Team History
Haverford College had a national college squash champion who went on to international fame and the cover of Sports Illustrated three decades before it had a squash team!
The co-conspirators in this amazing feat were United States Squash Hall of Fame charter member G. Diehl Mateer '50, who practiced at nearby Haverford School and other Main Line locations, and coach Norm Bramall, who guided the college's men's tennis teams for over 40 years but also knew more than a thing or two about squash.
Reminiscences of Mateer's rise to the top helped fuel keen alumni interest in starting squash when Haverford renovated its athletic facilities in 1983-84. The Sesquicentennial Squash Courts were built between Ryan Gym and Alumni Field House and a club program installed for men and women. By the early 1990's, the programs, then under the guidance of another long-time men's tennis mentor, Albert Dillon, were clamoring for varsity status -- and earned it!
The varsity teams immediately began to threaten the lower echelon of the intercollegiate squash ladder and then to move up. The men's team has had the assistance of several Indian and Pakistani students while the women's team drew heavily from New England. Hannah Todd and Rich Miller were among the players solidifying the team's improvement in the 1992-95 period. Sean Sloane became the coach of both programs--as well as of men's tennis -- in 1997. In 2002, captain Tim Saint was honored by the National Intercollegiate Squash Racket Association with the Skillman Award, presented annually to the outstanding player/sportsman in men's intercollegiate squash, as both the men's and women's teams equaled their highest national rankings ever.
In 2003, the women's team defeated Franklin & Marshall for the first time to win the unofficial Centennial Conference championship. The women's team also qualified five members for WISA Scholar-Athlete honors and received the Chaffee Award for outstanding team sportsmanship at the Howe Cup.
Haverford continues to maintain a heavy travel schedule to meet the best small-college teams in the East, and some of the larger colleges and universities as well. With the addition of five new international courts in the Gardner '83 Integrated Athletic Center, Haverford's squash teams anticipate continued success.