Robert Lyn-Kee-Chow’s first memory of horses was being picked up by his ‘Uncle Ray’ and put on the front of his saddle after a polo game in Jamaica, where he was born. “As a little kid, you remember that,” he said. “My dad grew up with the Godfrey brothers in Jamaica and two of the three played polo, but my dad never played.”

Robert would visit the barn that was close by his house and watch the horses going to polo on a Saturday afternoon. “They would load them on a dump truck side by side,” he recalls, “and take them to polo. They didn’t have gooseneck trailers.”

A local horseman, Stanford Chin, had a lot of horses on the island and gave Robert his chance to play. “‘If you pay for the grain, you can play,’” Robert was told. “I got hooked that way,” he said.

After college, Robert went to Midland, Texas. Argentina was off limits since he was processing his green card application. “Back in the day, Midland was the next best option because they played so much polo there,” he said.

Robert played polo professionally and managed several clubs but was always keen to have a secure job. With the growth of professional umpiring he found his niche and has been with the program for over a decade.

“You’ve got to have a lot of traits to be an umpire,” he said. “You have to have a ‘want’ to do a good job. You’ve got to be fair and consistent, obviously keep things safe and always be willing to learn. And you have to treat each game with the same amount of respect.”