In a major move, the Governors of the USPA agreed that it was in the best interest of Polo and the Sport to accept applications for handicap registration from women players if sponsored by member clubs. Since that time, two ladies have been registered and received handicaps from the USPA. They are Mrs. Henry Richardson of the Oak Brook Polo Club and Mrs. Sue Sally Hale of the Sleepy Hollow Polo club, Carmel Valley, California. Mrs Hale was handicapped at one goal, and Mrs. Richarson at 0. Both have been  active in Polo circles in their local community and Mrs. Richardson is also chairman of the Ladies Committee of USPA. She has practiced and played for many years with players and teams at the Oak Brook Polo Club as well as the Gulf Stream Polo Club, Lake Worth, Florida.

     Sue Sally Hale is the first woman to receive a handicap of one goal or more. It was largely through her determined efforts in reapplying and writing to    

the USPA that the Governors reached the decision to accept women as registered players. Many letters of support came in from men who had played with her, and the record of her tournament and club activities is significant. Sue Sally is given credit for organizing the Sleepy Hollow Polo Club, trains her own ponies, and has helped other players get started in Polo and provided horses for them.

     She first started Polo at the Riviera Country Club and continued on at the Will Rogers Polo Club where she, at times, even disguised herself as a boy to play. Then on to Santa Barbara, Lakeside, La Jolla, before moving to Northern California where she has been playing regularly in local tournaments, participating on teams of four to ten goals with such players as Skene, Linfoot, Conant, Atkinson, Jason, Wooten, Graber, Murray, Howden and Coulter. Sally teaches riding approximately sixty people per week in addition to organizing polo and playing at least two practices and one match per week...

     The USPA is glad to have these first two registered women players and welcomes the contribution they, and others to come, will be making to polo.

Sue Sally Hale as everyone knows her at horse shows before she puts on her polo attire.

Article courtesy of the Stormie Hale Collection and Polo Magazine