Harmon Gym

John,

In the late 60’s at Berkeley when I was a graduate student, I took up handball.  We played at Harmon Gym and every day I would pass the squash courts and hear the rhythmic thump! Thump! Followed by a pause, and then it resumed for the next point.   My curiosity got the better of me and I bought a racket and enrolled in a PE class for squash.  I was hooked.  My hand never got swollen again.   I developed a modicum of skill, and advanced from C to B and had my eye on A.  

In those days Victor Niederhoffer was teaching in the B-school (I don’t remember if it was called Haas yet).  I heard he was a sort of unorthodox --- he started his course on the stock market by throwing a handful of dimes at the blackboard as a demonstration of the “random walk” that would later be memorialized by Burton Malkiel.  But he was also locally famous at Harmon because he was the best squash player on campus, rivaled in the bay area only by Alex Eichmann.  I was motivated to improve.

One day --- it must have been about 1971 by now --- a new young kid appeared in the squash area.  He asked to play with me.  Sure, I said, come on.  He was just starting.  He was flailing and missing shots.  But one thing stood out to me.  He never got discouraged.  He kept trying to learn the game.  He would play anyone, his preference was someone better.  He didn’t win much at first.  But eventually his persistence began to pay off and he started beating the guys who would have beaten him before.  That kid was John Lau.  We had some fun together.

I got married in September 1971, took a leave from Cal, and went to Cambridge, MA with my new wife.  I played a small amount at Hemenway gym where I watched Jack Barnaby work with the Harvard players.  I got some court time during off hours.  My younger brother Tom was in law school there at the same time, and he spent too much time at Hemenway.

In June 1972 we came back to Berkeley and a year later, I finished my degree and went to UCLA as a post-doc.  I discovered an active squash community at the Venice Squash Club, which had 2 courts in a nondescript converted warehouse on a back street near Marina del Rey.  We actually held a few successful tournaments and had a SCSRA with a few local clubs.  I have a few tarnished tournament cups for class competition.   We even had some recognized players come to our tournaments; one of the Khans possibly Sharif (or his brother?)  came.  One day between matches I was astonished to find him hiding in the locker room smoking a cigarette! 

Well by 1978 we had a baby and I could not keep up the game for lack of time,  The Venice club closed down probably sometime in the early 80’s.  Now that neighborhood is called “Silicon Beach”, for all the tech industry which has moved in.

I miss squash.  I met many fun people, and many interesting ones.  Any activity with such a small community will attract interesting people.  The sense of sharing your passion with others of similar passion is magnetic.

Thank you for organizing your blog site! 

Warmest regards

Fred Dashiell