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STILL SWINGING AWAY

by Rob Dinerman

THE CONTINUING SAGA OF PETE BOSTWICK

New York. August 12, 2001 (rev Sept 14) © 2001 Rob Dinerman for Squashtalk.com

In 1986, shortly after succeeding the legendary Bob Lehman, who for more than four decades had been single-handedly responsible for making the MSRA Annual Yearbook essentially the squash Bible, I began a series looking back at MSRA legends of the past, re-examining and paying tribute to their outstanding careers and updating the readership on "Where They Are Now."

Pete Bostwick Jr. in 1975; P. Mecca photographer

PREMATURE R.I.P.
It was pretty much a requirement that to be profiled one's career had to be essentially over, and of the three subjects chosen for the 1986-87 Yearbook(Glenn Greenberg, John Reese and Pete Bostwick), the latter seemed the least likely to have any significant achievements left in him --not only was he a full decade older than the other two, he had also been plagued in the mid-80's by mounting hip problems which understandably were making the game increasingly painful for him and which, in fact, resulted in hip replacements(on both legs!) by early 1987. He seemed doomed to become another example of a long litany of zealous athletes governed too much by their heart and not enough by their head who wound up crippled by the very games they played and loved for so long(for TOO long, in fact).

But while Greenberg and Reese(both of whom were enormous fixtures in squash on both the regional and national fronts for more than a decade)cooperatively adapted to squash retirement, Bostwick spent several necessary recuperative seasons on the sidelines and then returned in time to play in the '90 55-and-over Nationals in Rochester, where he reached the final and thus began a streak during which he played in 11 consecutive Nationals, reaching the finals of both the 55's and the 65's, while also winning the National '55's and 60's singles crown and 11 out of 12 National 55's Doubles titles in the sport of court tennis, in which exacting discipline he had won both the National Open and amateur championships several decades earlier.

READY FOR THE 01-02 SEASON
Only a torn meniscus in his left knee this past winter, which required arthroscopic surgery in January, sidelined him during the 2000-2001 season and, with the injury fully rehabilitated as of this late-summer writing, the 67-year-old Bostwick fully plans to return to the competitive arena this autumn.

As should be evident from the foregoing, Pete is one of the most multi-talented racquet and all-around athletes of his (highly extended) era, having won several dozen national titles in court tennis, tennis, hard racquets and squash over a period of five decades of nearly constant competitive play.

GOLF AND HOCKEY DAYS
His days of athletic stardom date all the way back to '53, when as a prep-schooler at St. Pauls he won the New England Interschols in tennis, continued through the New England Intercollegiate Golf title he won as a senior at Middlebury in '58 (while captain of the tennis team) and include a full quarter-century('58-'83)as a key member of the renowned St. Nicks hockey club. Mike Karin, an all-American hockey player and hockey teammate at Middlebury called Bostwick "the greatest amateur athlete I've ever known."

By playing in the U.S. Amateur championships(the forbear of the U. S. Open)at Forest Hills in '52 and later qualifying for and competing in the '59 golf U. S. Open at Winged Foot, he became one of only three men(Ellsworth Vines and Frank Conner being the others)to play in the Open championships in both of these sports; in fact Bostwick's two-round total of 153 at Winged Foot, while missing the cut by three strokes, was actually one shot better than the score posted by Jack Nicklaus, who would win the U.S. Amateur title a few weeks later and thereby launch what would become a truly legendary career in that sport.

SQUASH TITLES
Pete's two National squash titles were the '75 National 40's(keyed by a rousing five-game semis over the shotmaking maestro Henri Salaun, who led 2-0 before bowing to an inspired Bostwick rally)and the '80 National 45's, in which he defeated defending champion Les Harding en route to the cup. He also won the hard racquets Open Championship in '69 and '70 and annexed both the U. S. Open and amateur titles in court tennis, in which sport he held the world title from '69-'72 before being dethroned by his older brother Jimmy.

By accomplishing this trifecta, Bostwick became one of only three men(accompanied by Ralph Howe and Dick Squires)to win National championships in three different racquet sports -- and both Howe and Squires depended on a doubles title in at least one of their three sports to qualify for this elite list.

In fact, Bostwick's exposure to and success in such a plethora of sports, which poses a hindrance for many competitors(due to the difficulty of navigating the often minor but always present tactical and stroking differences between these games) actually became an advantage for Pete, who often "cross-pollinates" i. e. uses a tactic from one racquet game while playing another, thereby confusing an opponent unaccustomed to the unfamiliar ploy confronting him.

GAME INNOVATIONS
As one example, Bostwick was one of the first hardball squash players to employ the "working boast," a kind of modified crosscourt very integral to hard racquets but heretofore unknown in squash, and for years he was quite successful in throwing his opponents off-balance with this maneuver, sometimes to a degree that turned the entire flow of a match in his favor. That shot was in the 80's used very frequently by such elite squash players as Gary Waite and Mark Talbott, but its use in the late 60's and early 70's was unheard of before Bostwick introduced it into his game and eventually into THE game. The heavier-than-normal slice Pete puts on his finesse squash shots(especially his roll- and reverse-corners)also has its roots in another racquet sport, namely court tennis.

This rare ability to convert a potential hindrance into an advantage is not just confined to his drawing on a diverse racquet background while molding a squash arsenal; when Bostwick's hip problems cut sharply into his mobility, he reacted both by sharpening up an already potent short game and by becoming better than he had ever previously been at anticipating what shot an opponent was about to hit.

LATE SQUASH BLOOMER
Because of the extent and diversity of his athletic commitments, Bostwick did not take up competitive squash in earnest until '71, when at the age of 36 he reached the quarters of the Nationals and won the prestigious Apawamis Invitational, defeating the redoubtable duo of Palmer Page and Tom Poor in the final two rounds and thereby earning the No. 8 season-end ranking. In fact, Bostwick's most salient squash legacy may be that of being the oldest player to effectively compete at the highest echelon of the sport's amateur ranks; two years after those '71 exploits, he reached the quarter-finals of the Men's Nationals while earning another top-ten ranking, and the following season he almost repeated his Apawamis win, rallying from down 1-2 to defeat the formidable Jay Nelson and pushing Mexican star Juan deVillafranca to the limit in the ensuing final before bowing 15-13 in the fifth.

As late as '77, at the age of 42, he recorded a top-15 national men's ranking while for nearly two decades playing a major role on the highly successful Racquet and Tennis A Team, for which he won a crucial match in the '81 play-off finals in five games against a much younger and stronger opponent to help clinch another league title. After the 1974-75 season, during which he won his first age-group National squash championship, the MSRA awarded him the coveted Eddie Standing Trophy "For Sportsmanship Combined With Excellence In Play."

Bostwick, Sr., Legendary Polo Player

ATHLETIC ROOTS
Bostwick's main source of athletic inspiration, as so often happens in the case of outstanding performers, were the achievements and example of his father, Pete Sr., who was a world-class polo player and a huge contributor to six U. S. Open Polo Championships. Many aficionados of that demanding sport feel that the Greentree team the senior Bostwick played on, especially during the glory years of '35 and '36 when most members were at their peak, may have been the greatest contingent of all time, featuring as it did such luminaries as Tommy Hitchcock(widely regarded as the world's greatest player of his era), Jack Whitney, John Hays and Gerald Balding along with Mr. Bostwick.

The latter's proficiency in and devotion to his chosen sport remained literally to the last moment of his life; in January of '82, while riding out for the final period of a close polo match, the 72-year-old Bostwick suffered a massive heart attack and died almost immediately, slumping forward onto the neck of but(apocryphal-sounding but actually true)never falling off his beloved mount, a testimony to the bond the two had formed over their many years of collaboration and (as family members noted once they had recovered from their shock)a poetically appropriate ending to a wondrous and very fulfilling life.

There are athletic genes on Pete's mother's side as well, particularly in the accomplishments of his two great-aunts, the Curtis sisters, Margaret and Harriet, who between them won a total of four national amateur golf championships(playing eachother in fact in the finals one year), with Margaret adding a national amateur tennis title as well. The annual United States-vs.-England amateur women's team golf competition, the female counterpart to the Walker Cup, was named the Curtis Cup as a tribute to the mark they made upon the sport.

As befits a legacy of this magnitude, and however low-key their acknowledgement of this phenomenon, the Bostwicks are a family that think dynastically, at least as far as sports(racquet sports in particular)are concerned, and it is therefore not surprising that a number of Pete's children have made their own mark, sometimes with the partnership of their famous father. His only son(another Pete), also played for the R & T A Team, also played hockey for St. Nick's(even also had hip problems), while serving as MSRA President in the late 80's, winning the Big Apple Open in '86 and collaborating in the winning of the national father-son court tennis doubles championship in 1989.

Oldest daughter Catherine(better known as Cackie), a basketball, field hockey and tennis legend at Pete's alma mater St. Pauls, was thought at one time to be the most talented racquet athlete in the entire family, reaching in fact the final of the Women's Squash Intercollegiates in '77(as a freshman, and in her first year of squash!) before a severe knee injury the following year abruptly truncated what had to that point been a meteoric rise in several racquet sports.

Though the recovery process from such a searing mishap was slow and frustrating, she has recovered enough to co-earn the father-daughter No. 7 national senior tennis ranking, with the pair winning a number of Mixed Doubles tournaments in the Locust Valley part of northern Long Island, where Pete lives and where he worked as a principal of a successful brokerage firm until his retirement six years ago.

Another daughter, Janet, is the assistant squash pro at the same Apawamis Club in Rye, NY where Pete enjoyed some of his greatest squash achievements three decades ago, while the fourth child, Lilly, is a solid squash and tennis player at Piping Rock, the Long Island club to which the family has belonged for several decades. There are as well a total of eleven grandchildren, many of whom will doubtless be eager to carry the family banner in the years to come.

Notwithstanding the sheer statistical measurements of the tally of titles, records and rankings comprising the swollen resume of this remarkable sportsman, probably Pete's most striking and enduring characteristic is the continuing eagerness and enthusiasm he exudes for the games he is constantly playing.

STILL SWINGING AWAY
Nearly a half-century after his first meaningful racquets victories, he seems as excited as ever about whichever event is next on his brimming schedule and the competitive challenge that he knows it will provide. In marked contrast to those of even reasonably comparable vintage and achievement, who often convey the impression either of knowing it all or being weary of it all, or both, Pete remains highly interested in and willing to re-examine his views on shots and stratagems. One gets the strong impression that he is still keen to experiment with and refine his game; that his quest for perfection in these tantalizingly(and occasionally maddeningly) imperfect racquet sports continues as passionately as ever; and, in the ultimate triumph of the human soul, that his incandescent youthfulness of spirit, undimmed by either his long list of successes, his aching joints or his inexorably advancing years, has kept and will continue to keep this extraordinary athlete, in a very real sense, forever young.

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