July 5, 2002 -Squashtalk
has learned that the venerable City Athletic Club, home of one of the
best doubles courts and swimming pools in all of New York and a major
MSRA institution for many decades, will permanently close its doors on
August 15th.
In a late-June letter to the club's membership, President Jonathan
Rosen confirmed this imminent development, which follows several failed
drives to boost the declining membership base and several efforts to
come up with enough funding to keep the club financially afloat.
DWINDLING MEMBERSHIP
There are now barely 200 members, fewer than a third the number that
there were during the institution's heyday, and neither recent attempts
to recruit younger members nor a much discussed but never implemented
plan to merge with the nearby Harmonie Club nor a pitch to former
members of the Downtown Athletic Club who were looking around for a
club to join after the DAC shut down last fall met with enough success
to save the 94-year-old CAC from this unfortunate fate.
In a subsequent letter, President Rosen informed the members that they
are welcome to apply to the Swimming and Athletic Club on Equitable
Plaza and/or the New York Athletic Club (both of which are just a few
blocks south and north respectively of the CAC) and encouraged them to
do so.
FAMOUS PAST
Founded in 1908 as a private club for Jewish businessmen who at that
time were denied entry to Manhattan's existing private clubs, the CAC
became one of the most significant social and business clubs in all of
New York under the 35-year Presidency (1909-1944) of Solomon Guggenheim
of Guggenheim Museum fame. Located on 54th Street just east of Sixth
Avenue in the heart of New York's business district, the CAC hosted
important parties, meetings and speeches from political figures and
dignitaries from all over the country and indeed the world. The
handsome nine-story structure is in the heart of Manhattan's "doubles
district" as well, with the University Club just down the block near
Fifth Avenue, the Racquet & Tennis Club barely a five-minute walk
away on 53rd Street and Park Avenue and the Lone Star Boat Club only a
few blocks west on 54th Street and Seventh Avenue.
FAMOUS PLAYERS
The City Athletic Club also became a major fixture on the MSRA squash
scene, with team entries in the MSRA singles and doubles leagues which
were led by formidable figures like Stu Goldstein, winner of the 1978
WPSA Singles title, multiple National age-group doubles champion Mel
Sokolow, '69 National Doubles champion Victor Elmaleh, '67 New York
State champion John Halpern, league star Jim Prigoff and Newt Kutner,
who won the CAC club championship a record 15 times during the 1940's
and 1950's.
More recently, ISDA pro doubles stand-out Anders Wahlstedt has been a
member and until last month Clive Leach, who is currently ranked in the
ISDA top ten, was the club professional after replacing Bobby Martinez
following the latter's three decades of meritorious service in that
capacity. And Bob Lehman, who for five decades single-handedly produced
the MSRA annual yearbook and made it the most popular such document in
the entire world, was a CAC member for many years.
DOUBLES CENTERPIECE
The center-piece of the club's athletic facility was its outstanding
doubles court, deemed one of the truest in all of squash and equipped
with a spacious gallery that made its annual invitational doubles
tournament one of the highlights of any season. Originally a pro-am
event, it became an amateur invitational before being converted a few
years ago to a pro tournament on the burgeoning ISDA tour. Renamed to
honor Sokolow following his death in 1992, the Mel Sokolow Memorial
Invitational has become an important stop on the tour's 17-event
schedule and some noteworthy professional matches, from Gary Waite's
dominant performances with Damien Mudge last season and Viktor Berg the
previous year to the unexpected advance to the finals last January of
qualifiers Wahlstedt and Josh McDonald, have taken place on that
storied court.
As recently as this past March, the CAC joined the New York City
Doubles Association (NYCDA), which was hastily formed to host the 2002
National Doubles championships after the MSRA declined to sanction the
event and provided a crucial venue that enabled the USSRA to properly
conduct this mammoth tournament. Notwithstanding these recent moves,
there had been rumblings about the club's future for some time,
especially due to the graying and thinning of what once was a strong
membership base, and the news of the club's imminent demise is
therefore a saddening but not surprising development.
Mid Atlantic/NY Squash has been losing hardball squash clubs and courts
in the last several years, notably the Atlantic City Racquet Club
(which was evicted last summer by the management of Resorts
International), the demolition last month of the Yale Club's lone
remaining hardball court and the scheduled conversion next spring of
the last two remaining hardball courts at the University Club of
Washington D. C. into a softball court.
Still, especially in view of the paucity of doubles courts in New York
amidst the success of the ISDA tour and the growing popularity of the
game, the loss of the City Athletic Club doubles court and of the
highly-respected institution itself constitute a heavy psychological
blow, on both a squash and a social level, and provide yet another
sobering and cautionary reminder of time's relentless passage.