William Townsend Ylvisaker (February 25, 1924 – February 6, 2010) was an American businessman and

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.Museum of Polo and Hall of Fame, William T. Ylvisaker's biography
/ref>Trevor Jensen
William T. Ylvisaker, 1924-2010: Business executive, polo player
''

The Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'', February 12, 2010William Gruber
`Retiree` Ylvisaker Still Plays To Win
''The Chicago Tribune'', September 11, 2011

Biography

Early life

Ylvisaker was born in St. Paul, Minnesota. He went to the

Lawrenceville School The Lawrenceville School is a coeducational preparatory school for boarding and day students located in the Lawrenceville section of Lawrence Township, in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. Lawrenceville is a member of the Eight Scho ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. He attended

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 ...

, where he served as captain of the polo team.

Career

He started his career at the General American Transportation Corporation. In 1967, he became the chairman and chief executive officer of Gould, Inc. He built a corporate campus in

Rolling Meadows, Illinois Rolling Meadows is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 24,200. History In 1836, Orrin Ford became the first landowner in the area that is now Rolling Meadows, staking his claim of in an area ...

, that included health clubs, swimming pools and running tracks. He retired in 1986 and founded Corporate Focus, a consulting firm on mergers and acquisitions. He owned three additional companies: Penske Tank Inc., Mercury Metal Products Inc., and Ultraflo. In 1991, he was appointed to the executive committee of CDC Development Solutions by President

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...

and took trips to

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

, where he trained businesspeople.

Polo

A seven-goal player, he won US Open Championships, two Coronation Cups, the Gold Cup, four National twenty-goals. He also played

elephant polo Elephant polo is a variant of polo played while riding elephants. It is played in Nepal, Rajasthan (India), and Thailand. England and Scotland regularly field teams. Equipment consists of a standard polo ball and six to ten foot cane (similar to ...

. He co-founded the

Polo Training Foundation 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 ...

alongside Northrup R. Knox and C. Heath Manning in 1967, and he served as its first vice president.The Polo Training Foundation: The Founding
/ref> He helped establish the

World Polo Championship The World Polo Championship is a polo (Horse Polo) competition between countries (Up to 2022, only for men). The event is organised by the sport's governing body, the Federation of International Polo (FIP), and is contested by the national teams ...

. He was the developer of the Palm Beach Polo and Country Club. He served as 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 1970 to 1975.William Clark Hetherington, ''Six Chukkers Of Love'', AuthorHouse, 2005
p. 122
/ref> He was inducted into the

Museum of Polo and Hall of Fame The Museum of Polo and Hall of Fame is a 501(c)(3), non-profit organization to celebrate the sport of polo.Horace Laffaye, Dennis J. Amato, ''Polo in the United States: A History'', Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, 2011, p. 28/ref> Overview It ...

on February 9, 1996.

Personal life

He lived in

Wellington, Florida Wellington is a village just west of West Palm Beach in Palm Beach County and north of Miami. As of 2019, the city had a population of 65,398 according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates, making it the most populous village in the state. It is the ...

, from 1997 to his death in 2010. He was married and divorced three times. He had two daughters, Laurie Ylvisaker and Elizabeth Maren Keeley and two sons, the late "Billy" Ylvisaker and Jon Ylvisaker

Bibliography

*''Integrated technology : the story of Gould Inc.'' (1972)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ylvisaker, William 1924 births 2010 deaths Yale University alumni American polo players Businesspeople from Chicago People from Wellington, Florida 20th-century American businesspeople