The Darlington polo club players in dirt

From the Darlington Polo Club: Founded in 1937, the Darlington Polo Club is America’s oldest “under the lights” polo team. The Club began playing in the summer of 1937 when Cliff Braden and other interested fans retrieved a ball from under a car at a game in Zelienople, Pa. They began playing the sport in Darlington Borough in a very primitive fashion. Their mounts were plow horses. Their mallets were hand made, they wore coal hard hats for helmets, and used gasoline cans for goal posts. They lit the field with a series of floodlights hung from the surrounding trees to play at night so that polo wouldn’t cut into their work day. Darlington Polo has a home field unlike any other in the world. For over 70 years we’ve played under the lights and keeping with the tradition of our club’s founders there has never been a game on Sunday at the Darlington field. Our season runs through the end of August at which point we give way to another tradition, Western Pa High School Football. Date: unknown. Source: Justin Powers, Darlington Polo Club Archives.