Adventures in an Ordinary Life
SQUASHED at 7,000 feet
authored by Fresno's Hank Palmer 22 January 2014
For much of the next 20 years, I annually journeyed there from Fresno, California (a mere 308 feet above sea level), to play in this extraordinary event with some of the best senior players (age 50 and older}, from around the world. Spirited competition, in 5-year age brackets, is held in both singles and doubles
But on that day, a hard lesson was learned by me and from then on, this old dog made it a point to arrive earlier in the week to acclimatize.
In this demanding sport, two players (in singles) or two teams (in doubles) alternate striking the ball to the front wall which has a “tin” 20 inches high from the floor. After one or no bounces (volley) on the floor, shots during the rally may be struck hit to the other three walls, below the out-of-bounds red lines, and avoiding hitting the ceiling. Doubles is played on a larger court with a harder and faster ball.
Kiva is a word that refers to a structure used by the ancient Pueblo people of the Southwest that serves as a spiritual and religious meeting place for men - an appropriate name for the Kiva Club. To my knowledge, there is no evidence that early Pueblo men actually played or drank squash. Nonetheless and without a doubt, they cultivated and ate it, and occasionally squashed their enemies.
Since its founding in 1959, the club has evolved into a "sacred" squash sanctuary and became a hallowed gathering place, for stout competitors seeking fellowship, away from the cares of the world, in order to practice the holy sacrament of squash.
To be able to share these hallowed rites with other like-minded men, the club in the late '70's initiated a tournament and named it the Kiva Classic. In short order, senior squash players from faraway places began making their annual pilgrimage to Santa Fe, marking this event as one of the not-to-be-missed events.
In order to preserve the mysterious sanctity of this hallowed place, no street address for the Kiva Club is displayed. On the evening of our first visit with my lovely wife, Jody, we searched high and low, trying to find it. Most Santa Fe buildings are rectangular adobe-like cubes with a Spanish Pueblo look – which is perfect for disguising a squash club.
After much wandering, we finally flagged down a security guard, who uttered, “I know it’s around here somewhere. I’ve heard of it. I think my boss is a member.” He phoned. We finally found the club, which was down an alley, just off the beaten path north off East Alameda Street, and indistinguishable from the other tan, stucco-coated “pueblos.”
With this facade, the club was built of several flat-roofed cubes with few doors and windows. The interior consisted of large wooden columns that supported the roof. Exposed timber beams span the doorway openings and the walls were of smooth “whitewashed” stucco. Two southwestern-style fireplaces provided a cozy and welcoming ambience.
During the tournament and with other related events, women are allowed to entered these hallowed masculine grounds – as spectators only, not as participants. A sign on the locker room door warns: “Beware! Naked Men Inside!” Being an all-male club, it's not suprising that locker doors are festooned with photos of then Playmates Alyssa Miller, Kate Upton, Izabel Goulart, and Cintia Dicker. Toilet stalls have baskets of Playboy Magazines for reading material.
An annual ritual of the club is a series of squash competitions with the Denver Athletic Club with with the losing team being awarded the emblematical stuffed buffalo calf. After "winning" the trophy one year, it was stored it in a Kiva Club member's car and took it back to his home in Santa Fe. Absent-mindedly, he forgot to tell his wife about what was left in the car and a few days later on a trip to the grocery store, she nearly fainted after she popped open the trunk.
These anecdotes describes an atmosphere of male chauvinistic, juvenile behavior which unabashedly is perfectly suited to my taste. (Hank, in this day and age, this statement is quite an admission! - JL}
Over the years, the club has made significant improvements. When I first partook in the Classic, the doubles court was not heated and the early morning building temperature was no different than the below freezing temperature outside.
Accordingly, while preparing to compete, being bundled up in full insulated arctic gear and white, players prepped for play all the wile they exhaling white frosty fumes from their mouths until heat from the rest of the interior filtered in. Light fixtures hung several feet down from the ceiling, creating obstacles for high lob shots. Both of these conditions have been remedied - removing significant advantages (IMO) for the club members.
A much desired international singles court was built to allow competition with the softball - the world-wide standard game. (the game of hardball squash, which uses a rigid (less-squashable) faster ball and played on a court with smaller dimensions, is unique to North America, and is becoming obsolete. In deference to the long-standing Kiva members who still play the game, a hardball singles court was retained.)
To accommodate the throng of spectators attending the Classic, a glass back-wall and an expanded upstairs gallery, to accommodate more spectators, was added to the doubles court.
In 2013, the tournament hosted 93 players: 77 Americans from 13 states, 14 Canadians, and one each from Mexico and South Africa - many that I knew from previous Kiva Classics and other tournaments. It has been a real pleasure to be with this fraternity throughout the years by sharing this feast consisting of friendship, spirituality, and top-level squash competition.
Spirited play is practically non-stop beginning on Thursday and concluding on Sunday; play each day starts at 8 a.m. and continues well til past midnight still watched by enthusiastically jammed galleries.
Hospitality is generous. Court-side coolers are kept well-stocked with beer, soft drinks, and Gatorade. Out-of-town players are welcome to use the locker room which, in addition to the photo of naked ladies, has a sauna, steam room, and hot tub.
On Thursday evening, an open house is held at a Kiva member's home for the aged warriors and their wives. Over the years, we have been guests at some of the finest pueblos in Santa Fe. Abundant and tasty hors d’oeuvres make dinner unnecessary.
Continuing on Friday, the club hosts a member prepared barbecued ribs supper for all players and their guests.
Not to be undone, on Saturday evening, festivities were at one of Sante Fe's largest art galleries, again featuring a wonderful variety of food and drink.
To supplement tournament competition, I gathered other fellow squash addicts who love the game enough to want to squeeze in one or two fun practice matches in the mornings before official play began.
This year’s roster of early birds was from Santa Fe, Los Alamos, New Mexico, Portland, Oregon, St. Louis, Missouri, St. Paul, as well as from the distant locales of Minnesota, Westmont, Quebec, Carpinteria, Costa Mesa, and Marina Del Rey, California.
Braving the cold, darkness, ice, and snow to be on the court at 6 a.m. each day after a night of partying and/or tournament squash, requires a special kind of resiliency and a fair degree of madness.
Now that I am old, decrepit, and relatively immobile, I no longer play singles and enter the Classic only for doubles. However, the tourney director, knowing that I have an unquenchable addiction, knows to ask me to fill in the singles draw when necessary, replacing a player who is unable to participate due to unforeseen circumstances - probably brought on by the previous night's revelry.
However my availability dooms me to face, after one or more rounds, one of the best senior players in the country Warren Young (the publisher of Boys’ Life Magazine, from Dallas, Texas): the #1 in USA singles and is the dominant player in our age group. Below, he is telling Jody, me, and Dick Silbar how he plans to squash me
During play, Warren and I entertain the gallery with a running commentary of sarcastic jokes, biting remarks, and mock insults.
Me: “Oh damn! Not you again! I was hoping you’d missed your
flight or gotten sick or that Cornelia wouldn’t let you come this
year.”
Warren: “Hank! How nice to see you! I’m looking forward to
another enjoyable match.”
Me: “Yeah, I’ll bet you are. How about letting me win a few points
this time? Jody is in the gallery.”
Warren: “Certainly! Be glad to. How many would you like?”
I can anticipate winning one game, sometimes two, but never three and the match. Squashed again!
As I look back to 1993, when I could still play singles, I was then a rank beginner at doubles.
The tournament director hooked me up with a local, Dick Silbar, another doubles neophyte. We learned the game together and have since partnered in many doubles tourneys. Here Dick and I are congratulating John Amos and Don Mills (#1 in the USA) after squashing us.
Dr. Silbar is now retired from the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the place where the atomic bomb was developed during World War II. His research there was can be best described by me as physics. When I inquired about it, he responded by retoritng, “If you have a couple months of free time, I could begin to explain it, but then I’d have to kill you since you don't have the proper security clearance.” "Thanks, Dick!"
Due to Dick and Maggie's generosity over the years, Jody and I stayed at their mesa home in Los Alamos 35 miles from Santa Fe allowing me to acclimatize to the elevation (7,320 feet)
There is much more to annual pilgrimage to the Kiva Classic involves than squash. Jody watches some of the matches and attends the tournament events, but inconceivably to me (!) actually spends the time by going shopping, visiting museums and art galleries, touring the unique environs of Santa Fe, and enjoying lunches of Southwest cuisine with friends and wives of other players. We have stayed at The Inn on the Alameda, two blocks from the Kiva Club, which offers special rates during the tournament. Beautiful rooms, lounge areas with comfortable seating and fireplaces, fabulous breakfasts (including several varieties of quiche, croissants stuffed with cheese, ham, and spinach, plus multiple delectable pastries), a complimentary happy hour for guests, and a hot tub under the stars. (Definitely an upgrade from our usual Motel 6.)
The 1,000 mile drive from Fresno included other experiences:
Sometimes weather presented a challenge. Once, driving eastward from Gallup, New Mexico, white-out blizzard conditions required us to creep along Interstate 40 in ten-vehicle convoys led by a highway patrol car. Flagstaff, Arizona, near the Continental Divide, averages 100 inches of snowfall annually and sometimes has treacherous black ice as well. Chains are often required.
For the last few years, we have stopped en route to Winslow, Arizona where one can be “standin’ on a corner” (a song from the Eagles). We have also stayed at the La Posada: a 1930 Fred Harvey Hotel recently renovated to the original style. My favorite spot at this hotel is a large lounge with easy chairs in front of a welcoming fireplace, perfect for reading and enjoying a draft beer.
The El Rancho, a historic hotel in Gallup (mentioned in the song “Get Your Kicks on Route 66”) was a temporary home to Hollywood stars in the 1940s and 50s during the filming of Westerns in the nearby rugged terrain. We stayed in the John Wayne, Gregory Peck, and Katharine Hepburn suites.
Gallup is a major center for Native American jewelry. Artisans live in the surrounding area, get their supplies in Gallup, and also bring the finished work there for shipment to the big markets. Local trading posts offer some of these beautiful necklaces, pendants, bracelets, and earrings for sale at a fraction of the prices in New York, Paris, and Santa Fe.
Very old Dead Pawn pieces are available. Bargaining is always in full swing. Normally I only go to jewelry stores in order to have my watch battery changed, but Gallup is like a museum to me. I marvel at the fine workmanship and splendid design of the silver pieces which are often inset with colorful stones. Jody has accumulated a nice collection at affordable prices.
New Mexico is called “The Land of Enchantment.” En route to Santa Fe, we have been treated to colorful rock formations, mesas, and mountains. The vegetation is fascinating – yucca, pinyon pine, junipers, towering ponderosa pine trees, and a variety of desert grasses. The sky is a vast and open bright blue, accentuated with fantastic cloud formations.
The renown artist, Georgia O’Keefe, chose this part of thencountry for many of her paintings.
The novelist, Tony Hillerman, wrote mystery novels set in Arizona and New Mexico, that are my favorites. His narrative lovingly depicts the landscape and culture.
Being so thoroughly impassioned by my obsession, our home that we built in our home town of Fresno has a southwestern motif: stucco, mission-finished, gold exterior walls, 15½ inches thick; silver corrugated steel roof; concrete floors stained variegated brown; small-paned windows, french doors, verandas, a walled courtyard, flagstone walks, and high, beamed ceilings covered with rough-sawn wood. A Santa Faen architect, Mike Duty, who wears a cowboy hat and boots, sports a handlebar mustache, and lives on a horse ranch. helped create the design.
I’m hopelessly and helplessly hooked by the charms of Kiva Classic.
For as long as I am able, I’ll be taking the annual pilgrimage, in order to be squashed once again at 7,000 feet.
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