SILVER CUP®
Tournament History
The Silver Cup® has been called many names throughout its illustrious 120-year history. Originally established as the Junior Championship, it was first played in 1900. The Junior Championship attracted such historic teams as Rockaway, Cooperstown, Meadow Brook, Old Aiken and Laddie Sanford’s Hurricanes, to name a few. The 1935 Junior Championship boasted the largest field in the tournament’s history with 11 teams vying for the coveted trophy at Burnt Mills Polo Club in Bedminster, New Jersey. Aiken Knights, consisting of Dunbar W. Bostwick, Winston F. C. Guest, James F. Curtis Jr. and George H. Bostwick, triumphed over Texas 13-3.
In 1938, the Junior Polo Championship was renamed the National Twenty Goal® Championship. During this period the trophy was carried home by teams such as Bostwick Field, Milwaukee, Aurora, San Antonio and Oak Brook. The tournament took its present name, the Silver Cup, in 1974.
Many winners of the cup hail from the Polo Hall of Fame—from J. Watson Webb and Tommy Hitchcock, to Robert Skene and Cecil Smith. In fact, no fewer than 50 Polo Hall of Famers have won the Silver Cup®. Out of the 50 Hall of Famers, W. Ray Harrington Jr. and Charles Smith have earned the most Silver Cup® titles with eight wins each.
In the 2019 Silver Cup® Final, Tonkawa won the prestigious Silver Cup® undefeated in front of a sellout crowd. Played in Aspen Valley Polo Club (Carbondale, Colorado), Tonkawa led Casablanca from start-to-finish to secure an impressive 15-10 victory. For the 2020 tournament, The Silver Cup® has relocated to Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club (Carpinteria, California) and will feature eight teams vying for the trophy. Amongst the competition are Team USPA members, Lucas Escobar (Santa Clara) and Nico Escobar (Lucchese), as well as Graduating Team USPA members Jesse Bray (Klentner Ranch), Geronimo Obregon (Klentner Ranch), Matt Coppola (Antelope) and Santi Torres (Dundas).
As the country emerges out of the COVID-19 crisis, the USPA established opportunities to support USPA Member Club events through the use of the COVID-19 USPA Polo Tournament Stimulus Package, which provides eligible USPA Member Clubs with waived tournament fees, trophies or reimbursements, one professional umpire and $2,500 in prize money per tournament at no extra cost. Offered to each club for the first two USPA tournaments of 2020 following the COVID-19 USPA Tournaments and Events suspension, Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club will be taking advantage of the program for this tournament.
U.S. Polo Assn., the multi-billion-dollar, official global apparel brand of the United States Polo Association, announced it will serve as the apparel sponsor for the 2020 Silver Cup®. As the 2020 Silver Cup®’s official apparel sponsor, U.S. Polo Assn. will be featured in multiple ways including the main scoreboard, social media, staff outfitting, trophy ceremony and more throughout the tournament. Also of note, the brand, which sells merchandise in 180 countries worldwide, is also apparel partnering with the Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club throughout the 2020 season.
Photo: 2019 Silver Cup® Champions: Tonkawa - Juan Martin Obregon, Jeff Hildebrand, Sapo Caset, Mason Wroe. Pictured with Mindy Hildebrand and USPA CEO Bob Puetz. ©Nick Tininenko.
