Cyrus Mehta,
1967-2018, Captain Of Yale’s 1989-90 Championship Team by Rob Dinerman
photo courtesy Dave Talbott
Dateline October 6,
2018 --- DSR is sad to report that Cyrus Mehta, Yale Class of
’90, a four-time all-American and captain his senior year of the only
Yale men’s squash team that has gone wire-to-wire undefeated in the 57
years that have passed since the 1960-61 season, died this past
Thursday in London at the age of 51, three years after being diagnosed
with multiple myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow. He is survived by
his wife, Tessa, and Alia, Mehta’s 19-year-old daughter by his marriage
to his first wife, Jane, who died of cancer in 2009.
After achieving high junior rankings in his native India, Mehta
arrived at Yale in September 1986 at a time when Yale squash, after a
number of years in doldrums, was readying itself to challenge its Big
Three rivals Princeton and perennial champ Harvard. His game was
characterized by graceful court coverage and the ability to punish
opponents with nick-finding salvos and wrist action that enabled him to
change his shot late enough in his swing to keep his foes on their
heels. As the second half of that decade progressed, he and his
classmates Alex Dean, Jeff Hoerle, James “Tuffy” Kingsbury and Chris
Hunt, along with Tom Clayton and Erik Wohlgemuth, both Class of ’89,
and John Musto ’91, improved every year, to the point where in ’89 they
finished in a three-way tie with Harvard and Princeton for the Ivy
League title and won the inaugural edition of the postseason Potter Cup
tournament. Then in 1989-90, they took the final step, defeating
Harvard 5-4 in both the dual meet (with Mehta contributing a vital
point with his win over Jeremy Fraiberg at No. 2) and the Potter Cup
final, in which Yale, trailing Harvard four matches to two, got
comeback wins from Darrow and sophomore Garrett Frank (who saved five
fifth-game match-points against him), setting the stage for Musto’s
rallying win from two games to love down against Crimson No. 1 Mark
Baker in the last match on court. One week later at the Intercollegiate
Individual championships at West Point, Mehta advanced to the final,
defeating his teammate Musto in the semis before losing to Harvard
captain Jon Bernheimer.
At the team banquet that spring, Yale’s five seniors were named
co-recipients of the Skillman Cup, the team MVP Award, which had never
previously been bestowed on more than one person, in recognition of the
enormous contribution that all of them had made, both individually and
as a quintet, to the tradition of Yale squash. On a roster comprised
largely of effervescent types and large personalities, Mehta was the
team’s quiet, dignified leader, looked up to by his counterparts for
keeping them focused and centered, and described by ’88 captain Keith
Flavell as “the soul of one of the most eclectic but closest group of
squash players and friends, that likely ever played.”In addition to
reaching the ’90 Individuals finals, Mehta also won the ’88 Yale Open
and played with distinction throughout the 1990’s in New York (while
pursuing a career in banking which began at Chemical), including winning the ’94
Yale Club championship, reaching the final of the Metropolitan Open,
Yale Club Invitational and New York State Open in 1992 and playing on
Yale Club teams that won championships in New York’s highly competitive
A League.
The Mehtas moved to London in the fall of 1999, a few months
after Alia was born. Though the Yale squash community was fully aware
of his illness in the wake of an open letter he wrote in August 2015
disclosing his condition, there were enough intermittent periods of
remission and optimistic reports of golf rounds, cricket games and
extensive travel, to create some hope among his Mehta’s many
friends throughout the world that he might conquer his illness
after all. His death therefore came as something of a shock, as perhaps
was best expressed by Kingsbury, who wrote, “Wow, this is so hard to
understand. To me, Cyrus is the epitome of health, grace, positivity
and joy.” Musto, his partner atop the championship Bulldog lineup,
sounded a similar theme: “Hard to find the right words. Cyrus was such
an inspiration with how he lived….such an honorable, decent, great
guy.” Yale’s longtime coach Dave Talbott has already announced that the
2018-19 Eli team will be dedicating the forthcoming season to Mehta’s
memory, and that a lasting honor will be created in Mehta’s name in
conjunction with Yale squash.
