‘End of an era’: Oak Brook Polo Club to close after more than 100 years
After more than a century as a gathering place for high society and the onetime epicenter of the sport of kings in America, the Oak Brook Polo Club is closing.
Club President James Drury and manager Danny O’Leary announced the decision Monday in a statement.
“After years of proudly hosting world-class polo matches and fostering a vibrant community of polo enthusiasts, the Oak Brook Polo Club announces that it will be closing its doors under its current leadership,” the statement reads. “This decision marks the end of an era for one of the most storied polo clubs in the United States.”
The statement does not address what’s next for the property at 700 Oak Brook Road, beyond indicating the leadership team is committed to working closely with Oak Brook officials, “to continue to honor the Oak Brook Polo Club’s legacy and its history within the Village.”
Oak Brook Village Manager Greg Summers said the club’s closing is “a loss to the village and its cultural legacy.”
“Polo will always be a part of the legacy of Oak Brook, and the village is committed to working with the Oak Brook Historical Society to preserve that legacy,” Village President Laurence Herman added.
The move comes after the club canceled its summer season in 2024. The Oak Brook Polo Academy, a training group for juniors and novices that operated in association with the parent club, operated a summer 2024 season and will continue this summer in Bolingbrook, said instructor Turner Wheaton.
O’Leary and Drury took over management of the club in 2016. A 40-year polo player, Drury, 83, effectively retired from the sport after competing atop his Argentine horse, Veintidós, in an 8-7 victory over Great Britain on Cecil B. Smith Field during the club’s 100th anniversary season in 2022.
Maintaining the field and an annual $25,000 lease with the village of Oak Brook made operations costly. So too were the expenses associated with setting up and tearing down the club’s grandstand and tents, cleanup, insurance and the publication of the annual Score Magazine, he said.
Drury said annual expenses ranged from about $500,000 to $600,000, while the club took in about $300,000 to $400,000.
“It was a net loss,” the Barrington Hills resident said.
But his retirement from the sport had a greater impact on the decision to end operations.
“I just felt that this is good time to go out. I’ve been fortunate to survive after all these years,” said Drury, noting he’d broken 15 ribs in his playing career.
O’Leary said ownership had reached out to the United States Polo Association “to gauge interest in helping continue,” and Drury had hoped players would keep the facility running, but not enough interest materialized.
Oak Brook Polo Club was founded in 1922 by Paul Butler, whose family’s real estate holdings became the basis for the village in 1958.
An epicenter of American polo following the 1954 relocation of the United States Polo Association and the U.S. Polo Open Championship from New York, the club once offered 14 polo fields and stalls for some 400 horses. It hosted the U.S. Polo Championship 24 times, 22 of them between 1954-78.
Paul Butler’s children, Jorie Butler Kent and Michael Butler, took turns managing the club from 1967 to 1989.
In 1986, the club hosted Prince Charles for an exhibition match pitting his Wales team against the home team. (The Butler family was friends with Queen Elizabeth II, Drury noted.) The contest drew about 20,000 spectators.
While it may have hosted more famous players, O’Leary called Drury the club ‘s gem.
“There’s no one like Jim Drury, who has a personal and direct tie to the Butler family at the polo club, who has a history and legacy of playing there. That’s a rarity,” he said.
Drury said he decided there was no reason to continue in the sport if he’s unable to participate.
“At some point it can’t go on forever,” he said.