Major Louis Ezekiel Stoddard (January 25, 1878 – March 9, 1948) was an American

10-goal A polo handicap is a system created by Henry Lloyd Herbert, the first president of the United States Polo Association, at the founding of the USPA in 1890 so teams could be more evenly matched when using players with varying abilities. The players ...

handicap

polo Polo is a ball game played on horseback, a traditional field sport and one of the world's oldest known team sports. The game is played by two opposing teams with the objective of scoring using a long-handled wooden mallet to hit a small hard ...

player. He participated in the 1913 and 1921

International Polo Cup The International Polo Cup, also called the Newport Cup and the Westchester Cup, is a trophy in polo that was created in 1876 and was played for by teams from the United States and United Kingdom. The match has varied in length over the years ...

. He was the chairman of the

United States Polo Association The United States Polo Association (USPA) is the national governing body for the sport of polo in the United States. Introduction Established in 1890, by David Grubbs the USPA provides resources to over 4,500 individual members and 250 polo club ...

from 1921 to 1936. He won the Junior Polo Championship, Senior Polo Championship, U.S. Open Polo Championship and the

Monty Waterbury Cup The Monty Waterbury Cup is awarded annually in polo at the Meadowbrook Polo Club in Westbury, Long Island. The first match was in 1922. It is named after James Montaudevert Waterbury, Jr. In 1956, Herbie Pennell was the winner. Overview It ..., J ...

twice each.

Early life

He was born in New Haven, Connecticut on January 25, 1878, the son of Ezekiel Gilbert Stoddard, a merchant, banker and broker, and his wife Mary deForest (Burlock) Stoddard. He was educated at St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire. He was graduated with a B.A. from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

in 1899, where he had been a member of

Scroll and Key The Scroll and Key Society is a secret society, founded in 1842 at Yale University, in New Haven, Connecticut. It is one of the oldest Yale secret societies and reputedly the wealthiest. The society is one of the reputed "Big Three" societies ...

Polo

He learned polo at the New Haven Polo Club around 1900. In 1909, was he was chosen as the substitute for the American polo team at the

. He was a substitute in the 1913

and played when

James Montaudevert Waterbury, Jr. James Montaudevert "Monte" Waterbury, Jr. (April 24, 1876 – August 28, 1920) was an American businessman and a 10-goal polo handicap player. Together with his brother Lawrence Waterbury, Harry Payne Whitney and Devereaux Milburn, known ...

was injured. He participated in the 1921

. He was elected chairman of the

in 1922 and served until 1936.

Business ventures

He was treasurer and general manager of the Beatty Starch Company in New Haven from 1899 to 1902, and subsequently was involved with mining, banking, and manufacturing firms, including the Bingham-New Haven Mining Company, Alvarado Mining and Milling Company, the New Haven Hotel Company and Factory Products Export Company, the William P. Bonbright & Company banking firm; the Fowler and Union Horsenail Co., the Marlin Arms Co., the Red River Valley Company, and the Southwest Lumber Mills.

Personal life

He married Rebecca McCullough Darlington on November 9, 1904 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They had two daughters, Elizabeth ("Betty") Stoddard in 1907, eventual wife of Fraser M. Horn, and Barbara Stoddard in 1912, eventual wife of William Reed Kirkland, and a son, Louis Ezekiel Stoddard, Jr., who like his father was also prominent as a horseman and polo player. Rebecca died of complications from childbirth on December 13, 1913. On April 29, 1915, in New York City, he married Mary Andrews, daughter of Samuel and Mary (Cole) Andrews. They had no children. Mary (Andrews) Stoddard died on February 22, 1945.

Death

He died on May 8, 1951 in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, a ...

. He was buried in

Grove Street Cemetery Grove Street Cemetery or Grove Street Burial Ground is a cemetery in New Haven, Connecticut, that is surrounded by the Yale University campus. It was organized in 1796 as the New Haven Burying Ground and incorporated in October 1797 to replace the ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stoddard, Louis Ezekiel International Polo Cup 1878 births 1951 deaths American polo players United States Polo Association