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Peter Briggs (squash player)

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Peter Briggs is the longtime Director of Squash at The Apawamis Club in Rye, New York, and a member of the U.S. Squash Hall of Fame.

Early career

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Peter Sheffield Briggs, the son of English parents and a native of Greenwich, Connecticut, first learned squash at the Field Club in his home town.[1] He continued to pursue racquet sports at Middlesex School in Concord, Massachusetts where he also excelled in soccer. Briggs played #1 on the tennis team for 3 years and served as its captain in 1968 and 1969. He was considered one of the Private School Tennis League's best players.[2] In his senior year he claimed a victory in the Class A competition over David Talbott from Deerfield (the brother of his future doubles partner Mark Talbott) in the 1969 New England Squash Tournament.[3] He also led Middlesex to the team title in squash.[4]

As a freshman at Harvard University, he secured the top seed spot on the varsity squash team and was ranked #1 in the country.[5] An intercollegiate champion,[6] Briggs became Captain of the Crimson squash team and Harvard won the NCAA title that year. His squash coach at Harvard was Jack Barnaby, considered by many to be the most successful coach in Harvard history;[7] Barnaby also coached Briggs in tennis.

In January 1973, Briggs would win the singles final at the 31st Apawamis Club Invitational, nearly 15 years before he would become the head pro there.[8] He finished his senior year, receiving a BA in classics. Immediately after graduation, Briggs was hired to co-coach the Radcliffe tennis and squash teams with a fellow squash teammate, Dan Gordon.[9] That same year, he also co-founded a sports apparel business named Boast with a group of fellow Ivy League athletes.[1][10] A lefthander, Briggs won the Apawamis Invitational again in 1975.[11]

Adept at both squash singles and doubles, Briggs went on to win the US Squash Doubles Championship in 1976 with partner Ralph Howe. In the same year, he won the Mexican Nationals in singles, the Canadian Doubles and the U.S. Nationals in singles. Howe would be his partner for four years.

At the same time that he competed on the courts, Briggs held a day job as a corporate trader at Kidder, Peabody & Co.[12] eventually moving to Merrill Lynch. Squash won him over in 1984 and his career changed directions after almost 10 years in the financial arena.

Coaching

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Briggs was hired as head squash coach and the assistant tennis coach at Cornell for 4 years starting in 1984.[13] He guided his squash players to a 58–39 record. Under his leadership, the 1987-88 Cornell squash team became the first Cornell squash team to finish nationally in the top 10 (they ranked 9 at the end of their season). That same year his personal squash record expanded as he won no fewer than six professional events with four different partners and also won the US Mixed Doubles Championship with partner Joyce Davenport.[14][15] His doubles partners included Mark Talbott with whom he was partnered in 1984 [16] and 1985.[17]

Briggs left Cornell in 1988 to begin coaching squash at The Apawamis Club downstate in Westchester. Under his more than three decade tenure, the squash program has regularly trained nationally ranked male and female students, many of whom have gone on to compete at or become captains of top Northeast collegiate teams including Harvard, Yale, Princeton University, Trinity College, Middlebury College and Amherst College.[18][19] Even while coaching at Apawamis, Briggs continued to personally compete in tournaments. In 1989 he played on the U.S. team at the World Championships in Kuala Lumpur with his friend Mark Talbott and others.[20]

Awards

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Briggs received recognition as a member of the Harvard Squash Hall of Fame, Class of 1996 for being a three-time All-Ivy and All-American.[21] His prep school alma mater, Middlesex, elected him to their Hall of Fame in 2003.[4] In 2005, he was inducted into the US Squash Hall of Fame in recognition of his positive impact and influence on the sport.[22]

Philanthropy

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The competitive biennial Briggs Doubles Cup benefiting CitySquash is named for him and considered one of the premier tournaments on the circuit.[23] Briggs was himself a board member of this urban youth enrichment program which raises scholarship funds for academically oriented students and has been based at Fordham University since 2002.[24][25][26][27][28][29] The Briggs Cup has been held every two years since 2003 and offers the largest monetary prize on the tour circuit. As the first of its kind, the tournament has become a model of fundraising for urban youth programs all over the United States.[30] The Briggs Cup attracts the top players in the world not only because it is "the biggest event of the season, but it’s one of the best run events on the tour" according to one of the top entrants.[31]

Personal life

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Briggs first marriage ended amicably in divorce. He and his wife Diane live in Pound Ridge. He has two sons and a daughter.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Tom McDermott (May 21, 2013). "Peter Briggs, An Untarnished Legend". Rye Record. Retrieved September 14, 2019.
  2. ^ "The Private School Tennis League". Boston: The Boston Globe. May 14, 1969.
  3. ^ Nancy Green (February 25, 1969). "Boston Hoop Playoffs Will Open Tomorrow". Boston: The Boston Globe.
  4. ^ a b "Hall of Fame". Middlesex School. 2003. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
  5. ^ Bob Monahan (March 23, 1972). "Named No. 1 in the country, Harvard's Briggs hits top in squash". Boston, Massachusetts: The Boston Globe.
  6. ^ "Ivy Squash Stars Picked". The Ithaca Journal. April 10, 1972.
  7. ^ David Weinfeld (February 20, 2002). "Legendary Tennis, Squash Coach Dies at 92". The Crimson.
  8. ^ "Apawamis Squash". Boston, Massachusetts: The Boston Globe. January 15, 1973.
  9. ^ "Two Harvard Seniors to Coach Radcliffe Tennis and Squash". The Harvard Crimson. May 23, 1973. Retrieved January 11, 2020.
  10. ^ "About, Sporting the Leaf since 1973". Boast, Inc. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
  11. ^ "Briggs Wins Title In Apawamis Club Squash Tourney". The Rye Chronicle. January 16, 1975. p. 11.
  12. ^ "Diane J. Brown, Peter S. Briggs to Wed Aug. 27". New York Times. March 27, 1977. Retrieved January 11, 2020.
  13. ^ "Cornell Names Two New Head Coaches". New York: The Ithaca Journal. August 18, 1984.
  14. ^ "Squash". Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Philadelphia Inquirer. April 16, 1984.
  15. ^ James Zug (2003). Squash: A History of the Game. Scribner. p. 268.
  16. ^ "Mark Talbot Just for the Record". Ontario, Canada: National Post. November 28, 1988.
  17. ^ "Talbott-Briggs, the Team to "Squash"". New York: The Daily News. March 3, 1985.
  18. ^ Irena Choi Stern (April 18, 2004). "SPORTS; A County Of Squash, And Talent Homegrown". New York Times. Retrieved September 15, 2019.
  19. ^ Pat DiSalvo (June 26, 2006). "Endresen's Work Pays Off,Squash player qualifies for world championship event". The Journal News.
  20. ^ "Mark Talbott: A Very Good Friend". squashmagazine.ussquash.com. July 2008. Retrieved January 11, 2016.
  21. ^ "Peter S. Briggs '73 Squash- Hall of Fame Class of 1996 Harvard Athletic Achievements". Harvard Varsity Club. 1996. Retrieved January 11, 2020.
  22. ^ "Hall of Fame". US Squash. 2005. Retrieved September 15, 2019.
  23. ^ Steve Mandel, Peer Pedersen (November 2013). "Briggs Cup". US Squash. Retrieved January 13, 2020.
  24. ^ CitySquash. "Facility Partners". Retrieved January 13, 2020.
  25. ^ "LED BY BRIGGS CUP,FUNDRAISERS GIVE CITYSQUASH BOOST" (PDF). CitySquash. 2005. Retrieved January 11, 2020.
  26. ^ "MATHUR & MUDGE SURGE TO LIFT BIENNIAL BRIGGS CUP". SDA Pro Tour. December 12, 2017. Retrieved September 15, 2019.
  27. ^ Rob Dinerman (March 20, 2012). "A History Of Squash At Apawamis: An Ongoing Tradition Of Excellence". DailySquashReport.com.
  28. ^ "SQUASH MAGAZINE 2015 TOP FIFTY ANNOUNCED". October 14, 2015. Retrieved September 15, 2019.
  29. ^ "Corner Man". Forbes. December 1, 2006. Retrieved September 15, 2019.
  30. ^ "MUDGE & GOULD WIN FIRST BRIGGS CUP IN PARTNERSHIP'S SWAN SONG". Squash Doubles Association. December 15, 2015. Retrieved January 11, 2020.
  31. ^ "Mathur Claims Third Briggs Cup, Callis Celebrates First". Squash Doubles Association Pro Tour. 11 December 2019. Retrieved January 5, 2020.
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