Tommy Glynn

Thomas (Tommy) Glynn was a real legend not only in polo but also in the world at large and everyone that met the man, loved him.

Tommy was the Captain of the Harvard polo Team. He was 4 goals when he was actively playing. He also managed the Blind Brook and Fairfield polo clubs.

Tommy was a kind, gentle man, always up and jovial. He had a contagious love for polo which he peacefully passed along to others while managing the Fairfield Polo Club. Tommy went on to manage the Saratoga Polo Club in the mid 80’s and then the Greenwich Polo Club.

Leighton Jordan, General Manager of the Greenwich and Bridgehampton polo clubs, informed those celebrating Glynn's life that Glynn had been rather mischievous while growing up outside Boston, Massachusetts. He told how Glynn would always take his pony and race the horse drawn fire engine. That was until the day Glynn ended up in front of the fire horses, which crashed into him. This forever ended that particular exploit.

Jordan also spoke of how Glynn was scheduled to graduate from Harvard in 1928. But then, at the end of the 1928 football season, Glynn decided to take the team bus for a spin. "He thus graduated in 1929, enabling him to be a member of Harvard's 1929 national championship polo team".

One moment, which Jordan remembered in awe, concerned an incident that took place 16 years ago. Glynn was teaching a polo lesson, and to illustrate a point, climbed aboard a polo pony. "At age 80, suddenly he became one with the horse", Jordan recalled.

Jordan also fondly remembered the 7 hour drives he would take to and from Saratoga with Glynn. "For 7 hours I drove and he talked". But Jordan said it never seemed like 7 hours, due to Glynn's incredible gift of gab.

Owner of Saratoga and a longtime friend of Tommy Glynn, Bill Ylvisaker said that "He was a gentleman and I never knew anyone like him. He was really an inspiration for so many of us in polo and in life". Ylvisaker recalled seeing Glynn walking past the stands at a match and waving "hi" to so many people, and he decided that it would always be the way he would picture him in his memory.

Frank Cappuccio, a friend of Tommy Glynn, said, "The week before Tommy passed we spent an afternoon together at his home in Fairfield. His amazing memory of polo history always astounded me. I'll never forget the lessons he taught me about life and polo. Tommy was a gift to the sport we love".

Tommy Glynn passed away on Saturday, January 27, 2001 from health complications. Tommy is survived by his son Michael and daughter Sandy, a thoroughbred trainer in Southern Pines.

Thomas B. Glynn was inducted into
the Polo Museum Hall of Fame
on Saturday February 17, 2001.