Hall of Fame - Bob Skene
Bob “Hurricane Bob” Skene (1914–1997)was one of Australia’s greatest polo players and the first Australian to achieve a 10goal handicap, the sport’s highest rating. Born in Assam, India, to an Australian teaplanting family, he learned polo young under the influence of his father, an accomplished eightgoal player. By age 18 he had already reached a twogoal handicap, and in 1937 he helped the Ashton Brothers’ Australian team win the Champion Cup at Hurlingham in London.
In 1939 Skene became the only Australian ever selected to play for England in the prestigious Westchester Cup against the United States, earning a ninegoal rating and the nickname “Hurricane Bob” for his fast, accurate style. World War II interrupted his career: he joined the Indian Army, served with a Gurkha regiment, and spent 3½ years as a prisoner of war in Changi Prison after the fall of Singapore.
Skene resumed polo in 1949 and quickly returned to top form. By 1950 he was managing the Beverly Hills Polo Club and had been elevated to a 10goal handicap, which he held for 17 years. He won the U.S. Open three times and the Argentine Open twice, becoming the first foreigner to play—and win—with an Argentine team. Later, as manager of the Santa Barbara Polo Club, he revitalized the sport in California. Skene was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame and the U.S. Polo Hall of Fame, cementing his legacy as a global polo icon.