My alma mater, St. John’s College, has just one intercollegiate sport: croquet

It started in 1983, with an annual match against the U.S. Naval Academy. Two years later, I attended the third such contest during my freshman year. 

Someone took a black & white photo of me and three classmates at that match and it captures how casual and laid back both the event and world seemed before the Internet and smart phones. (I’m second from right.) 

We were standing on the front lawn of campus beneath the Liberty Tree, so named because it allegedly served as a meeting place for the Sons of Liberty protesting the Stamp Act before the Revolution in the 1770s. 

The origin of the croquet match between St. John’s and the Academy is detailed on the school’s website. It goes like this: 

“The rivalry began in 1982 when the commandant of the U.S. Naval Academy was speaking with St. John’s freshman Kevin Heyburn and remarked that the Midshipmen could beat the Johnnies in any sport. `What about croquet?’ was the Johnnie’s retort. He later proposed the match to a group of Midshipmen in the interest of fostering better relations between the schools.”

The match — now known as the Annapolis Cup — is slated to take place next weekend (April 18th). Since I was going to be visiting Annapolis that day with friends I considered attending. 

It turns out that the event – like everything – has changed a bit in the past forty years. 

It has ballooned into a spectacle that lasts six hours and is expected to attract 4,000 people, making it one of the biggest annual events in town.

You have to buy a ticket to attend and general admission runs $86.70. Also, it’s sponsored by PNC. 

What hasn’t changed is the rivalry and sartorial tradition in which the Midshipmen wear crisp white uniforms while the Johnnies don outrageous garb revealed minutes before each match. Past years have included camouflage, tuxedoes, Viking clothing and kilts.

The Annapolis Cup is nine-wicket croquet played on a 100-by-50-foot court with nine metal wickets and two wooden stakes in a double diamond pattern. Players hit balls through the course with mallets, scoring points for each wicket and stake made in order; the first side to score 14 wicket points and 2 stake points per ball wins. Each side fields 12 players in two-person teams.

There are rules about etiquette. According to the website: “Courtesy and good sportsmanship are expected of all players. No players may throw a mallet or hit a ball in protest or anger. No trash talk is allowed.”

St. John’s, if you aren’t familiar, is known for academics not athletes. It has a Great Books Program in which students study the same curriculum for four years reading classical authors ranging from Plato to Nietzsche. 

But in croquet, it seems to have found a way to beat the Academy. 

So far, St. John’s leads the Annapolis Cup 32 to 9.