“WHO AM I?” ANSWER
I am ... Mike Orgill Mike Orgill wrote several science fiction stories in the 1970s, including A World Named Cleopatra. He told me his sci-fi career was a “flash-in-thepan,” but I just think he writes like an Egyptian. In 1982, Orgill was reading his beloved Chronicle, when he came across an article about how people could pass the time on Sundays during the NFL strike that year. One of many suggested activities was croquet. He was able to get in touch with Tom Lufkin McDonnell, who was mentioned in the article. Fast forward to when Orgill joined the SFCC and recruited a good friend to join, the great Bob Alman, who had previously addicted Orgill to guerrilla croquet. Alman went on to found and publish Croquet World Online Magazine and the rest is history. That’s right: Orgill is responsible for connecting Bob Alman and the USCA! Send your donations or complaints in care of the editor of this fine publication. Talk about fine publications, Orgill, Bob Alman and Hans Peterson founded Croquet Magazine, the first glossy croquet magazine printed in North America. Orgill also was heavily involved in the inceptions of Garth Eliassen’s Croquet Calendar and Croquet World Online Magazine. Orgill’s pit stop on his cross-country journey was at the Hayes Presidential Center in Ohio, where a vague memory let him rediscover this country’s largest croquet library. He helped promote the collection to the national croquet community
and helped found a croquet club there. Even though President Hayes was nicknamed “Rutherfraud” B. Hayes by virtue of the way he was elected President, there are no books on how to cheat in croquet in his collection. The author of this article sat next to Orgill in March 2010 when Sandy Bob Van Tassel beat Rothman in what has been dubbed “The Perfect Game.” A handful of people in the immediate area were chuckling at Orgill’s comments, like when Van Tassel rushed a ball within three feet of a wicket but was given the grade of a B- by Orgill because, “we expect better from Sandy Bob.” The author named the golf croquet shot in question the “Orgill Special,” after Orgill roqueted his ball into his other ball in the jaws of one-back and we both watched that ball roll all the way down to, and through, two-back. He then yelled, “Ya’, baby, that’s how it’s done!” Orgill was inducted into the US Croquet Hall of Fame in 2015, but wears his red jacket so often it is now pink. The World Croquet Federation’s website in fact confirms that Orgill has beaten those listed players in AC. That’s not a bad list. He has also beaten the author in AC, once, and I still bear the psychic scar from that day.
Orgill’s website is www.michaelorgill.com, with the subtitle 37 West Oak Street. It has his personal observations, curious photos, quotes, links to other sites and the definition of the word orgulous, which means “haughty,” which in turn means “arrogantly superior and disdainful.” Maybe I should rename his golf croquet shot the “Orgulous Special?” –Submitted by Eric Sawyer
Balding's Fast AC Start
The USCA’s 2018 Jr. Player of the Year, Thomas Balding, certainly lived up to the billing as he opened his AC career with a 27-game win streak and now boasts a 2059 dynamic grade and is #15 in the US AC rankings. The streak began in June 2018 in the USCA Mid-Atlantic First Flight Regional and only recently ended in block play with a loss to Doug Grimsley in the North Carolina Open in May. He’s now started a new eightgame streak and has a career AC record of 39-3. –Submitted by Macey White
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