Squash Squad Bid Squelched in Semi-Finals; Barnaby Disciples Dominate N.Y. Tournament

At the National Men's Team Squash Championships held this weekend in New York, Jack Barnaby '32 coached his top five racquetmen into the semi-finals, where they were finally defeated by a tough team from Ontario, 2-3.

Barnaby explained Monday that getting to the four-team semi-finals in the tournament is "quite a distinction." Most of the competing teams represent cities and are composed of the top players from those cities.

In the tournament's long history collegiate teams have won only seven times. On six of these occasions, Harvard won this national title, four times under Barnaby's direction.

This year, the Harvard squad was at a disadvantage because its members were so even in ability. The top two racquetmen, Peter Blasier and Bill Kaplan, ran into trouble against top-heavy squads. With Kaplan winning only in the first round against Virginia, and Blaiser only in the first two rounds, one squad member called them "the team's sacrificial lambs."

Blanked Va.

The Crimson was undefeated only in its first match against Virginia.

In the second and third rounds, the racquetmen barely squashed a dark-horse squad from St. Louis and a strong Philadelphia team, each 3-2. By the fourth and quarter-final round, only Fred Fisher and Peter Havens, playing in the number four and five positions, could defeat formidable Ontarian opponents.

Havens and third ranked Dick Cashin were 3-1 for the tournament. Barnaby explained that "Cashin played very well until the last day when he bought a new pair of sneakers. Then he couldn't keep on the court in them. It was a valid alibi."

Fisher won all four matches. Said Barnaby, "He was outstanding. Being undefeated in the tournament is quite a feat--even at number four.

But if there was an overall winner this weekend it was Barnaby, who loomed over the courts. Like "Don" Barnaby, "Jack is the Godfather of the squash world," one Crimson racquetman said.

After 35 years of coaching, Barnaby's former Harvard henchmen dominated both the singles and the team competitions. The scenario was almost comical. One-by-one Barnaby's proteges would approach him for advice on how to defeat an opponent. A few minutes later that opponent, also a Barnaby product, would ask him for tips on how to beat the original player.

In the finals of the singles competition, two of Barnaby's best battled it out for the national title. Victor Niederhoffer '64, who had never picked up a squash racket before he came to Harvard and Barnaby, outsmarted Peter Briggs '73 in a mere three games.

If you ask Barnaby about his own influence, he will clear his throat and quickly change the subject. But as his proteges performed and pummeled in New York this weekend, one thing was certain. If squash is the thinking man's game, then Jack Barnaby is one man who has thought it all out.