SQUASHTALK
TODAY
WISPA
Vassar
NAO
Doubles
WISPA Greenwich CT
WISPA Rye NY
RECENT
EVENTS
Junior
Mens Worlds
Men's World Open
US 5
Man Teams
Weymuller
US Open
CURRENT
CONTENT
Hall of Fame
News Index
Club Links
Gear Links
E-boast Newsletter
(sign up now free)
Also
see:
2001
Doubles Season
Hamilton
Cup
Hamil
Cup Singles
To reach Rob Dinerman
write to robd@squashtalk.com
Dwindling
Membership Dooms once-famous Venue
by Rob Dinerman
Squash World Loses Great Doubles Court
New York. July 8, 2002 © 2002 Rob Dinerman for Squashtalk.com
City Athletic Club To Close Next Month
Squashtalk has learned that the venerable City Athletic Club, home of one of the best doubles courts and swimming pools in all of New York and a major MSRA institution for many decades, will permanently close its doors on August 15th.
In a late-June letter to the club's membership, President Jonathan Rosen confirmed this imminent development, which follows several failed drives to boost the declining membership base and several efforts to come up with enough funding to keep the club financially afloat.
DWINDLING MEMBERSHIP
There are now barely 200 members, fewer than a third the number that there
were during the institution's heyday, and neither recent attempts to recruit
younger members nor a much discussed but never implemented plan to merge
with the nearby Harmonie Club nor a pitch to former members of the Downtown
Athletic Club who were looking around for a club to join after the DAC
shut down last fall met with enough success to save the 94-year-old CAC
from this unfortunate fate.
In a subsequent letter, President Rosen informed the members that they are welcome to apply to the Swimming and Athletic Club on Equitable Plaza and/or the New York Athletic Club (both of which are just a few blocks south and north respectively of the CAC) and encouraged them to do so.
FAMOUS PAST
Founded in 1908 as a private club for Jewish businessmen who at that time
were denied entry to Manhattan's existing private clubs, the CAC became
one of the most significant social and business clubs in all of New York
under the 35-year Presidency (1909-1944) of Solomon Guggenheim of Guggenheim
Museum fame. Located on 54th Street just east of Sixth Avenue in the heart
of New York's business district, the CAC hosted important parties, meetings
and speeches from political figures and dignitaries from all over the
country and indeed the world. The handsome nine-story structure is in
the heart of Manhattan's "doubles district" as well, with the University
Club just down the block near Fifth Avenue, the Racquet & Tennis Club
barely a five-minute walk away on 53rd Street and Park Avenue and the
Lone Star Boat Club only a few blocks west on 54th Street and Seventh
Avenue.
FAMOUS PLAYERS
The City Athletic Club also became a major fixture on the MSRA squash
scene, with team entries in the MSRA singles and doubles leagues which
were led by formidable figures like Stu Goldstein, winner of the 1978
WPSA Singles title, multiple National age-group doubles champion Mel Sokolow,
'69 National Doubles champion Victor Elmaleh, '67 New York State champion
John Halpern, league star Jim Prigoff and Newt Kutner, who won the CAC
club championship a record 15 times during the 1940's and 1950's.
More recently, ISDA pro doubles stand-out Anders Wahlstedt has been a member and until last month Clive Leach, who is currently ranked in the ISDA top ten, was the club professional after replacing Bobby Martinez following the latter's three decades of meritorious service in that capacity. And Bob Lehman, who for five decades single-handedly produced the MSRA annual yearbook and made it the most popular such document in the entire world, was a CAC member for many years.
DOUBLES CENTERPIECE
The center-piece of the club's athletic facility was its outstanding doubles
court, deemed one of the truest in all of squash and equipped with a spacious
gallery that made its annual invitational doubles tournament one of the
highlights of any season. Originally a pro-am event, it became an amateur
invitational before being converted a few years ago to a pro tournament
on the burgeoning ISDA tour. Renamed to honor Sokolow following his death
in 1992, the Mel Sokolow Memorial Invitational has become an important
stop on the tour's 17-event schedule and some noteworthy professional
matches, from Gary Waite's dominant performances with Damien Mudge last
season and Viktor Berg the previous year to the unexpected advance to
the finals last January of qualifiers Wahlstedt and Josh McDonald, have
taken place on that storied court.
As recently as this past March, the CAC joined the New York City Doubles Association (NYCDA), which was hastily formed to host the 2002 National Doubles championships after the MSRA declined to sanction the event and provided a crucial venue that enabled the USSRA to properly conduct this mammoth tournament. Notwithstanding these recent moves, there had been rumblings about the club's future for some time, especially due to the graying and thinning of what once was a strong membership base, and the news of the club's imminent demise is therefore a saddening but not surprising development.
Mid Atlantic/NY Squash has been losing hardball squash clubs and courts in the last several years, notably the Atlantic City Racquet Club (which was evicted last summer by the management of Resorts International), the demolition last month of the Yale Club's lone remaining hardball court and the scheduled conversion next spring of the last two remaining hardball courts at the University Club of Washington D. C. into a softball court.
Still, especially in view of the paucity of doubles courts in New York amidst the success of the ISDA tour and the growing popularity of the game, the loss of the City Athletic Club doubles court and of the highly-respected institution itself constitute a heavy psychological blow, on both a squash and a social level, and provide yet another sobering and cautionary reminder of time's relentless passage.
SquashTalk Opinion
Global Gallery
The Spin (Beck)
Rob Dinerman
Team Kneipp
Walker's Notebook
Sarah Fitz-Gerald
Clios
Corner (Zug)
Guest Columns
Letters to Editor
What's New
News Index
Features Index
Web Links
E-boast Newsletter
(sign
up now free)
Contribute regional news anytime to: editor@squashtalk.com
