1941: Squash Racquets

The brilliant playing of Charles Brinton, of Princeton University, the outstanding feature of the 1941 season, earned him the national amateur and national collegiate squash racquets titles. Brinton, in defeating A. Willing Patterson, the defender, also vanquished Hunter Lott, of Philadelphia, in the finals. The doubles combination of Lott and William E. Slack won the national title for the fourth successive year, defeating Brinton and Stanley Pearson in the semi-finals.

In winning the Lapham Cup, emblematic of international squash racquets team supremacy, by defeating a Canadian team, the United States team won the crown twelve times out of the nineteen years the cup has been up for competition.

In the New York State championships, Stanley Galowin, who put out Patterson in the national, played remarkably well, annexing the title for the third year in a row. Richard S. Rothchild won the Metropolitan (N. Y.) Squash Racquets Association singles title, defeating Arthur H. Barker. Joe Janotta, of Chicago, led in the national veteran's contest, and Murray Vernon captured the Metropolitan Veterans' title.

Miss Cecile Bowes, of Bala-Cynwyd, Pa., retained the national women's title, beating Mrs. Enos Throop of New York, the 1941 Metropolitan champion, in fifteen minutes of play. Miss Eleonora Sears, a former national title holder, lost out in the quarter finals.

1940: Squash Racquets

Squash racquets is on the upgrade as an indoor tournament sport and will probably continue to expand because it is played in many prep schools and colleges. It is a participator game rather than a spectator game, and only a few courts have adjoining galleries. A. Willing Patterson, of Philadelphia, won the national title in 1940, which had been held previously by Donald Strachan, veteran player of the same city.

There was a particularly close contest for the national doubles, won by Hunter H. Lott and William S. Slack, also of Philadelphia, who gained the title for the third consecutive year. The Boston team again won the national amateur team title. The best squash racquets player among collegians in 1940 was Kim Canavarro, of Harvard, winner of the national collegiate title. Charles Brinton, a Princeton senior, won the fifth annual invitation intercollegiate tournament conducted by the University Club.

The 1940 national professional championship was won in convincing manner by Alfred Ramsey, of Cleveland, 38 years of age, who defeated Eddie Schaeffer, of Pittsburgh, 12 years younger, in 20 minutes of play. Lester Cummings, the 1939 national title holder, annexed the metropolitan title for the second time, winning a second leg on the George H. Rupper Challenge Trophy, which requires three legs to win outright.

The women's national singles title was won by Miss Cecile Bowes, after Miss Anne Page had worn the crown for three years. Mrs. John E. Bierwirth and Mrs. William H. Adams annexed the women's national doubles title.

1939: Squash Racquets

Squash rackets saw the return of a popular ex-champion when Donald Strachan, of Philadelphia, national champion in 1935, succeeded Germain G. Glidden, of New York, who had held the title during 1936-1938 as national singles champion. Strachan showed a remarkable court generalship in his matches, defeating Stanley Galowin, of New York, in straight games in the final round although the latter came to the fore in winning the New York State title. Glidden retired as undefeated champion in 1938.

In the keen contest for the national doubles championship, Hunter H. Lott and William S. Slack, of Philadelphia, retained their title by defeating Galowin and Fred Alexander. No less exciting was the metropolitan doubles championship, in which Don Nightingale and Sam Cochrane, of the University Club, turned back the defending champions, Beekman H. Pool and Conway Hoffman.

A New Yorker also made a successful bid for the national professional championship, when Lee Cummings, instructor of the Union Club, won the title in Cleveland, defeating Jack Summers, coach at M.I.T.

For the third time, Miss Anne Page became the women's national champion, vanquishing Miss Elizabeth Pearson, both of Philadelphia, after winning in 1936 and 1937. Mrs. John Bierwith and Mrs. William H. Adams, of New York, won the women's national doubles. Other champions were Stanley Pearson (Intercollegiate Singles); Hubert Martin (Canadian Singles); International Team (Lapham Trophy) — Canada defeated United States 10 matches to 4.

1938: Squash Racquets

In the field of squash racquets, the name of Germain G. Glidden dominated three championships during 1938 in a way that has never been known in the past. Mr. Glidden, representing the Harvard Club of New York, won the national singles championship of the United States Squash Racquets Association for the third straight year, as well as the single title of the Metropolitan Association, and he was also a factor in the triumph of the United States team over the Canadian team, 13 matches to 2, for the highly prized Lapham trophy.

The national team title was won by Boston, the team comprising Arthur H. Barker, Richard V. Wakeman, Lindsay Ware, Harold F. Kaese and William Holden. The national doubles champions are Hunter Lott and William E. Slack, of the Philadelphia Country Club. A. M. Sonnabend, of Boston, Mass., is the veteran's national title holder. In the women's division, Cecile Bowes, of Philadelphia, won the national championship, and the national doubles title was won by Mrs. John Bierwirth and Mrs. William Adams, of New York. The men's Canadian singles championship was won by Hubert A. Martin, of Hamilton.

In intercollegiate squash racquets, Leroy Lewis, of the University of Pennsylvania, broke the winning streak of the Harvard players, who captured the title many times in the past, by besting Vernon Ridder, of Princeton. Among professionals, Al Ramsey, a Cleveland pro, who succeeded John Skillman, the Yale coach, who was unable to defend his title because of an injury, vanquished Lester Cummings, of New York.