Croquet is a white-glove, pressed-linen kind of sport. But the two teams competing yesterday were more than just civil during the annual match-up in Annapolis.
Before the first stroke, the teams settled on the final score. A tie - 0-0.
Rain forced the tournament between St. John's College and Ginger Cove retirees, dubbed the "Generation Gap," to be canceled.
"It's the first time we've had a tie, isn't it?" said Ian Hanover, a St. John's College senior, shaking hands with Bill Krause, an 86-year-old retired chemical company manager.
The younger and more senior croquet players have been competing since 1989 as a run-up to the big croquet showdown between the Naval Academy and St. John's College each year.
"It's kind of like spring training in baseball," said Charlie Gillmarten, a St. John's senior.
The tournament was started by a Ginger Cove resident and St. John's alumnus who has since died. The retirees also host the midshipmen for lunch and croquet in the weeks before the Annapolis Cup.
"It gives them a chance to practice," said Bill Krause, the Ginger Cove team's Imperial Wicket, which is croquet parlance for the team captain.
It also gives the students, who are accustomed to dining hall food, a chance to eat with the retirees and talk with city residents they might not normally encounter. And with few croquet teams in the area, the players are always looking for competitors.
While it's not unusual for a much older player to "completely destroy" a much younger, more physically fit croquet player, Ian Hanover, the Imperial Wicket for St. John's, said the Ginger Cove players are pretty evenly matched against the students.
St. John's students have won the past five years. The retirees have a more even record with the academy, losing the past four years but winning the prior four years' worth of tournaments.
The Johnnies - as the St. John's students are known - have a more impressive record against the Mids, winning the silver cup trophy for 20 of the past 25 years.
The Annapolis Cup - both grudge match and social event - dates to the early 1980s, when a Naval Academy commandant challenged a St. John's student to find a sport that the school could defeat the academy in.
The annual croquet tournament is held on the lawn of St. John's, where alumni of both institutions and other spectators picnic on cucumber sandwiches, strawberries and champagne. Some ladies wear white gloves and carry parasols. Men often dress in linen suits and wear straw boater hats.
