From Chicago to the Colorado Cowboy: the making of Dale Smicklas
PART ONE
Dale Smicklas, born in Chicago, could not have known at the age of 14, that he would one day be inducted into the Polo Hall of Fame – a milestone he will reach at the Museum of Polo and Hall of Fame induction Gala in February next year in Florida. What he did know was that he wanted to leave school and become a professional polo player.
“I told my dad I wanted to quit school and I wanted to go be a polo player,” Dale, 67, said. “He said ‘what makes you think you can go and do that?’ And I said, “Well, just ’cause I want to. I know I’m gonna have to just be a groom and do stalls and take care of horses, but I’m gonna get an opportunity here and there to ride.’ I started playing polo because I was passionate about horses – much more than I wanted to be a polo player.”
Dale’s father – John Earl Smicklas – had a pragmatic response to his son’s ambitions. Dale was to finish High School and spend four years either in college or working in the family automobile dealership business. As an incentive he would be sent for two months every summer to play polo in Oklahoma. Dale took the deal. “I really felt strongly that I was a very good rider and a good horseman even at a young age. And I said, ‘Eventually somebody will give me an opportunity to play.’”
The Smicklas family had moved to Colorado, where club polo was floundering. “My dad was looking for a place to play polo in the summertime that was a day’s drive from Colorado,” said Dale. He discovered Broad Acres Polo Club in Norman, Oklahoma as an alternative. There Dale met Bob Moore, who set him on his lifelong career, offering him a full-time job as a professional polo player when Dale was 21. “My father and his wife Barbara – ‘my other mother’ as I call her – provided me with horses that I was able to begin my career with, and continued to help me until I became a high goal player,” said Dale. “Their help was absolutely priceless in starting my career.”
The polo job with Bob took Dale to Florida, playing in 8 and 12-goal tournaments – by the end of his second winter season, opportunities as a substitute player opened up for him in the 20 and 22-goal leagues. “Fortunately I was ready for the opportunity, and I evidently showed myself relatively well,” said Dale. An invitation to play 20-goal in Santa Barbara ensued and led to a slot on a US Open team for Tom Gose’s Valdina Farms. Dale asked Bob to release him from his contract so he could benefit from the experience and the polo patron graciously agreed.
Dale, who attained an eight-goal handicap, is widely considered one of the best backs in the history of the sport. His power hitting was evident from the start. As a three-goal player for Bob’s team in the 12-goal in Norman, within a two-week span, he made five penalty fives from the middle of the field.
“I could really hit the ball long and accurately,” he said. “Because of that – I could do it forwards or backwards – my tendency started to kind of drift to the back of the game. In the 22-goal stuff I usually played three, but in 26-goal and 30-goal polo, I always played back.”
His mallets, he said, were not necessarily what you would expect. “I wanted some whip down by the head. I didn’t want it way too heavy. I realized that crushing the ball was not enough – I also needed to carry it and It’s not as easy to carry the ball if you have a super heavy, super stiff mallet. I picked up one of Joe Barry’s mallets [also a known big hitter in his time] one day and it was so stiff and heavy it was like a broom handle. But he was an even physically stronger player than I was.”
Dale – as his team mates would attest – was not one to sugar coat. ‘Never apologize’ was advice he gave to one fellow player. He quantifies that with an exception. “I would apologize to somebody if I hit you behind the saddle hard and you almost went down, because I hated having that done to me.,” he said. “But as far as, you know, apologizing for fouling or apologizing for feeding you a horse’s head. No. This is a war.”
As a young player, that ‘take no prisoners’ spirit proved a hindrance. If an opponent did him wrong, he would have a hard time letting it go – pursuing them all over the field, a distraction that did him no favors. Clark Hetherington gave him the much-needed advice that he would never be a great player if he kept abandoning the play to satisfy his anger. Dale took the advice to heart and subscribed to anger management classes. “It was probably as good advice as I ever got,” he said.
Check back next Wednesday for Part Two of the Dale Smicklas series. ‘An eye for equine talent’.
In the meantime this could be interesting: