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HARTSY'S HIGHLIGHTS
MORE COMMENTS FROM BARRY HARTSHORN, A LONG TIME SQUASHIE.
Because of the stimulation that this web site has produced, I have been down squash memory lane many times since you contacted me.
I keep coming back to what were highlights for me during the time I was associated with the sport and thought I would share some of them in the hope that others might be stirred to do the same.
BEST MATCHES:
Dave Prickett was a great shot maker and the best match I saw him play was in the Australian Championships in Brisbane in 1972. He was up against a pom called Jonathon Leslie, a member of the Great Britain touring side of that year. Dave gave Leslie so much short and long Leslie thought he was eating Chinese soup! But Leslie was no mug and he was super fit. He literally climbed the walls at times to wear Dave down in five sets but the better player on the day didn't win.
The best match I saw between Queensland players was in the final of the Queensland Championships. Unsure of the year but it was between Dave Wright and Ted Curtis. Ted was coming to the end of an impressive career and the old warrior Wright was making his charge. It was Ted's guile against Dave's power and the final produced enthralling squash. At match point, Ted produced a trick serve he had not used before in the match. Dave -and the gallery- were caught by surprise and he hit the ball into the tin. Ted retained his title but Dave said to me after the match that Ted would never beat him again. He was right. In the final the following year Dave thrashed Ted 3-0.
But the best match I ever saw was the final of the Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur,1975. Mohibullah Khan played another Pakistani Gogi Alludin. Every shot was produced in over two hours play with Gogi the winner in five sets. Khan had beaten Geoff Hunt in the final of the Australian that year and the Pakistanis believed they had Hunt's measure. Khan said Geoff couldn't handle drop shots and would not beat him again. Famous last words. The last time I heard about Mohibullah he was doing time in the UK for the transportation of illegal drugs.
BEST TEAM:
In 1975, Dave Wright was invited to take a team to open up the South-East Asian Circuit. It included Malaysia and Singapore. The team was Dave Wright, Barry Dunne, Peter Thomas, Ian Andrew and myself as player/manager/cultural attache.
My main task was to ensure the team had a constant supply of cold drinks to alleviate the oppressive humidity in those countries. To ensure I was successful, I started training the team to beat the humidity at Brisbane airport. That worked pretty well. By the time we boarded the plane we had graduated from a motley crew to the Queensland Team.
A bit more practice at alleviating the oppressive humidity on the flight to Kuala Lumpur and we arrived at 2am as the Australian Team. God only knows how we got out of the airport.
Despite a lot more practice, the team did not perform well. To revive their spirits, I introduced them to some local cultural pursuits and that seemed to get them up for the Singapore Open.
Unfortunately, we fared no better there. The team seemed more intent on becoming ambassadors and learning the social habits of the different peoples than playing squash. We arrived home without a trophy and, in my case, without money. My grateful team members took all my money playing poker on the flight to Brisbane.
THE GUTS MEN:
I believe all squash players try their hardest on court. Some just seem to have the capacity and motivation to try harder than others. We have all seen players who look like world beaters in the hit up only to crumble when the pressure was on. Players who have a lot of natural ability, but little heart.
Of course, there were talented players who didn't see the sense in tearing a hamstring in pursuit of a little black ball. They played primarily for the enjoyment and to sweat out the grog. So be it.
One player who didn't know when to give up was Bob Pareezer. He was like a fox terrier dog after a rat and definitely risked his hamstring on many occasions. I must have played Bob a hundred times in practice when he had the courts at Corinda and didn't win a set. He just found extra when the pressure was on.
Another was David McGarry. He didn't have as much natural ability as some of his contemporaries but he sure knew how to win. I remember at Jindalee one year he beat Dave Wright to get us into the finals. Wright was at his peak and a true warrior. I saw Mick Donnelly accidentally split his head to the bone in one match but Dave got off the floor to win the match.
But at Jindalee that night McGarry simply had too much guts and refused to lose. For mental toughness and the will to win, he was as good as I have seen.