“He started talking to a couple people in the College,” said Snow of his son’s efforts. “He got a couple of people together to go take a whack at it.”

The younger Snow and company travelled that year to play at Yale. But without horses of their own, the team once again borrowed horses from their host for the first match played by the newly resurrected Harvard team.

Around the same time, the elder Snow married his wife Cissie, herself an extremely decorated professional polo player. Nick Snow asked his father if the couple would consider coaching the newly established team, and the pair quickly agreed.

“We really didn’t know what we were coaching,” the elder Snow said of his entrée into coaching. “All of the other kids had never played polo before. We got involved quite quickly to help out.”

JONES TO THE RESCUE

But even with the experienced couple at its helm, the program still lacked the financial resources to expand. Most importantly, the team needed horses with which to train.

Enter actor Tommy Lee Jones ’69. Coach Snow met Jones through a chance encounter in Florida, where the coach was watching one of his older sons compete in a professional polo match. Jones had heard of Nick Snow’s efforts to revive the defunct polo team at his alma mater, and as a long-time polo enthusiast, Jones approached the elder Snow expressing his interest in supporting the burgeoning program.

“He knew about [Nick],” Snow said. “[Jones] said ‘I’ve always been waiting for this, and I’m very happy to start helping out and giving you some support.’”

Nick Snow’s interest and Jones’s support created what Crocker Snow would call the “perfect storm” for the revival of the Harvard polo program.

The following year, the club recruited several new members; Jones and a few other private donors contributed several horses; and the polo club had once again established its presence at Harvard.

GROWING THE PROGRAM

Since its rebirth in 2006, the team continues to grow.

“Each year we get more players, a bigger schedule,” Snow said. “I would say [we are] completely well-established as a team now.”

Every fall, the team sets up a booth at the Fall Activities Fair in an effort to recruit new students to the program. Some players with past equestrian experience, like DeMartino, join the team as a way to continue riding in college, while others sign up having never been on a horse.

None of the players come in with any competitive polo experience.