US Squash has just announced the four people who will be inducted next week at the U.S. Open into the U.S. Squash Hall of Fame. http://www.ussquash.com/u-s-squash-hall-of-fame-induction-to-be-held-on-u-s-open-finals-day/
A few incredible facts about each of the inductees:
Barbara Clement—As a girl in the 1920s, she learned to play tennis in Cape May, NJ with William Moore. One of the first African American tennis professionals, Moore was the son of former slaves. Barbara, like Moore, was inducted into the Middle States Tennis Hall of Fame. http://www.middlestates.usta.
Cool historical fact: Barbara’s father, Tom Strobhar, was a lacrosse goalie at Johns Hopkins and led them to the national title in 1903; he was inducted into the Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1969: http://apps.uslacrosse.org/museum/halloffame/view_profile.php?prof_id=201
Goldie Edwards—She was adopted at three weeks old by a fifty-one year-old woman in New Zealand who already had a six year-old daughter. Goldie’s sister eventually married a man who was captured by the Germans during the Second World War and spent four years in a POW camp on Crete. Goldie grew up in Auckland and went to the universities of Otago [in Dunedin] and Canterbury [in Christchurch].
Her emigration story is remarkable. In 1960 she was working for the New Zealand psychological service in Wellington, when she got job at the University of Saskatchewan. Her friend’s father was the harbor master in Wellington and connected her with a Dutch freighter in port who agreed to ferry Goldie to North America. It took a month to go from New Zealand to Vancouver, via Hawaii.
Jay Nelson—He played under Jack Barnaby at Harvard, he’s overcome prostate cancer, but the one amazing fact about Jay is that he is the grandson of the famous Manchester City striker Billie Gillespie. Born in Scotland, Gillespie scored 132 goals in 218 games (one of the top strike rates in history) and led Man City to the FA Cup title in 1904.
http://spartacus-educational.com/MANCgillespie.htm
Don Strachan—Donny served in the U.S. Navy during the Second World War in the Aleutians, where he suffered frostbite under his chin. He would not let his two daughters play squash because his wife, Elisa Fitler Strachan, had gotten hit in the mouth with a racquet playing squash and had lost some teeth. Donny was a famous bon vivant and during college was friends with Benny Goodman and other jazz hipsters in New York. In in May 1931 he hosted Goodman at Cottage Club at Princeton—it was the first time Goodman led his own band. http://www.network54.com/Forum/27140/message/1404392132/if+you+were+a+student+at+Princeton+in+May+1931,++look+at+the+bands+you+could+dance+to.