By 1905, the Racquet and Tennis Club, Harvard, Princeton, and
Columbia Clubs in Manhattan had courts, as did Brooklyn's Crescent A. C.
and the Heights Casino.
In 1911 the National Squash Tennis Association was founded and organized
by the banker, John W. Prentiss, Harvard Club of New York. The following
year inter-club league competition was started in New York City--56 years
ago! The sport also gained popularity and some limited play in other
cities such as Buffalo, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, but the real
nucleus of activity was pretty much confined to "The Big City."
The halcyon days of Squash Tennis were the 1920s and 1930s. Such names
as Fillmore Van S. Hyde, Rowland B. Haines, Thomas R. Coward, William
Rand, Jr., and R. Earl Fink dominated the amateur ranks during the Golden
Twenties. New York Athletic Club's Harry F. Wolf reigned alone and
supreme as the amateur champion during the ensuing decade.
The professionals, however, "owned" the best of the amateurs. Walter
Kinsella, Robert L. Cahill, Tommy Iannicelli, Johnny Jacobs, Frank
Lafforgue, Rowland Dufton, were the outstanding "play for pay"
performers.
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