We are sad to announce the passing of Leo Rocca, a charter member of the Virginia Polo Club and 1957 graduate of the University of Virginia. Leo cherished the memories of his time at Virginia Polo and the excitement and pride of putting work into a fledgling club that has grown to such a successful level. When I first spoke with Leo I asked him to put down in writing some of his memories. What follows are those memories in his own words.
Reminisces by Leo Rocca
Sometime in the Spring of 1954 I saw a notice in the Cavalier Daily inviting all who were interested in the formation of a polo team at UVa to a meeting in Minor Hall. Formation of a “town-grown” support structure was already well along by that time. Don Hannah, the founder of UVa Polo, ran the meeting. Malarkey Wall and Sandy Bowers who, together with Don, formed the first student or varsity team, were in attendance.
Charlottesville was represented at the meeting by Dr. Doug Nicoll, Dr. Herbie Jones, Roger Rinehart, and Carl Barrett. They formed the first “town” team. Early student participants were Raymie Wolf and Davy Hall, former steeplechase riders as well as Bob Beck, Ed Parmelee and Donn Gerst. They were later joined by Ronnie Mutch, who had been on the U.S. Olympic Riding Team.
Professor Oglesby from the UVa Engineering School faculty owned a farm along the Rivanna River off route 29 North of Charlottesville. Don developed a relationship with him and he generously set aside an area of floodplain along the river for the construction of a polo “complex.” Don set up an outdoor arena polo field with boards and goal posts in the aluvial sand along the river. It was promptly dubbed “Professor Oglesby’s Bottom Land Polo Field.”
The “barn” was about 15 standup stalls with a roof but open on all sides. Our tack room was an old preexisting shed. Grading of the field, and much of the other work was accomplished by Gene Wood, a small local contractor and towing company operator, who was out constant “go to” guy for everything.
The first varsity team was Malarkey Wall #1, Don Hannah #2, and Sandy Bowers #3. First opponents were town players Herbie Jones, Doug Nicoll, and Roger Rinehart.
Don and Malarkey were seasoned polo players while Sandy had had less exposure. Don played with his father and brother at the Hinsdale, IL Polo Club, an incredible venue with 10 outdoor polo fields. The Club hosted the 20 Goal and National Open tournaments. Malarkey played on teams with his father in Oregon and the Virgin Islands.
Don arranged for our first pony string. They were mainly retired horses from Hinsdale Polo Club donated by various members. They ran the gamut from Melody, a wonderful bay mare to Lightning a dark chestnut gelding who went in a long shank steel pelham, but wouldn’t stop until he’d run you through the goalposts. Don brought his two beautiful mares, Model and Marie, with him from Hinsdale.
Early opponents were teams from Warrenton, VA and Washington, D.C. We were fortunate to have several former high goal Army polo players come to coach and play with us. Army was famous for competing high goal teams on the national level before cavalry was phased out. Col. Jack Shirley (6 goals) and Col. Jim Spurrier (4 goals) came from the Pentagon. Col. Harry Wilson (8 goals) came from Fort Monroe, VA.
College games took the varsity to Yale and Cornell where they had existing indoor arenas. JV’s played prep teams with existing arenas at Culver Military Academy and Valley Forge Military Academy.
I was the first president of the UVa Polo Assn. and announced many of the home games.
Photos included are from the 1954, 1955, 1956, and 1957 Corks & Curls, University of Virginia. To see them in the context of the full edition, or to view other years of Corks & Curls through the University of Virginia Library, use this link: https://search.lib.virginia.edu/sources/uva_library/items/u126747.
