May 15, 2007

by Adam Martin '06

(l-r) David Orsbon ’09 and Douglas Clark-Brown ’09 hold their championship silver plates.

Davidson’s two-man croquet team recently claimed the national championship title in Croquet Golf in their first-ever appearance at the National Collegiate Croquet Tournament. David Orsbon ’09 and Douglas Clark-Brown ’09 sank Navy in a 7-4 win in the final match.

“It's really exciting to represent Davidson at the national level, to be able to bring this honor home to our college community," said Clark-Brown.

The sophomores hit the green with mallets in hand at the world-renowned Merion Cricket Club in Haverford, Penn., to face eight experienced croquet teams, including Georgetown University, William and Mary, and Virginia Military Institute. Davidson has not fielded a team since 2000, and this was Orsbon's and Brown's first time playing together in a competitive setting.

“I was really pleased with the way we kept our composure throughout the tournament, especially when we were down,” said Clark-Brown. “We consistently lost the first wicket, going down 1-0 in nearly every match, but pulled them out in the end, coming back in one match from being down 2-5 to win 7-6.”

In croquet golf, the first team to pass its ball through a designated number of wickets wins. While it requires precision and keen eyesight, it is primarily a mental game, said the players.

Orsbon and Clark-Brown strategize their next move at the Merion Cricket Club in Haverford, PA.

“The game really is like chess on grass,” explained Orsbon, a double major in English and religion from Charlotte. “More than half of the effort that goes into winning a match is in your head.”

The team formed after Orbson and Clark-Brown took croquet as a physical education class taught by William Brown ’70, director of the Alvarez College Union and Douglas’s father. “We just kept going to practice after the class ended, practicing in Richardson Stadium every Wednesday at noon,” said Douglas. All Davidson students must take three, short-term P.E. courses -- one water course, one lifetime sport course, and one team sport course. The croquet course counts for a lifetime credit.

"As a dad, as a teacher of croquet, as a person who works at the college, I was excited for them," said William. "They got to play very intense and high level croquet, and it's an experience they won't forget."

William Brown continued, "I've taught several hundred students over the past fifteen years. I don't expect them to continue to play, but some just want to take it to the next level."

In September, four of his former students went to a national tournament in Lexington, N.C., where Craig Stewart '09 and Clark-Brown were in the top three among the college players. 

“I've played casually in the backyard off-and-on with my brothers and Dad since I was a little kid,” said Douglas Brown, who grew up in Davidson and graduated from North Mecklenburg High School. About a year and a half ago, Douglas began taking the game more seriously, and played in the Southeastern Regional Junior Division Championship last May. He took second place in that tournament, losing only to his younger brother, Aubrey.

Orsbon, who graduated from Charlotte Catholic High School, was introduced to the game through the P.E. course last year, and has been playing serious croquet since. Son of former Davidson basketball player Tony Orsbon '69, David said he even plans to study abroad in Egypt next summer partially because of the prominence of croquet there. “Actually the world 'power-house' of croquet for a long time has been Egypt, where the British exported the sport,” he said. 

Davidson is a highly selective independent liberal arts college for 1,700 students. Since its establishment in 1837 by Presbyterians, the college has graduated 23 Rhodes Scholars and is consistently ranked in the top ten liberal arts colleges in the country by U.S. News and World Report magazine.

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