Hooverball

Hooverball on the South Lawn, Circa 1933
"Once the day's work starts there is little chance to walk, to ride or to take part in a game"

Thats the problem that Herbert Hoover was facing when he took the presidency back in '28. Sure running the country is hard work, but you still have to keep in shape.

Fortunately this problem was solved ingeniously by White House physician Admiral Joel T. Boone.

Boone created a game for the President and his staff which required very little equipment, and very little skill but which provided the perfect amount of daily physical activity.

The game was simple - it was a combination of volley ball and tennis, yet played with a medicine ball. Team members simply hurled the medicine ball back and forth over an eight foot high net. Points were scored when a ball hit the ground on the opposing teams side.

As Hoover wrote in his Memoirs:

"It required less skill than tennis, was faster and more vigorous, and therefore gave more exercise in a short time,"

And Will Irvin, a friend of the president, remarked:

"It is more strenuous than either boxing, wrestling or football. It has the virtue of getting at nearly every muscle in the body."

Early each morning from four to 18 VIPs would show up for the games on the south lawn of the White House and at seven o'clock sharp they choose partners and begin.

They played until seven-thirty when a factory down by the Potomac blew a loud whistle.

They played every morning of the week and paid little attention to the weather, whether it was cold, windy, rainy or snowing, they played almost always without fail, with the exception of an unusually drenching downpour where they retreated to the Whitehouse basement to their games.

Only once during his presidency did Hoover miss a game.

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