The New York Athletic Club

For women's soccer team, see New York Athletic Club (WPSL).

New York Athletic Club

Type	Traditional gentlemen's club
Founded	September 8, 1868 (1868-09-08)
Founder(s)	John Babcock Henry Buermeyer William Curtis
Headquarters	New York, United States
Website	www.nyac.org

The New York Athletic Club is a private social club and athletic club in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA. It was founded in 1868 and currently has approximately 8,600 members.

History

NYAC members have won more than 230 Olympic medals. Of those, more than 120 have been gold. Presently, the NYAC has top-ranked competitors in wrestling, judo, rowing, fencing, water polo and track and field, among other sports. Forty NYAC members competed for three countries at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, winning 16 medals.

Fifteen miles north of Manhattan, in Westchester County, the NYAC has a 30 acre facility on Travers Island. It offers tennis, swimming and boating, field sports and many other outdoor activities.^[1]

Through at least the 1960s, the NYAC had membership restrictions against blacks and Jews. In 1962, New York Mayor Robert F. Wagner, Jr. quit the NYAC over charges that it barred blacks and Jews.^[2][3][4][5]

Facilities

Travers Island clubhouse

The club operates two facilities, one in New York City and the other on Travers Island which straddles the border of New Rochelle and Pelham Manor, New York.^[1]

The City House, located at 180 Central Park South, occupies one of the finest locations in the city. A large, cavernous building built in the early twentieth century, it offers panoramic views of Central Park and is the athletic as well as the social hub of the Club. The architect was Charles W. Clinton. The 24-floor facility includes two restaurants, a cocktail lounge, library, ballroom, billiard room, meeting rooms, and eight floors of guest rooms for members and club guests. The athletic training floors include a swimming pool, basketball courts, boxing rings, a fencing and wrestling room, judo floor, and squash courts.

Named for Wall Street businessman William R. Travers, who arranged for its purchase in 1886, Travers Island is the NYAC's summer home on Long Island Sound. The island is located in the city's Lower Harbor and is situated between Neptune Island, Glen Island and Hunter Island in New York City's Pelham Bay Park.^[1] It consists of the Main House and other buildings and facilities that sit on 30 acres (120,000 m²) of handsomely landscaped grounds. Centered around the Main House, the Olympic-sized salt water pool and accompanying cabanas, Travers Island extends the range of NYAC sports to include tennis, rowing, yachting, outdoor swimming and diving, a children's Day Camp, rugby, soccer, croquet and lacrosse.

The Club offers many sports, including rowing, wrestling, boxing, judo, fencing, basketball, rugby union, soccer, tennis, handball, squash, snooker, lacrosse and at least a dozen others not listed here.

Geographic location

The New York Athletic Club on Travers Island is located at 40°53′05″N 73°47′21″W / 40.88472°N 73.78917°W / 40.88472; -73.78917Coordinates: 40°53′05″N 73°47′21″W / 40.88472°N 73.78917°W / 40.88472; -73.78917.^[6]

Mercury Cup Series

NYAC crew in 1911

The NYAC's Mercury Cup series is the premier regional fencing event in North America. The series includes a number of épée and sabre tournaments, ending each season with the famous 'Epeepalooza' and 'Sabrage' events. Competitors earn points based on final placements at each tournament, with the champion being the highest ranked fencer at the conclusion of the season.

The Mercury Cup has proven successful due to the club's prestige, corporate sponsorship, and the event's extraordinarily high-level of competition.

Mercury Cup Champions

Season	Épée	Sabre
2005–2006	Alexander Abend
2006–2007	Alexander Abend
2007–2008	Alexander Abend	Sergey Isayenko
2008–2009	Jon Normile	Ben Igoe

Individual Event Champions

2005 – 2006 Épée Series
Mercury Cup #1: Noah Zucker
Mercury Cup #2: Alexander Abend
Mercury Cup #3: Alexander Abend
Mercury Cup #4: Mykhaylo Mokretsov
Mercury Cup #5: Alexander Abend
Mercury Cup #6: Alex Tsinis

2006 – 2007 Épée Series
Mercury Cup #1: Alexander Abend
Mercury Cup #2: Alexander Abend
Mercury Cup #3: Soren Thompson
Mercury Cup #4: Alexander Abend
Mercury Cup #5: Brendan Baby
Mercury Cup #6: Tommi Hurme

2007 – 2008 Épée Series
Mercury Cup #1: Alexander Abend
Mercury Cup #2: Bas Verwijlen
Mercury Cup #3: Tommi Hurme
Mercury Cup #4: Jon Normile
Mercury Cup #5: Jon Normile

2008 – 2009 Épée Series
Mercury Cup #1: Alex Tsinis
Mercury Cup #2: Jon Normile
Mercury Cup #3: Jon Normile

2007 – 2008 Sabre Series
Mercury Cup #1: Sergey Isayenko
Mercury Cup #2: Ben Igoe
Mercury Cup #3: Sergey Isayenko

2008 – 2009 Sabre Series
Mercury Cup #1: Ben Igoe
Mercury Cup #2: Ben Igoe
Mercury Cup #3: Daryl Homer

Other notable events

In November 2003, the club was the site of a four game chess match between Garry Kasparov and the computer program X3D Fritz. In November 2005, the Saturday morning program, the children's program run by the club gathered nearly $17,000 dollars for the Ronald McDonald House run, an event which the program has participated in for several years.^{[citation needed]}

Teams

The NYAC currently fields 22 different teams for the following sports:^[7]

• Basketball
• Boxing
• Cycling
• Fencing
• Gymnastics
• Handball
• Judo
• Lacrosse
• Platform Tennis
• Rowing
• Rugby
• Running
• Soccer (Men's • Women's)
• Squash
• Swimming
• Table Tennis
• Team Handball
• Tennis
• Track and Field
• Triathlon
• Water Polo
• Wrestling

Presidents

• Bartow S. Weeks

See also

• List of American gentlemen's clubs
• Detroit Athletic Club

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} "Travers Island". New York Times. June 9, 1889. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50B15FE385E15738DDDA00894DE405B8984F0D3. Retrieved December 31, 2010. "The now Summer home of the New-York Athletic Club on Travers Island, near Pelham Manor, on the Sound, was opened yesterday for inspection by the members and their friends. The building, designed by Douglas Smythe, is a handsome structure of wood in the prevailing..." 
2. ^ Jeremy Schaap (2007). Triumph: the untold story of Jesse Owens and Hitler's Olympics. http://books.google.com/books?id=DSsdGalGcPMC&pg=PA131&dq=jews+%22new+york+athletic+club%22+restricted&hl=en&ei=EOmoTtPEG8X00gHD3eD2DQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CEgQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=jews%20%22new%20york%20athletic%20club%22%20restricted&f=false. Retrieved October 27, 2011. 
3. ^ Hunt, Richard P. (February 10, 1962). "MAYOR QUITS CLUB OVER BIAS CHARGE - He Notes Allegations That the New York A.C. Bars Negroes and Jews Accused by 2 Groups Wagner Quits New York A.C. After Hearing Charge of Bias Rules on Entry Attorney General Quit - Front Page". The New York Times. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F6061FF63F55107A93C2A81789D85F468685F9. Retrieved October 27, 2011. 
4. ^ ".". Toledo Blade. February 10, 1962. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=uxxPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ewEEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2815,4925049&dq=jews+new-york-athletic-club&hl=en. Retrieved October 27, 2011. 
5. ^ ".". Point Pleasant Register. February 15, 1989. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=m2BBAAAAIBAJ&sjid=NakMAAAAIBAJ&pg=1670,2169935&dq=jews+new-york-athletic-club&hl=en. Retrieved October 27, 2011. 
6. ^ "New York Athletic Club". Geographic Names Information System, U.S. Geological Survey. 1980-01-23. http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/f?p=gnispq:3:::NO::P3_FID:974780. Retrieved December 28, 2010. 
7. ^ "The New York Athletic Club - SPORTS TEAMS". Nyac.org. http://www.nyac.org/Default.aspx?p=DynamicModule&pageid=235935&ssid=89297&vnf=1. Retrieved October 27, 2011. 

External links

• The New York Athletic Club (official website)