On two separate moments in The Glencoe Club’s history, it was one stubborn individual, each time, who ensured squash courts were built. The first of these squash “champions” was Fred W. Hess. “It was nobody’s idea except my father’s,” exclaimed Marmie Hess, Fred’s daughter, when asked about the 1931 origins of squash courts at the Glencoe. Chairman of the Glencoe’s Building and Finance Committee in 1931, Hess was responsible for getting the Club built. He was also a member of Christ Church, where he had become friends with the Anglican Rector, Reverend G.N. Luxton. With Luxton over for tea at his house one day, Hess showed him the new Glencoe Club blueprints and asked him: “What sport do you play?” “Squash,” replied Luxton. “Te best game in the world!” Meanwhile, architect James M. Stevenson — of the Calgary firm Fordyce — had won the bid to construct the new Glencoe Club. He told Hess he had wanted to build a cathedral in Calgary, but the Depression had sidelined that dream. “The Glencoe Club will be my cathedral,” he told Hess. With Luxton’s proclaimed love of squash and Stevenson’s desire to build the Club as a “cathedral,” Hess called for a squash court to be added under the high, curved roof over the badminton hall and skating rink. Tat year, Luxton was one of 12 initial Glencoe members to play “the greatest game in the world” at the new Glencoe Club. Unfortunately, when he left town in 1933, interest in squash fizzled at the Club, at least temporarily. Ten came the massive fire of 1962, which burned Te Glencoe Club to the ground, sparking ambitious re-construction plans. As part of the bold, new blueprints, then-President R.C. Borland insisted — against opposition — that new squash courts be built and the game resurrected. When asked why his father was so adamant the sport be reinstated in the new Club, Borland’s son, Bob Borland Jr., replied: “Dad told directors that we had squash before, and we’ll have it again.” And “have it again” the Glencoe did! According to Wendy Bryden’s official history of the Club: “…President Borland was named Chairman of the Squash Committee in 1963. Tat year the Pro Shop stocked up on squash equipment, the rules of squash were posted on the bulletin board, a court reservation system was instituted, a league was set up, and Harvard University coach John M. Barnaby’s booklet on the fundamental techniques and tactics of squash was recommended to over a hundred keen members who signed up to try the game.” – Te Glencoe Club Story (Wendy Bryden) Today, Glencoe Club members enjoy recreational and competitive squash matches on brand new (2016), state-of-theart doubles and singles courts, opened as part of the Club’s recent renovation.
Information retrieved from The Glencoe Club website.