Alan Horowitz, 1952-2024---1982 Insilco National B Champion by Rob Dinerman
Alan with finalist trophy from 2019 NYAC member/guest doubles B tournament. His left wall doubles partner was David Puchkoff.
August 5, 2024 ---
DSR is sad to report the passing of Alan Horowitz, 72, who suffered a
fatal heart attack on July 23rd while walking with his longtime
girlfriend Merry Esparza in their neighborhood near the South Street
Seaport in lower Manhattan. He was introduced to squash by Stu
Goldstein --- later a top-five player on the WPSA pro hardball tour for
a half-dozen years and the winner of the 1978 WPSA Championships ---
during their years together in the early 1970’s as students at Stony
Brook, a public research university on Long Island, where Horowitz
earned degrees in chemical engineering and biochemistry. After then
qualifying for a Masters degree in chemical engineering at the
University of Virginia and spending a few subsequent years playing
squash in the Philadelphia leagues, Horowitz moved to New York and
became a frequent and lively participant at New York area invitational
and regional tournaments throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s.
The highlight of his career came in the spring of 1982 when he won the
Insilco National B Championship, following in the footsteps of his
younger brother Bruce, who had won that event one year earlier (and who
later won the 1988 New York State Championship). The Insilco B, C and D
tournament was a hugely popular two-stage extravaganza in which
there were self-scheduling regional events all across the country,
culminating in an all-expenses-paid weekend-long tournament in which
the 16 regional champions vied for the national title in those three
skill-level categories. In 1982 the final play-down was held in San
Francisco, and Alan defeated Kevin Jernigan (an 11th grader at the time
and later a 1987 Harvard co-captain) in the semis and Vassar College
varsity player Doug Ellenoff in the final, in each case in four games.
During his two decades of tournament play in New York, Alan pursued an
extremely full schedule, averaging 10-12 tournaments per year, whether
singles or doubles, invitationals or MSRA regional championships like
the New York State Open, the Metropolitan A, the Yale Club, John
Jacobs, Trenton, Gold Racquets, Lockett Cup, etc. Squash in New York
was at its peak during this extended era and both Horowitz brothers
were active members of the wide-ranging amateur circuit. Alan also
played throughout the 1980’s and early 1990’s for the Fifth Avenue
Racquet Club (the first commercial squash facility in New York) in MSRA
league competition, and he was a member of the Fifth Avenue contingent
(captained by Bruce) that won the League Championship in 1992,
defeating the two-time defending champion Yale Club A team in the
finals. Alan was a frequent presence at Fifth Avenue, hanging out with
his squash-playing friends there and even giving occasional squash
lessons when pressed into service. Affectionately known among his many
friends as Groucho (in part due to his mustache), he had a classic
stroke with a pronounced wind-up, especially when preparing to hit a
backhand, and all the hardball shots were in his arsenal. He especially
enjoyed wrong-footing opponents, seemingly committing himself to hit a
certain shot, only to then conjure up something vastly different at the
last possible moment.
Alan was passionate about the game, always interested in discussing the
nuances of stroking and strategy, as well as whatever issues were front
and center at any particular moment. He continued playing --- mostly
right-wall doubles --- throughout the first two decades of the 2000’s,
and as recently as his last tournament in the spring of 2019 (by which
time in was in his late 60’s), he reached the final round of the New
York Athletic Club Member/Guest Invitational B Flight with his partner
David Puchkoff. Alan Horowitz was a fixture in New York metropolitan
squash during one of the most fondly-remembered extended time frames in
the history of that Association, touching many lives in the process,
and his presence and contributions will be sorely missed. Perhaps the
best description of his standing in the NY Squash community came from
one of his contemporaries, whose reaction upon hearing the sad
news was, “An NY classic through and through. Everyone loved Groucho.
Gone too soon."
Alan stretching before the finals match at the 2019 NYAC Member/Guest doubles B tournament.
Alan with his nephew Daniel Horowitz in 2019 at Daniel’s St. John’s Law School graduation ceremony.
