Fun&Games_v3

In the 1920s and 1930s, boxing in America became exceptionally popular. Arch Ward, a sports editor for the Chicago Tribune, came up with the idea of having an amateur boxing tournament in Chicago in 1923 called the “Golden Gloves.” There are no sources that confirm boxing tournaments took place in Orland Park; however, the profits of the “Golden Gloves” went to the Forty and Eight Convalescent Camp in Orland Park after it opened in 1929. The tennis we know today was known as “lawn tennis” because it was played on grass courts. The invention of the game has been credited to Major Walter Cropton Wingfield in 1873 because he published the first book of rules for it. In April 1935, several young men in Orland Park attended a Village Board Meeting, requesting the purchase of a net and markers for the tennis court. The board agreed to provide the necessary funds needed for such a court, which totaled $22.10 (about $505 today). They set up the court behind Orland Park School, near where the playground is located today. The first 18-hole course in the United States was the Chicago Golf Club in Wheaton, Illinois, which opened in 1893. Thereafter, courses continued to open nationwide, providing space for amateurs and professionals to play. In the 1970s, Orland Park received the title of the “Golf Center of the World.” The name was given because the community offered 819 holes of golf within a 15-mile radius from the center of the Village. According to an Orland Park Chamber of Commerce booklet from 1979, there were 54 golf courses within 15 miles of the Village’s center, with 39 of those courses open to the public. BOXING, TENNIS & GOLF

ARTIFACTS IN THIS CABINET TOP SHELF (LEFT TO RIGHT):

• John Humphrey’s Boxing Gloves, c. 1910-1920 • Humphrey Family Tennis Rackets, Date Unknown BOTTOM SHELF (LEFT TO RIGHT): • .“Orland Park, Illinois: The Golf Center of the World” Brochure, 1972 • Golf Clubs, c. 1920s-1930s