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85
Growing Confidence
In 1904, local polo came into its own. On August 23, 1904, the
field at the Agricultural Park was lined with “smart traps, automobiles
and every other form of conveyance,” and the large grandstand was
filled to overflowing. The press reported, “In one of the fiercest, most
hotly contested polo games ever played on the Pacific coast, and one
which will go down as the most sensational in the history of the game
here, the Santa Barbara polo team defeated the crack Burlingame Four
by a score of 5 to 1.”
The Burlingame team was a family affair with Joseph O. Tobin
playing with Richard M. and Cyril Tobin as well as T.A. Driscoll. Clement
Tobin, of the San Francisco law and banking family, had trained the
fledgling Santa Barbara team back in 1898/99. On this day, the team of
John L. Colby, Bob Rogers, Elmer J. Boeseke, Jr. and Dr. E.J. Boeseke
proved the worth of that training.
In a
Morning Press
interview, Joseph Tobin said, “It was one of the
fastest and most cleanly played games I ever saw or took part in…We
were fairly and squarely outplayed in almost every point of the game….
Elmer Boeseke is the best No. 3 on the coast, for besides being absolutely
sure in his strokes, he takes hold of his opposing No. 2 at all times and
makes a practically perfect defense.”
Indeed, Elmer Boeseke, Jr. was headed for great things in the
world of polo. He was inducted into the Polo Hall of Fame in 1999 for
his many achievements including his performance in the famous 1933
East-West duel of the National Open Championship. His incredible
efforts were crucial to the West’s victory and won him the ten-goal
rating. He was a member of the U.S. Olympic Team in 1924 and
played on the 1932 U.S. squad, which won the Cup of the Americas
and the Argentine Open. Boeseke’s horse, Red Ace, was named a Horse
to Remember by the Museum of Polo in 2010. Red Ace won the
hearts of polo fans during a match in 1933 when Boeseke was knocked
unconscious. Red Ace trotted back and nuzzled the prone player,
urging him to get up.
Boeseke, Jr. was also instrumental in getting the Santa Barbara
County Polo Association (the official name of the club) admitted to the
U.S. Polo Association in 1911.
In 1906, lumber baron Frederick Leadbetter and his wife,
Caroline, moved to town. They purchased the old Dibblee mansion
on the Mesa. He was an avid polo fan and when the Santa Barbara
Polo Club lost their lease on the Westside field, he graded his land
and developed a polo facility on his property. Dr. Boeseke oversaw
improvements to the field, which wasn’t ready for play until 1910.
Because one side of the field faced the bluff, a wire mesh screen was
installed to prevent out-of bound polo balls from flying to the sands
below. For the next several years, many polo games were played on
this field after which Mrs. Leadbetter entertained the players and her
friends at the mansion. By the time the 1925 earthquake rendered the
mansion uninhabitable and tumbled a piece of the field to the shore,
several other fields had been constructed.
(above) Sidney Stillwell was the umpire for the April 1901 polo match and
gymkhana at the Westside field (Courtesy Montecito Association History Archive).
(below) The Westside polo field lay below the Mesa on six blocks of land leased
from Catherine W. Ferrier. The field was accessed from Carrillo Street, which had
the only bridge nearby. As shown on the 1898 Bird’s Eye View map, San Andres
Street was the other boundary.