NATIONAL CROQUET MUSEUM

John William Curington, a native of Jacksonville, Florida, grew up in Neptune Beach, FL and currently resides in Ponte Vedra Beach. He attended local primary and secondary schools before graduating with a BS in economics from Eckerd College, St. Petersburg and Diplome d’Etudes Francaises from Universite de Nancy, Nancy, France.

After graduation John worked for the Real Estate Investment Office of the Prudential Insurance Company as an appraiser and loan underwriter, followed by several years in project construction and real estate management. This was followed by ten years in the restaurant business as owner of an independent fine dining establishment.

Currently semi-retired with all professional/work related activities concentrated in leasing and managing small commercial properties and rural sylviculture.

John officially joined the USCA in 1979 as a result of seeing a cast iron wicket featured on the cover of Harper’s Magazine. An inquiry to the magazine led him to Jack Osborn who was most encouraging and invited John to the Pommery Classic in West Palm Beach celebrating the opening of the courts at Palm Beach Polo. After seeing the six-wicket game with “real” equipment John was hooked. However, it was not until John took the USCA School in 1989 that he became a regular tournament player and deeply involved in promoting the sport.

John has competed regularly for over 17 years averaging 8 to 10 tournaments a year. Most of the events have been up and down the East Coast but John has played all over the country as well as in Canada, Bermuda, New Zealand, Australia, England and even India. John holds several invitational and Club championships (some repeated) including Greenwich, Useppa, Gasparilla, Palm Beach, Winter Park, Cro-Can, Mount Desert and Meadow Club. He has won two regional championships: the Southeast in 1995 and the Florida in 2002. John has competed in 15 national championships finishing as high as seventh in 2004. Currently John enjoys a -1 handicap. John has served in several positions for the USCA including Southeast Regional Planning Committee 1995-98 and as Florida State Section President (now the Florida Region) 1996-98.

In addition to the USCA offices, John has helped found several clubs including Cypress Village, Fleet Landing, Hammock Dunes, and he is in the start-up phase of new clubs at the villages north of Orlando and at Golden Ocala in Ocala. John is currently a member of the Palm Beach CC and a charter member of the Winter Park CC. John has served on the CFA’s Board for six years and has chaired the Hall of Fame Committee. He also rewrote the By-Laws with Jim Miles.

However, John’s most significant contribution to croquet has been his volunteer work at the National Croquet Center. Upon hearing at the Greenwich Invitational in 1998 that Chuck Steuber had an option on property for a permanent national home for the sport, John offered to relocate to West Palm Beach and assist however Chuck wished. It turned out that John spend nearly 18 months in South Florida as Project Manager – first working with the county and architect to finalize site and building design and then as contractor for the construction of the courts and maintenance building. John has since been involved as President of Croquet Enterprises, which oversees the Center’s operations.

John William Curington was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2006.