"MR POLO"

Waikato Independent, Volume XL, Issue 3762, 25 September 1940, Page 7

"MR POLO"

THE AMERICAN CHAMPION STEWART INGLEHART'S TITLE "Watching Stewart Inglehart pace his Great Neck polo team to victory over Bostwick Field and to the national 20-goal American championship, it was easy to understand why he is rated at 10 goals and succeeds Tommy Hitchcock as the king of polo players," states a writer in the Christian Science Monitor. "Inglehart gave a magnificent display of defensive polo from his No. 3 position when he turned back his opponents' thrusts and set up his team's scoring shots with the beautiful background strokes for which he is justly famous. "Inglehart has, in reality, been 'Mr Polo' for the past two years, but no one went around shouting the fact from the housetops while Tommy Hitchcock continued to play. He had blossomed out into true greatness, while Hitchcock had begun to fade but Tommy had been top man for so many years that it was considered bad taste to speak of his successor while he remained in action. "But now that Hitchcock has gone into retirement, there can be no doubt about Inglehart's right to the top rung nor any reason for not nominating him for the honour. Stewart doesn't have the power that was Hitchcock's but the greater finesse he boasts offsets what he may lack in brute strength when compared with Tommy the Great. "Playing the No. 3 position, Inglehart has ample opportunity to give full play to his talents as a master tactician. His direction of team play and generalship stamp him as the outstanding defensive player in the game today. "Inglehart has long been rated a superior horseman. In that department he holds an edge over Hitchcock for Tommy, great as he was, was never rated highly in horsemanship even when he was at his playing peak. The accuracy with with which Inglehart hits his offside backhand shots to set up tallies counteracts, in a measure, the extra distance Hitchcock was able to produce."