Comments on: Hyder; Doug McLaggan; SWPHI http://blog.jameszug.com/hyder-doug-mclaggan-swphi-2/ Stories on Squash Fri, 05 Dec 2008 07:43:25 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Ian Douglas McLaggan http://blog.jameszug.com/hyder-doug-mclaggan-swphi-2/#comment-8031 Ian Douglas McLaggan Sun, 20 Apr 2008 13:49:26 +0000 http://blog.jameszug.com/hyder-doug-mclaggan-swphi-2/#comment-8031 How wonderful it is to read great things about my dad. Thanks Bill for the story. I have wonderful memories of The University Club where I spent a number of years watching the master. He was a true gentleman. How wonderful it is to read great things about my dad. Thanks Bill for the story. I have wonderful memories of The University Club where I spent a number of years watching the master. He was a true gentleman.

]]> By: Wilford Smith http://blog.jameszug.com/hyder-doug-mclaggan-swphi-2/#comment-6648 Wilford Smith Tue, 04 Mar 2008 03:44:31 +0000 http://blog.jameszug.com/hyder-doug-mclaggan-swphi-2/#comment-6648 I’m almost a year late here, but hardly a day goes by without me thinking of Doug McLaggan. I met him at the University Club in the 70’s. He taught me to play, and for a long stretch of time back then, I would take two lessons a week from Doug. It always was the highlight of my day. The squash was wonderful to be sure, but the stories were better. In all that has been written about Doug, no one has mentioned what a great storyteller he was. One of the best, as I recall, was about Doug in the Royal Marines in Sicily during World War II. Doug’s platoon was ambushed and totally wiped out, except for Doug. He had been left for dead and woke up two hours later underneath three bodies. Hearing him tell the story made you shiver. I’m almost a year late here, but hardly a day goes by without me thinking of Doug McLaggan.

I met him at the University Club in the 70’s. He taught me to play, and for a long stretch of time back then, I would take two lessons a week from Doug. It always was the highlight of my day. The squash was wonderful to be sure, but the stories were better. In all that has been written about Doug, no one has mentioned what a great storyteller he was.

One of the best, as I recall, was about Doug in the Royal Marines in Sicily during World War II. Doug’s platoon was ambushed and totally wiped out, except for Doug. He had been left for dead and woke up two hours later underneath three bodies. Hearing him tell the story made you shiver.

]]> By: Eric Pearson http://blog.jameszug.com/hyder-doug-mclaggan-swphi-2/#comment-5506 Eric Pearson Wed, 30 Jan 2008 17:11:15 +0000 http://blog.jameszug.com/hyder-doug-mclaggan-swphi-2/#comment-5506 I appreciate the commentary on the SWPHI. Through only in its second year, it truly is becoming a fantastic event, with a loyal and almost cult-like following of players from coast to coast. Some participants have even suggested that the SWPHI is more of a lifestyle than a tournament. With regard to the notion that the tournament be played on the wide court, I cannot disagree more strongly. The game was not designed to be played on the wide court and is thus a bastardization of a once great game. There still remain today more traditional hardball courts in the US than softball courts (this was true a couple of years ago, so I might have to refresh my stats) so it is the opionion of the board of directors of the SWPHI that the tournament be played on the true court for as long as possible. We recognize the reality that some day hardball courts may cease to exist, at which point we would shift to the softball court by necessity. However, until that day comes we will play the game as it is traditionally meant to be played. We are not looking for progressive measures or compromises. We are not looking to take another step to make our beloved game more like the international game, which all but extincted the game of hardball. We are taking a bold step, that nobody else in the United States seems willing to take, to preserve what just 15 years ago was the standard. I am not knocking the merits of harball on the wide court. I have recently learned that it is a good game and I look forward to competing in my first tournament on the wide court in next month's Woodruff Nee, but for as long as I am the director of the SWPHI it will be an invitational event contested on the narrow court. And for that matter, as long as I am on the board of the Hardball Association I will insist that the national championship continue to be played on the proper court. Lets not render our existing real estate valuless by failing to utilize it for its stated purpose. I appreciate the commentary on the SWPHI. Through only in its second year, it truly is becoming a fantastic event, with a loyal and almost cult-like following of players from coast to coast. Some participants have even suggested that the SWPHI is more of a lifestyle than a tournament. With regard to the notion that the tournament be played on the wide court, I cannot disagree more strongly. The game was not designed to be played on the wide court and is thus a bastardization of a once great game. There still remain today more traditional hardball courts in the US than softball courts (this was true a couple of years ago, so I might have to refresh my stats) so it is the opionion of the board of directors of the SWPHI that the tournament be played on the true court for as long as possible. We recognize the reality that some day hardball courts may cease to exist, at which point we would shift to the softball court by necessity. However, until that day comes we will play the game as it is traditionally meant to be played. We are not looking for progressive measures or compromises. We are not looking to take another step to make our beloved game more like the international game, which all but extincted the game of hardball. We are taking a bold step, that nobody else in the United States seems willing to take, to preserve what just 15 years ago was the standard. I am not knocking the merits of harball on the wide court. I have recently learned that it is a good game and I look forward to competing in my first tournament on the wide court in next month’s Woodruff Nee, but for as long as I am the director of the SWPHI it will be an invitational event contested on the narrow court. And for that matter, as long as I am on the board of the Hardball Association I will insist that the national championship continue to be played on the proper court. Lets not render our existing real estate valuless by failing to utilize it for its stated purpose.

]]> By: Guy Cipriano http://blog.jameszug.com/hyder-doug-mclaggan-swphi-2/#comment-1597 Guy Cipriano Fri, 31 Aug 2007 13:41:14 +0000 http://blog.jameszug.com/hyder-doug-mclaggan-swphi-2/#comment-1597 Jimb- great articles and great insight, as always. However I think you're dead wrong when you say that hardball on a softball court is a great game. Frankly it's a dreadful waste of time because the ball moves too fast and you can't retrieve even a routine cross court. Maybe Mark Talbott and Gary Waite can, but 51 year olds who are blind in one eye can't. The rallies are too short and you can get injured trying to retrieve the unretrievable. Too bad hardball singles is on life support- it was a great game but unlike the Bon Jovi song, you really CAN"T go back . GUY CIPRIANO Jimb- great articles and great insight, as always. However I think you’re dead wrong when you say that hardball on a softball court is a great game. Frankly it’s a dreadful waste of time because the ball moves too fast and you can’t retrieve even a routine cross court. Maybe Mark Talbott and Gary Waite can, but 51 year olds who are blind in one eye can’t. The rallies are too short and you can get injured trying to retrieve the unretrievable.
Too bad hardball singles is on life support- it was a great game but unlike the Bon Jovi song, you really CAN”T go back .

GUY CIPRIANO

]]> By: Jim Domenick http://blog.jameszug.com/hyder-doug-mclaggan-swphi-2/#comment-679 Jim Domenick Mon, 18 Jun 2007 19:01:01 +0000 http://blog.jameszug.com/hyder-doug-mclaggan-swphi-2/#comment-679 Jim, Good stuff. I'm sure you probably know this, but for the first 5 years after the USSRA was organized, all the national singles champions played out of the Germantown Cricket Club in Philadelphia. And of the first 15 champions, 12 were Germantown members, including Stanley W. Pearson. Jim Domenick Jim,

Good stuff. I’m sure you probably know this, but for the first 5 years after the USSRA was organized, all the national singles champions played out of the Germantown Cricket Club in Philadelphia. And of the first 15 champions, 12 were Germantown members, including Stanley W. Pearson.

Jim Domenick

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