H. BEN TAUB MEMORIAL
TOURNAMENT HISTORY
The H. Ben Taub Memorial is a national tournament held at Houston Polo Club in Houston, Texas. Established in 2015, the H. Ben Taub Memorial is named to commemorate Houston native H. Ben Taub, a medical executive, businessman and philanthropist. An avid polo player, Taub was very active in USPA governance serving as Southwestern Circuit Governor from 1998-2007.
In 2020, Bill Flick Ford (KC Krueger, Mason Wroe, Vaughn Miller Jr., Jimmy Seward) limited Horsegate 2/Tonkawa (Lance Stefanakis, Toto Collardin, Jeff Hildebrand, Nacho Badiola) to just one goal in the second half to claim the five-goal victory 9-4.
Honouring H. Ben Taub in 2021, ML Bar Ranch (Abby Benton, Cody Ellis, Drew Luplow, Joe Wayne Barry) managed a successful start against Horsegate/Tonkawa (Jeff Hildebrand, Jimmy Seward, Lance Stefanakis, Shane Rice), securing a halftime lead which would provide the needed cushion to claim the championship title 11-8. Read article here.
This year's edition will feature a deep field of nine teams including, Brookshire Polo, Brown Bears/San Saba, BTA, Eureka, La Elina, Old Pueblo, Propaganda, Rocking P/Tonkawa and Whitehall Ranch. Featuring multiple individual champions and Houston Polo Club staples, ML Bar Ranch will not return to defend their title, guaranteeing a new champion will be crowned.
Amongst the competition are Team USPA alumni Matt Coppola (Brookshire Polo), Mason Wroe (BTA), Steve Krueger (BTA) and Cody Ellis (Old Pueblo).
Houston Polo Club will be taking advantage of the USPA's Tournament Support Program (TSP) for the H. Ben Taub Memorial, which provides eligible USPA Member Clubs with waived tournament fees, trophies or trophy reimbursements up to $1,200, one professional umpire and $2,500 in prize money at no extra cost.
The USPA originally created the Tournament Stimulus Package (TSP) to help member clubs host USPA events when the United States was emerging from the first wave of the COVID-19 crisis. The USPA wanted to continue to support member clubs with TSP benefits in 2022. Therefore, it extended and expanded TSP under a new name - the Tournament Support Program. Each USPA Member Club can obtain TSP benefits for two USPA events, with the option of a third under specific circumstances.
Photo: 2021 H. Ben Taub Memorial Champions: ML Bar Ranch - Abby Benton, Drew Luplow, Cody Ellis, Joe Wayne Barry. Pictured with Fox Benton, Clementine Barry and presented by Kitch Taub and Sarah Wilbur from Bentley of Houston. ©KayleeWroe
