New book chronicles history of Brunswick squash
When Rob Dinerman sat down to chronicle the history of the Brunswick squash program, he soon realized the book would become more a tribute to one man.
Over 35 years, legendary coach Jim Stephens built the Brunswick squash program up to a place of national prominence and respect before retiring after the 2020 season.
For Dinerman, there was no other way to approach his latest book, “A History of Squash at Brunswick School” than through the story of Stephens.
“I had been wanting to write a book about Brunswick squash, but people at the school felt it would be better to wait until Jim Stephens retired,” Dinerman said. “He was such a unique coach in that he was not in any way authoritarian toward his players. He is very even-keeled, very patient but what I most see in him is his basic decency. That almost shames high school kids into acting properly. This book is dedicated to him and is really a tribute to him.”
Stephens was a recipient of the 2014 U. S. Olympic Committee National Coach of the Year Award and was a NEISA 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award honor
ee. He retired last spring after serving as Brunswick’s squash coach and as a math teacher from 19852020.
The U.S. Squash High School National Championship was started in 2004 and Brunswick played in an incredible 12 championship games, winning five.
Under Stephens, Brunswick also won nine consecutive NEISA Class A titles and 18 New England championships.
Dinerman has written about squash at the high school and college level, including histories of squash at Harvard, Princeton, Episcopal Academy, Deerfield Academy and St. Paul’s School. He has published two squash-anthology volumes and wrote “Chasing the Lion,” a prepschool memoir about his years at the Phillips Exeter Academy, and co-authored “The Sheriff of Squash: The Life and Times of Sharif Khan.”
Dinerman said that while the history of other prep squash programs may be longer, the 50 years of Brunswick squash surpasses them because of the success the teams had over the last 6 years, winning an unmatched five national titles.
“Playing in 12 national finals is completely unheard of. They have only been playing for (national titles for) 16 years and Brunswick was in 12 finals. No other school has more than five finals appearances,” Dinerman said. “Stephens went out winning three straight and five in six years. In a quiet way, he had a real will to win. They lost seven straight finals before winning it in 2015. Most coaches would have been frustrated, but Stephens just became more determined.”
The 117-page book details the rise of the Brunswick program from a program lacking their own facilities to the national power it is today.
Along with the written history, the book contains team photos, photos taken by Greenwich Time and other news outlets over the years as well as an Appendix of Brunswick squash statistics.
Of course, Stephens was only as good as his players, many of whom are chronicled in the book.
Brunswick standouts in the book include, Will Broadbent (2002) who was Brunswick’s only four-year, first-team college all-American; his classmates Trevor Rees, later a college doubles champion (with Yale teammate Julian Illingworth) and member of two Ivy League champion teams, and Breck Bailey, the cowinner of the Skillman Award, college squash’s most prestigious honor; and eight High School allAmericans in Hayes Murphy (2014), David Yacobucci (2016), Max Finkelstein (2018) and Class of 2020 members Nick Spizzirri, Brian Leonard, Dana Santry, Coulter Mackesy and David Beeson.
In all, 33 former Brunswick players became captains of their respective college teams, including Charlie Tashjian (2005) and Travis Judson (2007), who both captained Trinity College teams that won the Potter Cup, for the college national team championship.
Dinerman said that while players across the country in recent years began playing in junior ranking tournaments rather than for their high schools, Brunswick’s players stayed at the school, in part because Stephens arranged the team’s schedule to adjust to the junior circuit which he knew was valuable to their college prospects.
“Stephens understood that this is how the sport was going and rather than fight it, he wanted to accommodate the kids,” Dinerman said. “He would schedule all their dual meets for weekends when there were no junior tournaments. A lot of older coaches don’t have that flexibility to adjust. Jim Stephens was able to read the situation and see what was best for his players. He did that his whole career.”
Anyone wishing to obtain a copy of “A History of Squash at Brunswick School” should contact Libby Edwards of the school’s Alumni Department at ledwards@brunswickschool.org or send a $125 check per book made out to Brunswick School (writing “Brunswick squash book” in the memo line) to Ms. Edwards’ attention at Brunswick School, 1275 King Street, Greenwich, CT 06831, along with a note providing the mailing address for the books shipment.