Squash Receives New Endowment

In the wake of their successful collegiate squash careers, former Crimson athletes Gregory Lee ’87 and Russell Ball ’88 have recently announced Harvard’s 11th endowed coaching position.

“Russ and I had a great experience at Harvard playing squash,” Lee said. “We made some of our best friends at college from participating in squash, and so we really wanted the program to have the support and also the leader that we had had when we were at Harvard.”

Lee and Ball also made some serious plays for the Crimson record books.

During their four years playing for Harvard, Lee and Ball helped their teams take home four national championship titles. Ball, a three-time All-American and four-time first-team All-Ivy League selection, also captained his squad as a senior.

The pair credited much of its success, however, to the passion and dedication of then-squash coach Dave Fish ’72.

“He really is like an institution,” said Lee of Fish’s coaching legacy. “He understands the standpoint of hitting the ball as well as the psychological side.”

This nuanced understanding came, at least in part, from Fish’s own experience as captain of both the tennis and squash teams—he led the squads to three national squash championships and one Ivy League tennis championship.

Afterward, in his 13 years as the men’s squash coach, Fish led the Crimson to seven national titles, including a six-year winning streak.

But Fish was forced to redirect his efforts as Harvard tennis gained momentum and expanded its schedule.

“Fish became solely the [men’s] tennis coach because tennis became more of a two-season sport,” Lee explained. “It was too hard to coach squash at same time.”

Now, fast forward two decades to the summer of 2010 in which the Crimson was in desperate need of a new Director of Squash.

An advisory board comprised of the Nichols Family Director of Athletics Bob Scalise and a group of alumni including Lee and Ball conducted a search that spanned across North America and, according to Lee, possibly “around the world.”

But financial concerns grew as the board crunched numbers and considered the salaries of many of the top candidates.

“To really put the squash program in the shape where it could hire among the best candidates and then provide a job where they could be there for a long time,” said Lee, ”The squash program needed some financial support.”

And so the idea of the endowment was born.

Enter Canadian Michael Way, coach and mentor to dozens of world and national champions, All-Americans, and junior national champions. In an interesting turn to his career, Way is now coach and mentor to the men and women of Harvard squash. And he is just as excited about the distinguished alumni’s idea as the rest of the Crimson squash world.

“[The endowment] gives squash a new level of importance at Harvard, a new level of prestige,” Way said. “I’m just extremely proud to be a part of this, especially as so few [coaching] positions have been endowed. It is just tremendous.”

During his illustrious career, Way coached fellow Canadian Jonathon Power to a world championship title and also seven Canadian championship victories.

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Way has also worked with Australian world champion Sarah Fitz-Gerald and Canadian national champions Graham Ryding, Shahier Razik, and Marine Baizley­­—the athletes won three, four, and two titles, respectively. He also worked with many younger squash prodigies in the Canadian National Squash Training Centre.

One of these decorated young athletes is none other than Harvard’s own Laura Gemmell, the sophomore phenom who took home the CSA individual national title in her rookie season. The pair worked together in the U13 circuit, and Gemmell is eager to work with Way again.

“We’re really lucky to have him,” Gemmell enthused. “I think he’s going to do a lot of good things for the program.”

Despite Way’s lack of experience at the collegiate level, Gemmell is confident in her coach’s abilities.

“He’s working on improving everyone’s game and making sure we remain a dominant team,” Gemmell said. “He’s running recruiting and he’s already getting a lot of good girls for next year to make our team even stronger.”

“I can’t speak for the guy’s team,” she continued, “But Mike is completely new energy for them and they’re pumped up and really ready to play well this year.”

The squash program’s most recent addition is eager to help the women’s team defend its national title and also lead the men’s team to a shot at its 32nd national championship victory.

“We’ve got two squads that have great attitudes and very strong work ethic,” Way said. “That’s as much as any coach could ask for.”

And with all of Way’s likenesses to Fish, Lee is confident that the first-ever Gregory Lee ’87 and Russell Ball ’88 Endowed Coach for Squash can help the program accomplish its goals.

“The thought that he’s put into [squash]­—all the technical ways of hitting the ball, the ways of playing the game—reminds me so much of Dave Fish who knew the game just like that,” Lee said. “After only a few minutes with [Way], almost anyone who loves squash can see that he has a tremendous gift.”

—Staff writer Catherine E. Coppinger can be reached at ccoppinger@college.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Molly E. Kelly can be reached at mkelly@college.harvard.edu.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

CORRECTION: November 12, 2010

An earlier version of the Oct. 19 sports article "Squash Receives New Endowment" incorrectly reported that former Crimson athletes Gregory Lee ’87 and Russell Ball ’88 are Canadian. In fact, they are American.