Hayes croquet members play on lawn

FREMONT – A group of area residents pumped new life into an old sport Sunday, as the Hayes Presidential Center’s Croquet Club met for a couple of hours of games on the center’s lawn.

Decked out in a white shirt and pants, Paul Livingston, of Fremont, played in a singles group of three with Dick Zilles and Buddy Schwab.

Livingston said he had been a club member for about five years and decided to take up the lawn sport at the Hayes Center after playing it as a child.

“This is the way (President Rutherford B.) Hayes played when he lived here,” Livingston said shortly before he struck one of the croquet balls with his mallet.

The Hayes Presidential Center Croquet Club was organized in 2009, according to the center. The club offers practice play twice a month with twice-monthly members tournaments in between. Play occurs on a pair of croquet courts on the Hayes Home lawn.

The United States Croquet Association estimates that the sport has been a part of American recreation for more than 140 years.

Schwab estimated the club had between 15 and 20 members. He and Livingston said they played for a couple of hours twice on Sundays, with the club also meeting twice on Wednesday nights from May through October.

Schwab said there were professional croquet leagues in the United States with smoothed-out courts. He said playing at the Hayes Center presented its own unique atmosphere, with the squirrels, mole holes and leaves on the lawn.

“We’ve got the whole effect,” Schwab said.

Sharon Zilles said that, to her knowledge, the croquet club was the only one in the region.

Brenda Schwab, Buddy’s wife, said she signed her husband up to play croquet at the Hayes Center.

She said the club is always looking for new members, and Schwab called croquet a fun thing to do on a Sunday afternoon.

“It’s something that men and women can enjoy,” she said.

dacarson@gannett.com

419-334-1046

Twitter: @DanielCarson7