Water Polo at GHS

A Brief History

1974 marked the beginning of a formal interscholastic water polo program at Greenwich High School. The program was initiated to requests by members of the GHS swim team for a significant competitive activity in the fall, prior to the winter swim season. Most of the swimmers lacked the skills or experience to participate in other fall sports programs at the high school. And, a loosely defined conditioning program for swimming did not seem rewarding enough. Water polo could fill the fall void and would be relatively compatible with their high goals as swimmers. Polo also served to bring the swimmers together in a game and team sport as radically different from swimming as basketball is from running. The fall of 1974 barely gave the swimmers the taste for interscholastic competition with just a couple of games with East Haven High and Southern Connecticut State College junior varsity. The need to expand the number of games and the level of competition (to college and prep school opponents) and to increase the distance required to meet suitable competition was obvious.

The fall of 1975 began the baptism of the team in serious competition. In its first 'full' season, the team completed a 10-game schedule with a record of 4 wins and 6 losses. The Big Red hosted its first Cardinal Invitational Tournament, and in "trial by fire", lost all three games by the one-sided scores of 23-4,13-2, and 29-5 to Montclair Academy, Trinity College and Phillips Exeter Academy, respectively. Parity with the top scholastic teams seemed a long way off.

The school yearbook featured both the 1974 and 1975 teams in the club section of Compass. As the level of competition escalated, the Compass, starting with the 1976 yearbook, placed Polo in the Sports section, recognizing that the team functioned on a level with most other varsity sports programs at GHS.

Beginning with 1976, the Water Polo Club moved into the ranks of winning teams with an 8-6 season. A 14-11 loss to Exeter, New England's premier program, showed that the competitive gap was closing. In 1977, at 17-3 the team also claimed its first championship in the Cardinal Tournament, coming up with its first victory every over Exeter in an overtime thriller. Its only losses coming against collegiate opponents, this team also beat Exeter on the road to lay claim to a mythical New England title on which PEA had a stranglehold in the all-prep school tournament. It was also the first team which graduated future collegiate stars. Jeff Grey was a dominant player on a good Monmouth College team and Jeff Stiling played on the 1982 NCAA Champion Stanford team. In three years, Greenwich had moved from 'doormats" to parity with the best in interscholastic water polo.

The next major step forward came in 1978 when the New England Association of Preparatory Schools permitted GHS to compete for the first time in the New England Interscholastic Tournament. In 1982, after fours years of finishing either second or third in the eight-team tournament, the Big Red won its first New England title, defeating Phillips Exeter Academy in overtime, 13-12. This put an end to Exeter's permanent grip in the league trophy.

Initiated in the late 1970's the All-American program for water polo had its first Cardinal member in 1980 in Jim Lewis, who was an exceptional two year first team selection. Since this inauguration to the A-A program, Greenwich has never failed to have an honoree included in the Eastern quota of the team.

In 1983, the U.S. Naval Academy sponsored its first interscholastic tournament, which, beginning in 1985 became an annual affair. In '84 & '85 the team ventured as far west as Canton, Ohio where it won the Canton Cup in six game sweeps of Ohio high school teams. But the lack of significant competition coupled with the 500 mile distance convinced us to drop that westward venture. Also, in 1985, the first Eastern Tournament was hosted by Villanova in response to the need of our southerly and westerly neighbors for a season-closing tournament. With Greenwich wedged neatly between the two areas, this gave us the New England and Eastern Tournaments to close out the yearly schedule. But it was not long before our welcome in the New England 'Blue Blood' prep school circuit was worn out. As the public school intruders from the south began to dominate the proceedings, and, as the number of northeastern prep. schools playing the sport increased, a movement was mounted to kick GHS out of the New Englands. Meanwhile, the Eastern Tournament was moved on the calendar and placed in conflict with New Englands. In '89, forced to choose between the two, Greenwich, in an act of good faith, chose the weaker New England event. But in the spring of 1990, the prep school athletic directors officially closed their ranks, kicking GHS out of its tournament. Greenwich turned southwards to make Easterns the championship team finale.

After 15 years, the Big Red Water Polo Club officially became a varsity program in the 1989 season. One of the most highly regarded schoolboy teams in the East, our competition had long marveled at the paradox of our success and the lack of formal recognition by our own school. Eventually, the concerns over grade reorganization (bringing 9th graders to GHS) and vocal parental booster support combined to bring about the team's long overdue inclusion in the Cardinal varsity family.

With the combination of more facilities and the sport's growth, the Eastern coaches, in 1990, enlarged the year-ending tournament to two levels and for 1991 to three levels. Thus, GHS had the opportunity to place its varsity team in the championship division and its large number of younger players in B & C level tournaments. In 1995, Easterns was again re-organized, largely in response to the growing disparity between the level of play at public and private schools. With three divisions - High School, Prep School, and Club/Open - Greenwich was assured a berth in the high school tournament, with a second entry in the Club/Open division if the clubs did not fill the spots. The three divisional winners and an at-large selection chosen from the runners-up, completing a four-team field, would move on for an overall Eastern Interscholastic Championship.

Throughout the '80's and '90's, the Greenwich High School Water Polo Team has been a group of 40-plus students completing a full "Varsity A", "Varsity B", and "Junior Varsity" schedule. The team boasts one of the most outstanding records of success of any team in the school. In its final seven appearances at the New Englands, the Big Red won five championships. After its return to Easterns in 1990, it won two consecutive Eastern titles. Winning both the 1995 High School and Overall titles in the reorganized format for the Eastern Championships, the Cardinals returned in '95 and '97 to successfully defend the High School /Division title, while failing to win the Overall Championship both years. Annually the GHS places players on the All Eastern And All-American teams. Its players are scattered among the college ranks.

Today, GHS players look toward the best collegiate programs. They are highly regarded and actively recruited by them. GHS is one of the few Eastern schools to crack the "lockout" of Eastern players by coaches of California teams. A team created in 1974 to fill the vacuum in the fall schedule of high school swimmers' lives now stands tall as one of GHS's finest varsity programs as well as one of the East's most outstanding polo programs. In fact, the 28-0 1990 Cardinal team was widely acknowledged at that time to be the best team ever seen in the East and a team that many felt could compete successfully against its California counterparts. (It was not until 2000, however, that a Cardinal squad could boast of beating a California opponent. That Big Red team twice defeated La Canada HS en route to the championship of the Annapolis Water Polo Classic.) The 1991 squad, with just a single early season loss, was not far behind the '90 group. The undefeated 1995 team could also make legitimate claims as the best ever. At 28-0, it matched its '91 predecessors victory for victory. Amazingly, despite the loss of all but one starter, the 1996 team came from nowhere to win the Eastern High School Championship, beating arch-rival Wilson and Saint Frances of Toledo, Ohio to claim the High School title. The 1997 team turned back PA champion Mifflin before beating Wilson for its straight Eastern High School crown.

After finishing third in 1998 and second in 1999, the 2000 team had high hopes of returning the Eastern titles to Greenwich. Entering the tournament as the top seed, the Big Red suffered crushing defeats in both the High School Finals (6-2 versus Wilson HS) and the Overall Championships (6-5 against Navy AC). Despite its runner-up finishes, the team's four captains - Paul D'Avino, Mac Sanford, Steve Spaeth & Sam Sullivan - earned All-Tournament honors. Led by Co-Captains Win Bates & Billy Irvine, the 2001 squad succeeded in winning back the Eastern High School Title, defeating Wilson 7-6 in the finals. But the team fell to the Navy Aquatic Club 9-5 in the Overall Championships game, completing the season with a 26-4-1 record.