknusti team won the Monty Waterbury Cup, which, like the Open, was held in September at the famous Meadow Brook Club in Westbury, L. I. This tournament is the feature handicap event of the season, and the winning team was composed of Elbridge Gerry, Robert Gerry, Jr., Captain C. T. I. Roark, and Raymond Guest.

Other national championship winners included the Bostwick Field team, which won the Junior Championship; the Army team, representing the Field Artillery School of Fort Sill, which won the Inter-Circuit Championship; the Harvard University team, which won the Eastern Intercollegiate Championship; and the University of Southern California four, winners of the Western Intercollegiate Championship.

The game continued its healthy growth in all sections of the United States with more players, member clubs and spectator interest than ever before and continued as a world-wide sport with fine polo being played in all parts of the globe, including Canada, Mexico, Cuba, Argentina, England, India, Australia, Africa, Germany, France, Belgium, Hawaii, China, and the Philippine Islands.

During the latter part of the year, Great Britain sent an official challenge to the United States for the historic Westchester Cup, which was last successfully defended by this country in England in 1936. This challenge has been accepted, and the 1939 season will see the renewal of the International Matches with Great Britain. These games will be held in June at the Meadow Brook Club and will be the first formal International Matches between the two countries to be held on this side of the water since 1930.