Earlier this month I went to the funeral of T. James Hense, Jr. Jimmy was a longtime player and leader in Baltimore. At the reception, there was a lovely slideshow of photographs from his life. Many were vintage squash pictures, from the 1970s and 1980s.
One was this photo, a total gem, from circa 1979?
The poster says in smaller type: “Women can’t play squash.” At the bottom it looks like something about a women’s squash tournament and the Downtown Athletic Club. Perhaps one of the Bancroft Opens.
Anyone know more about it?
This photo definitely was not taken at the Downtown Athletic Club. The DAC didn’t have any headroom in the courts. The ceiling was level with the out of court line. It was probably taken in the late 70s . I don’t recognize anybody else in the photo other than Jimmy. Rob Dinerman might know who the young woman is with whom Jim was talking. My guess is that the photo was taken at one of the public clubs in Manhattan at the time. The Bellamy Law wasn’t passed until the mid 80’s allowing women to join the private clubs, and with all the women present in the gallery in this photo it’s logical that it was taken at one of the public clubs. Maybe Uptown or Fifth Avenue. I think Jimmy played at Fifth Avenue so that could be the answer.