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Haverford School Athletic Hall Of Fame Class Of 2023 Includes Squash Players Morris Clothier, Rotan Sargent And Colin Campbell
by Rob Dinerman

Rotan "Tanny" Sargent '32

Morris Clothier '83

Colin Campbell '88

Dateline February 27, 2023 --- This past Saturday evening, February 25th, Haverford School in suburban Philadelphia inducted eight athletes, three teams and one coach into its Athletic Hall of Fame. Among the eight athletes were three squash players, namely Rotan “Tanny” Sargent ’32, Morris Clothier ’83 and Colin Campbell ’88.

After starring on Haverford’s early-1930’s teams, and serving as team captain in both 1930-31 and on the undefeated 1931-32 team, Sargent had an extraordinary college career at Harvard that was highlighted by his winning the 1934 Intercollegiate Individual championship, defeating his classmate/teammate Germain Glidden in a five-game final in which Sargent actually won the fifth game 15-0. Although Sargent did not attempt to defend that title the following year (leaving the field open for Glidden to prevail both that year and the next), he did reach the semis of the 1935 U. S. Nationals, where he took the defending champion Neil Sullivan to five games. A few weeks later, Sargent and Glidden journeyed to Toronto, where they won the Canadian National Doubles. Harvard’s legendary coach Jack Barnaby would later write of Sargent, who was sidelined for most of his senior year with a lingering ankle injury, “One always pictures him standing in the center, cutting off his victims’ attempts to pass him and laying shots beautifully along the walls. He was a king of the court, and he might have achieved unusual greatness had it not been for a heart condition which impaired his endurance and finally obliged him to quit the game soon after he graduated.”

Clothier, who earned 10 varsity letters --- including five in squash since he made the starting lineup of the high school varsity even as an eighth-grader --- posted a 90-6 career record in which he went undefeated in high-school match play (all six of his losses occurring against college teams) and in which all five of the teams he played on were ranked No. 1 in the nation. His senior-year 1982-83 team, which Clothier co-captained along with Chris Spahr, is one of three squash teams (the 1976-77 and 1978-79 teams being the others) that have been inducted into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame. Clothier then was a four-time first-team All-American at Franklin & Marshall, where he won the school’s Outstanding Senior Athlete Award and was inducted into its Hall of Fame in 1992. In later years, he won nine U. S. National Doubles championships (a record for a right-waller) and three Canadian National Doubles titles, as well as nine combined U. S. Court Tennis championships (four singles, five doubles) and both the U. S. and Australian Open Doubles. In 2008, U. S. Squash selected Clothier as the recipient of the President’s Cup for contribution to the sport.

Campbell, also a 10-time varsity letter winner (in squash, soccer and lacrosse) at Haverford and the captain of both the soccer and squash teams his senior year, then played on undefeated national-championship Harvard squash teams in his junior and senior years. The latter 1991-92 team, featuring an all-time college record six first-team All-Americans, was a monster that devoured every team in its path, including posting a trio of 9-0 victories in the postseason Potter Cup competition. Campbell was inducted posthumously, having died in 2013 after a battle with cancer at age 43. When Steve Piltch, Campbell’s coach at Harvard, was told about Campbell’s impending induction, he responded, “The mere mention of Colin brings tears to my eyes and a smile to my face. Though he passed away far too soon, he represented the best in Harvard Squash and life. The consummate student/athlete, he was a fine player, an extraordinary teammate and person and beloved by his teammates. Blessed with a big heart and a wonderful sense of humor, he helped everyone keep things in perspective. Along the way, he helped us become a better team and made all of us better people. It was a privilege to know him.”