THE INTERNATIONAL CROQUET ASSOCIATION’S MASTERS of CROQUET TOURNAMENT

Kings of sport and cinema will meet local glitterati, and both will entertain an avid public in the Park at the Loews Anatole, in one golden Saturday of thrilling wicketry.

The guest of honor is 1930s film star Douglas Fairbanks Jr., whose matches with the likes of Darryl Zanuck and Howard Hawks were the stuff of legend in croquet’s Hollywood heyday.

The International Croquet Association, dedicated to popularizing croquet through professional money tournaments, asserts that croquet is a game for the masses, not just the monied. “By providing cash prizes, we open croquet championship play to all competitors, regardless of financial resources,” says ICA President Doug Koufman. “It’s a game of strategy and skill for everyone, men and women, with no age limit.” A game of precision and intelligence rather than strength, croquet has been likened to “chess on the lawn” says Mr. Koufman.

Twenty-four professional players from Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Canada, Bermuda, the United States and the United Kingdom will compete for a $30,000 purse of cash and prizes. The first-place winner will be awarded a jeweled watch, valued at $7,000, by the House of Harry Winston, one of the world’s most prestigious jewelers and a major sponsor of the event.

Events leading up to tournament play will benefit the Parkland Foundation of Parkland Memorial Hospital, for use in its HOMES program, which brings health care to homeless adults and children in the Dallas area.

THE GAME



Croquet’s popularity today is only the latest chapter in a long history of alternating fame and obscurity.

The name “croquet,” in fact, comes from a French colloquialism for the hockey stick, literally “little hook.” The modern-day sport derives from a 14th century game called paille-maille, language now archaic for “ball-and-mallet.” Adopted by the English, the sport became so popular that an entire area of the city of London now bears the name Pall Mall, in recognition for the large public croquet court once constructed there for the entertainment of the citizenry.

Croquet’s golden days in England began in the late 1840s. The sport spread to America’s eastern seaboard and became an obligatory’ entertainment at upper-crust homes. In 1904 croquet enjoyed its one and only inclusion as a medals sport in the Olympic Games.

Today, American croquet clubs have risen in number from a mere five in 1977 to 300, and 8.2 million Americans consider themselves devotees of the sport, according to a recent survey of the National Sporting Goods Association. It’s easy to see why. As a recent Time magazine essay observed, “In what other sport can you sip champagne and nibble strawberries on a velvety green lawn in pristine outfits that will never suffer from sweat stains?”

Of course, American tournament croquet differs from the back-yard variety. The familiar back-yard version of the sport involves as many as six players, each playing a differently colored ball through a course of two stakes and nine wickets – ample wickets that allow as much as six inches of clearance for the ball. In American tournament play, however, one stake and six narrow, unforgiving wickets allow only one-sixteenth of an inch clearance. Strategy and precision are the necessary skills that set these players apart as the world’s best. It takes players many years of practice to reach extraordinary heights of ability to place a ball within 12-15 inches of a wicket from distances of up to 40 yards away.

While the course in back-yard games may be quite small, in tournament play it measures 84 by 105 feet. It is level as a table, made of hard-packed sand planted with grass mown crewcut-close. A well-made croquet lawn, such as the Loews Anatole’s, drains dry within an hour or two of a rainstorm, when the surrounding grounds are still soggy.

Despite their differences, one aspect of both back-yard and championship play is identical. Striking an opponent’s ball earns a player two additional strokes, one of which may be used to vigorously whack (more properly “roquet”) it into oblivion. “Croquet is actually a fairly vicious game,” divulged the May issue of GQ. “Like politics, it’s an apparently civilized pastime that relies on strategy but heavily favors the ruthless.”

FOR TICKETS

Tickets for the Masters of Croquet gala reception bene-fiting Parkland Memorial Hospital’s health services to the homeless are available from HOMES at 630-0493.

Tickets for Saturday tournament play are available at Rainbow Ticketmaster locations, or by calling 787-2000. Lawn passes with guaranteed seating are #20; grounds passes with seating as available are $10. Admission for children 12 and under is $5.

THE FESTIVITIES



Of course, gentler emotions such as relaxation, nostalgia, love of the outdoors and pleasures of the eye and palate will animate observers of October’s tournament. It would hardly be possible to resist the array of refreshments, entertainment and pageantry in store. Participants can get into the spirit of the event by arriving suitably attired in croquet whites.

The croquet grounds in the Park at the Loews Anatole open to the public Saturday, October 19 at 10:30 am.. Saturday’s public tournament finals are the culmination of a week of festivities and elimination rounds. Hot air balloons will float aloft, and strolling musicians and jugglers will entertain during intervals in the play. Refreshment kiosks provisioned by the Hotel’s kitchens will offer English picnic-basket lunches, fresh lemonade, iced tea and other beverages. Free croquet demonstrations and clinics will fill a green area near the tournament lawn.

Event sponsors will maintain their presence with displays of the official tournament car, supplied by Lone Star Cadillac, and the 100th Anniversary Collection of rare jewels of the world from the House of Harry Winston. Other prominent sponsors attending include Perrier, Mary Kay Cosmetics and American Airlines.

While the tournament’s sporting climax is Saturday’s finals, the social and charitable high point of the week is Friday night’s gala reception at the Peacock Terrace of the Loews Anatole. Hosted by the House of Harry Winston, the party will bring the outdoors in, with a forest green and white setting by party designer Winn Morton that opens onto the hotel’s park. Just outside, during the party, play of the $10,000 spectator Wicket-In-One competition begins, to be completed during finals play Saturday.

The House of Harry Winston will stage a glittering fashion presentation and a prominent New York chef, flown in by Harry Winston, will collaborate with Anatole chef Tom Walther on the reception menu. More than 500 attendees are expected.

The #75 reception tickets, which benefit the Parkland Foundation, also include two lawn passes to Saturday’s tournament play.

The beneficiary of all this sports and splendor, the HOMES program, is more than delighted at its selection, says Medical Director Dr. Donna Bacchi. With this event, ICA and HOMES’ advisors aim to help meet HOMES’ $750,000 budget for 1992. This provides both health care and multi-agency referral to other vital services, aiding Dallasites who are headed off the streets and back to stable jobs and home lives.

’To some extent, we are providing continuous health care to homeless people,” says Dr. Bacchi. To date, however, HOMES’ vans have no facilities for blood tests or specimen storage and must refer clients to hospitals for necessary diagnostic tests. “And we are probably reaching only about half of the homeless in Dallas,” she adds.

Two mobile vans take HOMES health services to 15 locations. Services are coordinated with other agencies to eliminate duplication of efforts and save funds. Through HOMES, clients may also be referred to employment, job training, federal social programs and outpatient drug counseling.

HOMES Director of Community Affairs Melinda Wynn points out that HOMES is also the first such program in Texas to unite public entities, individuals and corporations.