“They had a polo match in 1924, and ever since, it’s been a social club where members meet and there’s a party once a month,” he said. “The point of it really is a social club.”
Historian and polo club member Kevin Rose said in some ways, there are three anniversaries. The club started as the Greenwood Hunt and Polo Club in 1923, started polo matches and built the clubhouse in 1924 and was incorporated and played polo for the first time on the current grounds in 1925.
Rose said the point of the club when it was founded was the polo team, but a long time ago it became a social club still on the polo grounds.
“It’s just a really good group of local residents who like to get together,” he said.
The club celebrated its 100th anniversary earlier this month with a dinner and dance party with the Pleasant Street Blues Band on a Friday, followed by a live match on a Saturday with the Cincinnati Polo Club, where players brought their horses and came from around the state to compete.
Mary Beaty, a polo club member for 14 years, was one of the organizers of the event who wanted to “honor the history of the club” by having a traditional fellow match with tailgating and more.
“When you first walk into the club, it’s just a charming clubhouse,” she said. “It’s fun to be a part of the club that always had so much mystique as I was growing up as a kid in Springfield.”
The match had 12 players and about 150 people in attendance, including U.S. Polo Association pro/coach Tom Goodspeed. The Springfield team, on which Frantz was the only playing member, won the match seven goals to six.
“I’m totally honored. As a person who enjoys and plays polo as a hobby, it was really a privilege for me personally to get to participate in the 100th anniversary polo match on a 100-year-old polo field that belongs to the club,” he said.
The Springfield Polo Club has about 165 members. They play about one match a year, and Frantz is the only member that plays in the matches, he said.
Rose, who has been a member for a couple years, said it’s “pretty cool” to be a part of a group that’s been around for 100 years.
“I love the legacy of things, the history of the community. We might not be as attracted to the polo club if it was a new clubhouse. It’s neat to be in the space and hanging out with friends, surrounded by this history,” he said.
Frantz said polo is the oldest known sporting event, dating back 2,500 years and originating in Asia as a military training exercise used to prepare horses and riders for battle. The game was refined throughout the centuries and became popular in the U.S. between 1890-1930.
Today, polo is played with four players on each team. The match consists of six periods that are called chukkers, each lasting for seven minutes, with short breaks in between.
Frantz said in many other polo clubs, about 90% play polo and 10% are what’s considered to be social or booster members. He said the opposite is true for Springfield because they only have a few members that play and the rest are social members.
“The Springfield Polo Club has been able to afford a polo field, which is extremely rare in the U.S. It’s truly a gem. There are not many clubs that are 100 years old,” Frantz said.
Rose said one of the founders of the club was Richard Rodgers, who owned the land on which the club sits and lived next door with his wife, Jennie Westcott Rodgers.
Both Jennie and her brother, John Westcott, grew up in the Westcott House. John played for the Springfield Polo Club in the 1924 match against Cincinnati Polo Club, and his name is on the winning trophy.
“That’s one of my connections. I work with them (the Westcott House). We got connected to the polo club due to the legacy of that family,” Rose said. “There’s just a lot of connections between the Westcott family and the polo club. It’s a historical club.”
The Polo Club of Springfield is a private, member-owned club. Membership is limited but available through an application process that can be initiated by current members of the club.
For polo available to the general public, contact the Cincinnati Polo Club or Hickory Hill Polo in Indianapolis.
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