The Camagüey Tennis Club
In 1917 in Camaguey a group of twenty-something tennis players got the idea of starting a tennis club. This was the first generation to come of age in the peace that followed the long and bloody wars against Spain that freed Cuba from colonial rule. Camaguey was booming. The population of the city would more than triple between 1907 and 1928. Until 1902 Camaguey was an isolated provincial capital 80 kilometers from the sea and more than 500 kilometers and three and a half difficult travel days away from the capital of the country. That year the Cuba Railroad was completed, reducing the trip west to Havana to a comfortable 15 hours. The trip east to Santiago de Cuba and the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo was likewise improved. Camaguey’s economy grew significantly after the railroad arrived due to industry it enabled and due to the fact that the railroad was headquartered in Camaguey. A large amount of capital flowed through Camaguey, as evidenced by the opening of foreign bank branches lead by the Royal Bank of Canada. With better access to domestic and foreign markets the numerous cattle ranches and sugar plantations in the region expanded significantly. A growing economy attracted professionals, many fresh from university. These young professionals—along with young adults from families of the landed gentry and the growing upper middle class—embraced tennis, the elegant sport that was sweeping the globe at the time.
In Camaguey it was mostly young women who took up the sport initially. They would meet at the only public court in the city at the Casino Campestre Park to pair off and play. This was a cement court in poor repair, and there was no hope that better facilities would be forthcoming. “Why don’t we build a tennis club with proper courts and a clubhouse,” suggested Pilar Garces, “owned and operated exclusively by women.” Approximately forty young ladies—and a few young gentlemen—incorporated The Camaguey Tennis Club early in 1919.
When the Tennis—the name everyone in Camaguey used for the club—celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary it was already one of the premier institutions in Cuba, receiving distinguished guests from all over the world, hosting championships and fielding players in tournaments throughout the country and abroad. Its women-only membership policy was unique.
Felipe Pichardo—by then a well-known poet, writer, and orator—gave a speech on the history of The Camaguey Tennis Club Friday evening, January 28, 1944 at the Club. That speech is reprinted here in its original Spanish with a full English translation. Camagueyanos and descendants of camagueyanos that come across documents of the Tennis or photos of the grounds, courts, clubhouse and its salons; and of its members and players are encouraged to contact the editor for inclusion in these pages. —José J. Prats Springfield, Virginia, USA, August 27, 2005 JJP@4thCorp.com
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