Major Louis Ezekiel Stoddard (January 25, 1878 – March 9, 1948) was an American

10-goal A polo handicap is a system created by Henry Lloyd Herbert, the first president of the United States Polo Association, at the founding of the USPA in 1890 so teams could be more evenly matched when using players with varying abilities. The playe ...

handicap

polo Polo is a stick and ball game that is played on horseback as a traditional field sport. It is one of the world's oldest known team sports, having been adopted in the Western world from the game of Chovgan (), which originated in ancient ...

player. He participated in the 1913 and 1921

International Polo Cup The International Polo Cup, also called the Newport Cup and the Westchester Cup, is a trophy in polo that was created in 1886 and is played for by teams from the United States and England. Matches were conducted 12 times between 1886 and 1939, su ...

. He was the chairman of the

United States Polo Association The United States Polo Association (USPA) is the national governing body for the sport of polo in the United States, and a retail chain that manufactures and promotes a lifestyle sports fashion brand of ready-to-wear casual footwear, apparel, and ...

from 1921 to 1936. He won the Junior Polo Championship, Senior Polo Championship,

U.S. Open Polo Championship The US Open Polo Championship is an annual polo championship in the United States. It is organized since 1904 by the United States Polo Association (USPA). History The tournament was first played on September 20, 1904 at Van Cortlandt Park in T ...

and the

Monty Waterbury Cup The Monty Waterbury Cup is awarded annually in polo at the Meadowbrook Polo Club in Westbury, Long Island. The first match was in 1922. It is named after James Montaudevert Waterbury, Jr. In 1956, Herbie Pennell was the winner. Overview ..., ...

twice each.

Early life

He was born in

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is List ...

, on January 25, 1878, the son of Ezekiel Gilbert Stoddard, a merchant, banker and broker, and his wife Mary deForest (Burlock) Stoddard. He was educated at St. Paul's School in

Concord, New Hampshire Concord () is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Hampshire and the county seat, seat of Merrimack County, New Hampshire, Merrimack County. As of the 2020 United States census the population was 43,976, making it the List of municipalities ...

. He was graduated with a

B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

in 1899, where he had been a member of

Scroll and Key The Scroll and Key Society is a Collegiate secret societies in North America, secret society, founded in 1842 at Yale University, in New Haven, Connecticut. It is one of the oldest Collegiate secret societies in North America#Yale University, Ya ...

Polo

He learned polo at the

New Haven Polo Club The New Haven Polo Club was in New Haven, Connecticut. The club won the Junior Polo Championship at Van Cortlandt Park Van Cortlandt Park is a urban park, park located in the borough (New York City), borough of the Bronx in New York City. Own ...

around 1900. In 1909, was he was chosen as the substitute for the American polo team at the

. He was a substitute in the 1913

and played when James Montaudevert Waterbury Jr. was injured. He participated in the 1921

. He was elected chairman of the

in 1922 and served until 1936.

Business ventures

He was treasurer and general manager of the Beatty Starch Company in New Haven from 1899 to 1902, and subsequently was involved with mining, banking, and manufacturing firms, including the Bingham-New Haven Mining Company, Alvarado Mining and Milling Company, the New Haven Hotel Company and Factory Products Export Company, the William P. Bonbright & Company banking firm; the Fowler and Union Horsenail Co., the Marlin Arms Co., the Red River Valley Company, and the Southwest Lumber Mills.

Personal life

He married Rebecca McCullough Darlington on November 9, 1904, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They had two daughters, Elizabeth ("Betty") Stoddard in 1907, eventual wife of Fraser M. Horn, and Barbara Stoddard in 1912, eventual wife of William Reed Kirkland, and a son, Louis Ezekiel Stoddard Jr., who like his father was also prominent as a horseman and polo player. Rebecca died of complications from childbirth on December 13, 1913. On April 29, 1915, in New York City, he married Mary Andrews, daughter of Samuel and Mary (Cole) Andrews. They had no children. Mary (Andrews) Stoddard died on February 22, 1945.

Death

He died on March 9, 1948, in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome caused by an impairment in the heart's ability to Cardiac cycle, fill with and pump blood. Although symptoms vary based on which side of the heart is affected, HF ...

. He was buried in

Grove Street Cemetery Grove Street Cemetery or Grove Street Burial Ground is a cemetery in New Haven, Connecticut, that is surrounded by the Yale University campus. It was organized in 1796 as the New Haven Burying Ground and incorporated in October 1797 to replace th ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stoddard, Louis Ezekiel International Polo Cup 1878 births 1948 deaths American polo players United States Polo Association Sportspeople from New Haven, Connecticut