Just spent a couple of nights in Cleveland around the Tavern Club’s annual men pro doubles event. I got a deluxe, bespoke tour of the squash scene: we drove around the defunct 13th Street and Cleveland Athletic Club buildings and walked around the Cleveland Racquet Club, University School and Cleveland Skating Club’s squash facilities. I got to chat with the pros at each club (Joe Russell at the Racquet and Ray Lindsay at the Skating) and with Max Laverty, the executive director of the fifteen-month-old Urban Squash Cleveland. I also had the tremendous pleasure to spend over an hour each with the twin giants of Cleveland squash: Jack Herrick and Ham Biggar. And I got to play doubles, with the Tavern’s Ian Sly, on the Tavern’s famous court, home originally to a racquets court. 

All in all, it was a tremendously fascinating visit to one of the classic, under-appreciated squash cities.