|
116 Years of Polo in Sheridan County
On the 4th of July, 1893, at the Sheridan
Fairgrounds, two polo teams calling themselves Sheridan
and Beckton squared off in what Editor Joe Debarthe
described as a wild scramble. Army scout and former
Sioux tribesman Frank Grouard umpired the game. Mike
Evans (founder of Tepee Lodge), George Beck (founder
of Beckton) and Captain Pete Stockwell (a British officer
formerly stationed in India) were among the players
for Beckton and Bob Brown, Estes Polk, and a Robert
Nix played for Sheridan. Over a thousand spectators
witnessed the event.
In Dayton, Captain F.D. Grissell of the
Ninth Lancers had already established a polo pony operation
on his IXL ranch. Grissell had been a member of the
first group to bring polo to England from India.
In 1898 Scotsman Malcolm Moncreiffe moved
from Powder River to Big Horn and built a polo field
and breeding operation. He exported Wyoming-bred thoroughbred
polo horses and foxhunters to England and organized
local horsemen to play polo in Big Horn. Early rosters
included the names Spear, Cover, Sackett, Skinner, Wood,
Roberts, Burnet and Bard.
At the turn of the century, Moncreiffe,
Bob Walsh, John Cover and Lee Bullington won a tournament
on the lawn of the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs
that featured several Army teams, a Denver team and
a team from Kansas City. During this tournament, local
cowboy John Cover was hailed as one of the top players
in the United States.
In 1915, Tommy Hitchcock, the greatest
American player to date, played at Moncreiffe field
as a boy. Local games benefited the Salvation Army,
Red Cross and raised funds for the Sheridan pool by
passing the hat at half-time. There was never a cover
charge.
After the First World War, Goelet Gallatin
formed the Circle V Polo Company in Big Horn which was
the premier polo operation in the world. Their breeding
foundation was Black Rascal and Kemano. Broodmares were
sent out by international players such as Hitchcock,
Von Stade, Ambrose Clarke and Deveraux Milburn. Gallatin
built a barn in Aiken, South Carolina where the Circle
V polo horses were sent in the winter. In 1927 Oliver
Henry Wallop's son, Oliver, won the National Collegiate
Championship for Yale.
In 1931, Cameron Forbes founded Neponset
Stud Farm in Beckton to raise polo ponies. Forbes invited
teams from all over the United States to play in the
area and a friendly rivalry sprang up between the old
Moncreiffe and Forbes fields. In the thirties, Tepee
Lodge led by Alan Fordyce played a series of matches
against Bones Brothers led by Little Bones Alderson.
The Brewster's Quarter Circle U Ranch in Birney also
fielded teams at this time.
History repeated itself in 1948 on the
lawn of the Broadmoor Hotel. The Neponset team of Ken
Schiffer, Mike Long, Merrill Find and bill Gardiner
won the National 12-Goal Championship match. By now,
bloodlines of six Kentucky Derby winners were in the
area.
Polo stopped in 1952 until Bob Tate brought
polo back in 1963 with Malcolm and John Wallop, Kelly
Howie, Doc Connell, Ike Fordyce and a Tepee Lodge team.
In the early eighties the Moncreiffe field
was sold. A group of polo players established the Big
Horn Equestrian Center. The Big Horn Polo Club expanded
to be one of the three largest of over two hundred in
the United States.
At the millennium two teams with their
breeding operations in Sheridan won the U.S. Open as
Diet Coke and C Spear brought home the most coveted
trophy in North America.
2005 proved to be the zenith of a long
history as the Flying H Polo Club became one of the
three summer clubs in the United States to offer high-goal
polo. Top international players participated including
eight U.S. Open winners.
This year high-goal continues with some
of the world's best players at the Flying H.
Sam Morton
Photo credits:
Top left - Lee Bullington, Malcolm Moncreiffe, John
Cover, Bob Walsh
Top right - Mike Long, Merrill Fink, Ken Schiffer, Bill
Gardner
(Photographs courtesy of Sheridan Co. Historical Society)
|
