Cecil Smith (polo)

Cecil Smith (1904 to 1999) was an American rancher and polo player. He was born on the Moss Ranch near Llano, Texas, and as a child won roping prizes at rodeos. He started playing polo in 1924 while working for George Miller, a horse trader in Austin, and also played alongside Albert Buckman Wharton Jr. at the El Ranchito Polo Club; later he played with Will Rogers, Darryl Zanuck, Walt Disney and Reginald Denny. He was a ten-goal player from 1938 to 1962, which gives him the longest tenure at ten goals of any American. He won the Monty Waterbury Cup in 1930, won the U.S. Open Polo Championship five times, and played for the United States against Mexico three times. He kept a ranch near Boerne, Texas, where he rode and trained horses, and his sons Charles and Sidney also became polo players. He was inducted into the Museum of Polo and Hall of Fame on April 6, 1990.