Olympians ‘72 Squash Champions

Olympians ‘72 Squash Champions

All:

1972 was the year when I began playing squash. Whew! Ancient history.

John

Always one of the highpoints of the squash season is the Pacific Coast Championship (PCC). In this tournament players have a chance to play not only the best players in their own area but the best on the Coast.

This year the PCC was hosted by the University Club of San Francisco over the first weekend in March. Because of

the huge number of entries, 155, matches were also played on The Olympic Club courts and the courts of the University of California Med Center.

Not since The Olympic Club hosted this tourney in 1967 had the PCC been held in the City. Local players practiced long, late hours on the courts frantically trying to hone their games for this event.

Of the total entries nearly half were players from outside the S.F. Bay Area. Large contingents came from Vancouver. B.C. and Seattle. Players also came from Los Angeles, Portland, Salt Lake City, Denver, and Alberta, Canada. The"O" Club also had their best players entered and ready to take on the fineston the Coast. Alex Eichmann (right) on way to title over Steve Gurney in PCC Squash Championships.

After the long weekend and five rounds of tough elimination play, it was The Olympic Club players who took home the major share of coveted silverware and titles.

In the Class B Vet category, the Club's Ed Marr captured runner-up honors for the second straight year. After upset-ting top-seeded Bill Picken of Vancouver 3-2 in the semis, Marr lost a 3-1 finals to Elliott Walters of Seattle. Other Olympians competing in this class were Park Dingwell, Bill Garratt, Hugh LaRue, Don Marken, and Dick Specht.

In his very first tournament appearance as a Veteran, Murray Smith emerged victorious. After a very tough

5-game semi-final win over Dr. Mitch Hiddleston of Vancouver, Canada, Smith "put it all together" in the finals and easily defeated Larry Barclay, also of Vancouver, 3-0.

In Class A there were 25 of the best Players on the Coast competing for the crown.

All seeded players advanced easily through the first and second rounds.However, when defending Champion John Hutchinson of Seattle was upset by Tom Gilbert of San Francisco in the third round by a 3-2 score, there wereany number of players who felt they could win it all.

In the semis, it was Gilbert versus Steve Gurney of Los Angeles in the upper half and the Club's Alex Eichmann versus Dick Radloff of Seattle in the lower half.

On Sunday morning Gurney came from 1-2 behind to beat Gilbert in an extremely hard fought match 3-2. The match was a long, drawn-out affair with many lets. Someone counted 18 lets in the first game alone.

Meanwhile, Eichmann was having a somewhat easier time with Radloff in the other half, winning 3-1.

In the finals on Sunday afternoon it was Eichmann vs. Gurney. These two players have met perhaps a dozen times over the past six years in the finals of various tournaments. In fact, in 1969 in Seattle it was Eichmann over Gurney in a tight 3-2 match for this same title. The last time they met was last December on the same University Club courts. The match went to Eichmann 18-17 in the fifth game.

This return match started out as expected with both players running swiftly and playing good squash. But it soon became apparent that the morning match Gurney had with Gilbert had sapped much of Steve's energy. He was not up to his usual game and, Eichmann easily won in three straight games. Eichmann thus won his fourth Pacific Coast title in the past six years.

Other results:

A Senior - Kal Gladstone, LA def. Greg Stout, SF 3-1

B - John Dowling, Victoria def. Jim Bradley, Seattle 3-1

Women's - Joyce Davenport, SF def. Jane Dixon, Vancouver 3-0

C - Mike Desaulniers, Vancouver, def. Severn Koski, Seattle 3-1

D - Dan Stave, Berkeley def. Alan Diner, SF 3-0

******