Last month at the 94-year old Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club, the annual Robert Skene Trophy was contested. Maybe the event would never have taken place if the trophy’s namesake hadn’t stepped up. Maybe, just maybe, the Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club fields would be condos now if it hadn’t been for Robert Skene.

A life of polo

Charles Robertson Skene was born in Assam, India, May 26, 1914. His Australian father, Curtis, was a tea planter and a distinguished polo player, rising to a rating an eight-goal rating on a trip to the United States in 1929. Fearful of horses as a child, “Bob,” as he was known to friends, began his illustrious polo career playing country club polo with his father and friends in Australia.

In his first year, at 18, his handicap was established as two goals. In 1939, at 25, he progressed to a nine-goal rating while playing for England against the United States in the Westchester Cup in Long Island, New York.

Elizabeth, Skene’s wife of 60 years, cited the England/United States game as the highlight of Skene’s life.
“In London, before we were married, he called me on the telephone and said, ‘The London Times announced today that I’m chosen to play for England against the United States in the upcoming Westchester Cup,’” she said. “That was huge.”

Remaining in the United States in 1939, Skene began to assist the war effort in Europe by raising funds through the “Bundles for Britain” campaign.

Skene joined the Indian Army and played no polo between 1939 and 1949. He went to officers’ training school near Bombay, India. Because the famous “Goorkhas” were a polo playing regiment in the Indian Army, they asked him to become an officer with them.

In February of 1942, Skene was posted to the Allied war campaign in Malaya and was taken prisoner of war by the Japanese at the fall of Singapore. For 3 1/2 years, he was held in Singapore’s infamous Changi prison.

At the end of 1946 Skene was discharged from the Goorkhas and took a position as a steward with the Straits Racing Association in Kuala Lumpur, Malaya. Without the aid of “photo finish” electronics, he called and judged horse races in Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Penang.

In 1949 he was invited to play for England against Argentina, in Argentina. The Argentines reestablished his handicap at six goals. Within 30 days they raised him to nine goals.

Moving to the United States in 1950, Skene first settled in Los Angeles, where he played and managed the Beverly Hills Polo Club. At the end of the 1950 polo season in New York, he was raised to a 10-goal ranking.

His friend Walt Disney, in 1952, asked Skene to star in Disney’s movie,” Stormy,” about a famous polo pony. Stormy was Skene’s horse.

In 1954 and in 1956 Skene was invited to play in Argentina and was on two winning teams. He played in eight United States Open Championships and celebrated three winning titles. For 17 years, until the age of 53, Skene maintained a ten-goal ranking, the highest rating possible. He also became the first foreigner to be invited to play for an Argentine team in an Argentine Open, in 1954. He played for El Trebol.

In 1960, Skene and his family moved to Santa Barbara, where he took a position managing the Santa Barbara Polo Club.

A dream takes shape

In the early 1970s the Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club did not have enough members or revenue. Its survival was continually at risk as property developers besieged the Santa Barbara County Supervisors with plans for redeveloping the polo fields. Skene put his personal reputation on the line with the Santa Barbara County Supervisors. He committed himself to continually lobbying the Supervisors with assurances that there was enough interest to reestablish polo at the historic club. Skene worked tirelessly to organize volunteers to haul hoses. He fixed water mains, repaired stables and maintained the club’s aged equipment. Often, he personally marked the lengthy fields, organized the teams and then played in the games. On one occasion he donated his own money to meet a debt payment. Before long there was renewed polo interest in the community, new patrons came forward and thanks to their efforts the club grew.

In 1988 Skene was inducted into the Sports Australia Hall of Fame and in 1990 he was one of the handful of initial inductees admitted to the United States Polo Hall of Fame.

Skene passed away a few years ago but was remembered by the world’s polo community.