The finals of the Annual C.D. LeBlanc Memorial Tournament were held June 17th at the Will Rogers Polo Club in Los Angeles. C.D. LeBlanc founded the Will Rogers Polo Club in 1953: making it the thirteenth oldest polo club in the United States. The preliminary round had 4 teams competing to advance to the June 17th finals. The finals match up was day 1 winners Fair Hills (Graydon Brittan, Bill Davis, Tom Schuerman and Steve Sincoff) and Edelweiss (Carole and Anton Lessine, Domingo Questal and Hannah Taylor). It was a close game until the 4th chukkar when Edelweiss pulled away winning by a final score of 7 to 4. Domingo scored 6 of Edelweiss’s 7 goals, earning him MVP honors.
Carole and Anton Lessine, Domingo Questal and Hannah Taylor.
President Ronald Reagan was a frequent spectator at Will Rogers up until shortly before his death. The 2012 Ronald Reagan Memorial Tournament was a match-up of Team Argentina (Francisco Pugliese. German Pirana, Chip McKenney, Alejandro Nordheimer and John Waybill) vs. I Luv Polo’s Sean and Soheil Goel, Ryan Peykar and Tom Schuerman. Alejandro lead Team Argentina to an 8-6 victory, scoring 6 of the teams 8 goals. Sean and Soheil each had 2 goals, Ryan had 1 and Tom had 1.
Francisco Pugliese. German Pirana, Chip McKenney, Alejandro Nordheimer and John Waybill.
Will Rogers State Park was originally the private estate of Will Rogers: famed humorist, newspaper columnist, cowboy, author, movie star and polo player. In fact, Will Rogers landscaped the polo field in 1926, before he even built his home. Rogers and his family lived here between 1928 and 1935. During this period he and his friends (David Niven, Spencer Tracy, Hal Roach, Walt Disney and Clark Gable) played on this field on weekend mornings and then rode over to a nearby field to watch the “high goal” games.
After Will’s death in 1935, his family gave the property to the State of California on the condition that equestrian activities would continue at the park. The club has continued since 1953 and is the only remaining grass polo field in Los Angeles. Each year it hosts charity matches, fund raisers and private events. For more information about the polo club, or to host an event, please contact Felice Densa at 818-509-9965 or felice@willrogerspolo.com.