Sep 137 min read

105 Recollections of an Auto Polo Player, J. Percy Van Zandt

This blog is based on an interview I had with J. Percy Van Zandt over 40 years ago. I talked with him about his days as an auto polo player on August 2,1982 in his Blawenburg home when he was 87 years old. Auto polo was a short-lived sport that had a long-term impact on his life, something he remembered well in his senior years. I hope you enjoy the results of our conversation as much as I did those many years ago.

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The fearless Somerset auto polo teams of 1914.

It may have looked like the forerunner of the demolition derby with cars crashing and fans going wild on the sidelines, but for 87-year-old J. Percy Van Zandt of Blawenburg, who was known as Percy, playing auto polo in the summer of 1914 was a cherished memory of his youth.

The Motor Sport

Auto polo emerged as an organized motor sport around 1912, after the Model T Ford had been in production for just four years. There were earlier versions of the sport, but its popularity grew with the Model T. The first game is widely thought to have taken place in an alfalfa field near Wichita, Kansas, to promote Ford cars. Percy Van Zandt was a Ford enthusiast with an interest in racing and the emerging sport of auto polo.

Like many sports, its greatest appeal was with the youth of the country. All it took to play was a stripped-down Model T with a roll bar installed, a 36-inch polo mallet, and an inflated basketball with reinforcing leather ribs. The rules of the game were simple—hit the ball through the opponent’s 15-foot-wide goal. Each half of the game had three 10-minute periods. The team with the most points at the end of the game won.

In its early days, auto polo was described by William Inglis in Harper’s Weekly as “a game similar to the orthodox ancient polo, to drive the ball over the line between the goal posts and to keep the other side from doing the same by any means short of assassination.”

What made auto polo fun was the reckless way it was played. A polo team consisted of a driver skilled at operating the Model T and also being able to jump out of the car when a crash was imminent. The other player on a team was a mallet man who was skilled at hitting the ball with a mallet while traveling in a field at speeds up to 40 miles per hour. Mallet men also had to abandon the vehicle quickly to avoid injury. During the action, they held onto the car with one hand and swung the mallet with the other. For their protection, some players wore a helmet and shoulder pads. The driver and mallet man had to work together to score points. “Players can’t do much without the cooperation of the driver,” Percy said. He couldn’t recall anyone being seriously hurt during his time at the wheel.

The car on the right lost its driver and mallet man along with his mallet. As the right mallet man falls, the left mallet man aims to hit the ball. Yikes!

Auto polo was played locally on the old fairgrounds near Somerville. Today, that property hosts the Somerset County 4-H Fair each August. The field had minimal requirements. It had to be open and 300 feet long by 150 feet wide, about the length and width of a football field.

Sponsors

Some players bought their cars, but it was common for players to have a sponsor who would buy the car. The players would return the cars to the sponsor when they were retired. Owners would often put a pickup truck body on the frame to get more life from the vehicle. “We wouldn’t have been so careless if they were our own cars,” Percy said.

Percy’s teammate was a friend from Blawenburg, Alvin Duryea. Alvin and his brother Augustus began the first Ford dealership in New Jersey on Main Street in Somerville in 1908. It is likely that Percy’s car was sponsored by the Duryea brothers.

Percy also knew local politician Frederick Thomas, who was active in the Somerset County Auto Association and was running for the NJ State Senate. “Thomas knew I was a Ford enthusiast, so he asked me to modify a car for auto polo,” Percy said. “He thought sponsoring a team would be a good campaign gimmick. Unfortunately for him, it didn’t work, and he lost the election!”

The Car

Auto polo racers would get a Model T and strip it down to its frame. “We fixed our own cars, even putting in our own roll bars,” Percy recalled. “We drove our cars up to the fairgrounds for practice and matches.” Auto polo cars had no tops, doors, or windshields.

According to Percy, Fords were preferred for auto polo because they had a planetary transmission. They had three pedals—clutch, brake, and reverse—with no stick shift. The gas was controlled by a throttle on the steering column. Having less to think about when operating the car, the Model T allowed auto polo drivers to keep their eyes on the field. There were no seatbelts or airbags! Other cars of this era were more difficult to use.

The old Model T took a beating in auto polo. Broken wheel spokes were the norm. “We got so we could change a wheel in 15 seconds,” Percy said with pride. The cars had pneumatic tires, and the wheels had clinchers instead of bolts, which made wheel changes quick. “We never bothered using jacks to change our tires,” Percy said. “We were all young fellows with lots of strength, so we just lifted the car.” Model T engines were also vulnerable. Percy recalled they would bring along two or three spare engines, just in case they had to change them.

“You had to reach the ball from the car with one fellow driving and the other standing on the running board with a mallet,” Percy said with a glint in his eye. “That was something to do without seatbelts! Almost anything could happen. You could bump the other car and you might roll over or skid. You couldn’t go too fast, and turning a complete circle was almost impossible.”

The mallet man hangs on for dear life as the driver moves up on the ball. The opponent on the right is in hot pursuit.

A judge, who served as referee, started the match. The four cars, two on each team, faced off in the center of the field, where the judge likely assumed a position between the two cars, ready to drop the ball and run. When the judge let go of the ball, he took off so the eager drivers wouldn’t hit him. Percy remembers one judge who commented after the match, “Gee, you fellows play rough.” Indeed, they did.

Auto polo was a sport novelty at a time when few people owned cars. It also had a short life span. It began in 1912 and spread across the country quickly, especially in the northeast. But in 1917, World War I came along and interest in the sport waned. About the same time, many were questioning the danger of the sport. There were many injuries, but few deaths. The cost of replacing cars was also increasing, making the sport prohibitive for some players. Several states outlawed the sport, and by the mid-1920s, it was on its way out.

The auto polo season of his life meant a lot to Percy and helped him develop confidence and competitiveness, skills necessary for the life he would lead as an adult. This period foreshadowed his successful career as a business and community leader and entrepreneur. It was a wild and crazy time, but Percy loved every minute of it.

This newspaper picture of Hannah and Percy Van Zandt

appeared in a local newspaper in 1986.

After his youthful auto polo time, Percy Van Zandt became a well-known agriculturalist, successful farmer, and owner of a popular farm equipment dealership—J. Percy Van Zandt Company. He was an agricultural innovator, having developed ways for chickens to lay more eggs, among other things. He also introduced terraced farming in a field where part of Cherry Valley Country Club now stands. Being civic minded, he participated in many community activities, served on the Board of Education, and was an active member of Blawenburg Reformed Church. In 1950, his company held an agricultural fair that brought 8,000 people to Blawenburg to see his Broad View Farm operation. These accomplishments are his legacy, but thinking of that crazy summer of 1914 always put a smile on Percy’s face.

EXTRAS

See Auto Polo in action: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ztjIz_OvBKM

You can read more about Percy’s Broad View Farm in Blog 11.

FACTS

1. An earlier version of auto polo used steam-powered Mobile Roundabout cars. The single passenger served as driver and mallet man. Note the steering stick instead of a steering wheel. This game was being played at the Dedham Polo Club in Boston in 1902.

2. Note that the person with the mallet was always a man. Given the role of women in the early 20th century, women wouldn’t have been permitted to play auto polo. Today, we would surely have women involved and likely would refer to whoever swung the mallet as a mallet person or malleter.

3. Auto polo drew crowds. 5,000 people showed up for the first official match using Model T cars with a driver and mallet man in Wichita, KS, in 1912.

4. Auto polo had a brief revival after World War II, but modern cars just didn’t lend themselves to auto polo the way the Model Ts did. Demolition derbies became more popular at that time.

5. Percy was an International Harvester dealer. The building he used was a barn that fronted Route 518. Today, the same barn serves at the Princeton Elks Lodge.