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Bostwick Was Hub of PoloG. H. (Pete) BottwickTaken in Part from Horse TalesBy KAY LAWRENCEThere are champions in every sport whose names go down as ‘'greats in the history of that sport.But there are only a few of those champions with such a vivid personality and such zest for competition that fans can actually recall moments of action in their mind's eye long after the player is gone.This will be the case with G. H. (Pete) Bostwick. captain of the Aiken Polo Team and an international figure in the sport for more than 50 years, who died last week.Hundreds of local f^ns who have lined the benches at Whitney Field on Sunday afternoons will retain a picture of the guy in the green helmet' cutting a swath through the opposition, headed for the goal.Pete Bostwick loved to win. He could lose with good grace, but never without putting up a tooth-and-nail battle until the final bell. And he expected others on his squad to play with the same fervor.He had been at the hub of polo on Whitney Field for more than half a century. He learned the game at the age of 10, while a student at Aiken Preparatory School, under the instruction of a great horsewoman. Mrs. Thomas Hitchcock. By his early teens, he was playing in high-goal competition.During his polo career he was six times a member of U. S. Open Championship teams, competing in England, the Argentine and Mexico, as well as in this country.In the 1930's he was recognized as the leading amateur steeplechase rider in both England and America. He was one of the first American riders to participate in England's Grand National Steeplechase at Aintree and he also won the English Imperial Cup.Until recent years, he was one of the top steeplechase owners andtrainers in the nation. He produced three national steeplechase champions -- Oedipus. Neji and Bar-nabys Bluff.Through the years he lured the outstanding polo teams of the nation to the Aiken area. In a large measure he subsidized Whitney Field, whose prime turf and ideal playing conditions require a much bigger outlay than can be met by Sunday gate receipts.Pete was an all-around sportsman -- a fine golfer, highly rated in lawn tennis and court tennis, and a keen hunter.He is reported to have been the largest individual owner of land in South Carolina He owned a plantation in the Low Country where he bred thoroughbreds and Devon Cattle. He once owned Daufuskie Island.He was given the “Man of the Year award in 1966 by the AikenChamber of Commerce, being cited for keeping alive Aiken's rich heritage as the horse capital of the nation.Pete's big pride in recent years was centered in two younger sons, Charlie and Ricky, who are moving up rapidly in polo and promise to be international stars of the future. The Bostwick trio has been playing in Florida competition early in the year and then returning to Aiken for home games in March and April.Aiken fans who watched Pete here last season felt he was in prime form -- with the same energy and skill he had had a score of years before. He was perhaps even better at position play.H is death, at 72. was as any man would have wished who had devoted his life to action. He was stricken between chukkers at a Florida polo match.
Newspaper Details
Aiken County Rambler
Aiken, South Carolina, US
Thu, Jan 21, 1982
Page 31
Full Page
Clipped by
Linda J.
USA 01 Aug 2024
Other Publications Near Aiken, South Carolina
Aiken Daily Mail
Aiken County Rambler
Aiken County Register
Aiken County Journal
Aiken Standard
