A flagship facility in Baltimore, Maryland, Meadow Mill Athletic Club is celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary this week. The week of squash includes a $5,000 U.S. Pro Series draw, a junior gold tournament and a fiesta Friday, November 3.
This week is exactly twenty-five years since Meadow Mill originally opened its doors. It was an unprecedented moment for commercial squash in the United States.
Read about the facility’s story in the October issue of Squash Magazine, “Flood & Fog: Meadow Mill Celebrates Twenty-Fifth Anniversary.”
On Thursday November 2, US Squash will bestow two major awards during the anniversary celebration.
Kevin Klipstein, the president and CEO of US Squash, will honor Nancy Cushman with the 2017 President’s Cup. The highest individual award in American squash, the President’s Cup has been given out annually since 1966 to members of the squash community who have made significant and sustained contributions to the game.
In 1985 Cushman bought the Racquet Club of Roland Park, creating a vibrant key club with just three courts; she operated the club until 2001. In 1992 she opened Meadow Mill, a landmark moment for U.S. squash. With 40,000 square feet of exercise space, fourteen singles courts and two doubles courts, Meadow Mill is one of the biggest squash clubs in the world. Under Cushman’s leadership, it has hosted every major national championship, produced dozens of top-flight junior players, launched high and middle school programs and helped start SquashWise, the Baltimore urban squash program.
Klipstein will also honor Jim Hense with the W. Stewart Brauns, Jr. Award. Given out annually since 1989, the Brauns is for substantial administrative contributions to the game.
Hense has long been a supporter of junior squash and a leading referee. A former board member and president of the Maryland State SRA and a twelve-year board member of US Squash, Hense chaired the US Squash junior ranking committee from 1976 to 1980 and was the tournament director for three National Juniors. He has donated fifteen permanent trophies for the National Junior Doubles. Recently he helped start and has co-chaired the annual Maryland state junior championships at Meadow Mill and donated the permanent plaques for the winners. As a referee, he worked at more than fifty national championships in hardball, softball and doubles, ranging from the famous Sharif Khan v. Geoff Hunt match at the 1977 North American Open at Penn to matches at the National Junior Doubles last year.
After three days of play, the PSA Meadow Mill Athletic Club 25th Anniversary Celebration is down to the quarterfinals.
Follow live streaming and scores Thursday from 4pm local time on www.usprosquashseries.com/live.
