Category: Hall of Fame 2014

Hall of Fame
Rhys Thomas

Inducted: 2014

Rhys Thomas has worked diligently in numerous aspects of croquet for many years, particularly concentrating his efforts towards establishing and developing the USCA’s role in the international croquet community.

Rhys first discovered American six wicket croquet in Aspen, Colorado, in the summer of 1981.  Seven years later, ensconced in Hollywood, he discovered the manicured lawns of the Beverly Hills Croquet Club in Roxbury Park.  Learning quickly under the tutelage of National Seniors champion, C.B. Smith, Rhys rose to championship caliber, launching a long career playing, managing and promoting croquet events, both nationally and internationally.

Rhys was a member of two USCA Solomon Trophy teams and represented the United States at five World Championships, both WCF and WCC.  He was also the coach and manager of the 1996 USA MacRobertson Shield Team.  That year, he relinquished his USA team eligibility to accept the chairmanship of the USCA’s selection committee, a position he held until 2003, when he was appointed chair of the USCA’s International Committee.

Between 1996 and 2011, Rhys worked with others to improve USA’s performance in international croquet competition.  This included the creation of the Selection Eights, inspired by Jerry Stark and dedicated to W. Ellery McClatchy.  Throughout that period of time, Rhys also acted as the United States representative to the World Croquet Federation, serving on the WCF Management Committee from 2003 to 2011.  In 2005, he was instrumental in establishing the WCF Hall of Fame.

Among his most important international achievements, Rhys lobbied tirelessly on behalf of the USCA for equal representation and improved player allocations at all WCF World Championships.  This resulted in a deepening of the USA player pool and directly contributed to the first USA test match victories in the MacRobertson Shield.  The culmination of these efforts came in 2009 when a USA team defeated Great Britain to win the Solomon Trophy for the first time in croquet history.  This was a home victory at Mission Hills in California but USA repeated this feat in 2011 in England.

Domestically, Rhys has managed four USCA National Championships, in American and Association rules.  In 1997, he organized and managed the Solomon Trophy at Sherwood Country Club, where he served as Director of Croquet for 17 years.  In 2003, Rhys helped organize the first MacRobertson Shield held on United States soil and served as the Tournament Referee.  He is also a USCA National Class I Referee.

Notably, Rhys’ volunteer management accomplishments were achieved while he played at the highest level of championship croquet and worked full time as a professional writer.  He is the author of one published non-fiction book, three unpublished novels, numerous newspaper articles, several screenplays, and hundreds of hours of documentary films for which he has garnered a handful of awards, including an Emmy nomination.

Hall of Fame
Creina Dawson

Inducted: 2014

Creina Dawson has been one of Australia’s most prominent players, administrators and general contributors over the last forty years.

As a croquet player, Creina has achieved outstanding results at local, State, National and International level.  She has won the Association Croquet Women’s Singles in Australia, England and New Zealand and won the Australian National Golf Croquet Handicap Singles in 2008.

Creina has represented Australia in the Trans-Tasman Test Series against New Zealand on six occasions.  Five were in the Women’s Trans-Tasman Tests held from 1988 to 1997 and the sixth was in 2004.

At State level, she is a Player Life Member of the South Australian Croquet Association by virtue of being an Association Croquet State Team member on at least ten occasions.  Since the inception of the Golf Croquet Interstate Shield, Creina has represented South Australia on five occasions.

As an administrator, Creina served as the ACA Events Manager and Vice-President before becoming President of the Australian Croquet Association from 2003 to 2005.  She also took on the role of ACA Secretary for part of 2005 to 2006.  Creina has served on numerous committees over the years, including National Handicapping Committee and has organized and participated in the Jean Armstrong Shield, which is a competition attracting twelve women players from all states and New Zealand, since its inception in 1998.

At club level, Creina has always been a willing mentor for new club players and makes herself available at all times for Brighton Club’s inter-club local competition teams in both Association and Golf Croquet.  Her croquet career is an excellent example of all-round achievement and a major contribution to the games of croquet.

Hall of Fame
David Maugham

Born: 1969
Inducted: 2014

David learnt the game as a teenager from his father, Ian, and made his tournament debut in 1987.  He improved steadily over the next two years and then kickstarted his playing career by winning the 1989 Chairman’s Salver and the 1990 President’s Cup, giving an early indication of his prowess in the double round robin format and gaining a place in the top ranks of English croquet that he has held ever since.

David was a founder member of the GB Under-21 squad which also included Robert Fulford and Chris Clarke.  These three went on to form the foundation of successful GB MacRobertson Shield teams for over 20 years.  A particular highlight of David’s MacRobertson career was his defeat of Toby Garrison in the decisive 21st match in the 11-10 victory over New Zealand in 2000.

He has since gone on to win the President’s Cup a further four times, most recently in 2016, the Men’s Championship four times, including three victories from 2015 to 2017, and the Open Championship in 2005 and 2018.  Internationally, he achieved three victories in the Sonoma-Cutrer World Championship.  However, his most impressive individual tally is in the four English Regional Championships.  His record of twelve Eastern, ten Northern, six Western and four Southern Championships since 1992 seems unlikely to be rivalled.

Administratively David is perhaps most visible as a regular manager of the Open Championship but also served for many years as the Chairman of the CA Association Croquet Selection Committee and more recently the on the CA Tournament Committee.

However, it is as a national team representative that David is peerless.  With 23 appearances, many as captain, he has played in more than twice as many Home Internationals matches for England than anyone else.  David also has nine Solomon Trophy appearances for GB to add to his record twelve appearances in the Maugham Salver.  In 2014, he made his seventh appearance in the MacRobertson Shield in which he played his 100th match, 71 of them victorious.  He made his eighth appearance in 2017 which is the second-highest ever achieved (shared with Robert Fulford and Stephen Mulliner and only behind John Prince with nine).  He is second on the all-time victory list only to Robert Fulford.  It is this dedication to team events which has underpinned British and English success for more than twenty years that deserves particular recognition.

Updated August 2017