Wikipedia

John Solomon (croquet player)

For other people named John Solomon, see John Solomon (disambiguation).

John Solomon (22 November 1931 – 20 October 2014[1]) was a croquet player from England.

John William Solomon
Born22 November 1931
Wandsworth, south London
Died20 October 2014(2014-10-20) (aged 82)
Worthing, West Sussex

Solomon dominated English croquet in the 1950s and 1960s winning the President's Cup nine times (1955, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1968 and 1971), the Open Championship ten times (1953, 1956, 1959, 1961, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967 and 1968) and the Men's Championship ten times (1951, 1953, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1971 and 1972).[2][3][4]

Solomon also won the New Zealand Open Championship in 1951 and 1963.[4]

Solomon represented England and latterly Great Britain in five MacRobertson Shield tournaments, winning on four occasions.[2][3]

As an administrator Solomon served on the Council of the Croquet Association between 1952 and 2004, serving as Chairman (1962 to 1964), Vice President (1976 to 1982) and President (1982 to 2004).[2][4]

In 2006 Solomon was inducted into the World Croquet Federation Hall of Fame.[5]

Career statistics

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Source:[6]

Major tournament performance timeline

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Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# DNQ A NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

The President's Cup is played as a 8/10 player round-robin and the number indicates the final position achieved.

Tournament 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965
Open Championship 3R 1R W SF SF W A QF W F W 3R W W W
Men's Championship W 1R W SF A SF A W W W QF W F W W
President's Cup 3 2 2 4 W 2 W W W 2= 2 W W W 4
Win-Loss 7–1 0–2 9–0 4–2 3–1 7–1 0–0 5–1 6–0 8–1 5–1 6–1 9–1 8–0 9–0
Tournament 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1996 SR W–L Win %
Open Championship W W W F 3R 3R SF SF 3R SF A A 1R A 10 / 25 78–15 83.9
Men's Championship F 2R SF A A W W A A A A A 1R 1R 10 / 20 56–10 84.8
President's Cup 4 3= W A 3 W 2 3 2 6 A A A A 9 / 24
Win-Loss 9–1 6–1 7–1 4–1 1–1 6–1 8–1 3–1 1–1 3–1 0–0 0–0 0–2 0–1 29 / 69 134–25 84.3

Major Championship Finals: 26 (22 titles, 4 runners-up)

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Outcome Year Championship Opponent Score
Winner 1951 NZ Championship Arthur Ross +22, +23
Winner 1951 Men's Championship Geoffrey Reckitt +26, +13
Winner 1953 Men's Championship William Longman +23, +26
Winner 1953 Open Championship Humphrey Hicks +26tp, +26tp
Winner 1956 Open Championship Humphrey Hicks +26tp, +24
Winner 1958 Men's Championship Pat Cotter +3, -1, +5
Winner 1959 Men's Championship Pat Cotter +26, +16
Winner 1959 Open Championship Humphrey Hicks +7, +12
Winner 1960 Men's Championship Dacre Stoker +18, +21
Runner-up 1960 Open Championship Hope Rotherham +26, -15, -8
Winner 1961 Open Championship Joan Warwick +12, -3, +12
Winner 1962 Men's Championship David Prichard +6, +20
Winner 1963 NZ Championship William Ormerod +21, +26
Runner-up 1963 Men's Championship Pat Cotter -5, +24, -24
Winner 1963 Open Championship Pat Cotter +26, -5, +25
Winner 1964 Men's Championship Humphrey Hicks -16, +10, +25
Winner 1964 Open Championship Dudley Hamilton-Miller +20, +6
Winner 1965 Men's Championship Humphrey Hicks -10, +24, +16
Winner 1965 Open Championship Humphrey Hicks +10, +1, +26tp
Runner-up 1966 Men's Championship Humphrey Hicks +19, -12, -21
Winner 1966 Open Championship Hope Rotherham +25, +16
Winner 1967 Open Championship Humphrey Hicks +25tp, +26tp
Winner 1968 Open Championship Nigel Aspinall -9, +5, +25
Runner-up 1969 Open Championship Nigel Aspinall -19, +13, -4
Winner 1971 Men's Championship Bill Gladstone +12, +16
Winner 1972 Men's Championship Nigel Aspinall +1, +25

Works

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  • Croquet (BT Batsford, 1966)

References

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  1. ^ "John Solomon – obituary". Telegraph. 31 October 2014. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
  2. ^ a b c The Croquet Association Centenary Year Book 1897–1997. The Croquet Association. 1997. ISBN 0-902758-05-5.
  3. ^ a b Prichard, DMC (1981). The History Of Croquet. Cassell. ISBN 0-304-30759-9.
  4. ^ a b c Townsend's croquet almanack. Townsend Croquet Ltd. 1988. ISBN 1-871714-00-1.
  5. ^ "WCF Hall Of Fame". World Croquet Federation. 3 August 2017. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
  6. ^ "Croquet Records". Retrieved 29 January 2017.
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