PHILADELPHIA - Stanford squash head coach Mark Talbott was recently honored with the Callahan Sportsmanship Award at the fourth annual Character in Sports Day at the 2017 U.S. Open Squash Championships.
The award is named in honor of Robert W. Callahan, the Hall of Fame Princeton coach who died in 2015 and was widely renowned for instilling a profound sense of sportsmanship in his players.
"Mark was the most successful player in U.S. history and the most beloved because of his sportsmanship, said Hall of Famer and longtime colleague and friend Ned Edwards. "He set the bar so high, as the No. 1 hardball player. He showed that you could be the best person on court and still call double bounces, not look for lets, always clear."
Accepting the Callahan Sportsmanship Award, Talbott spoke about his longtime friendship with the Callahans. He said that his squash-playing father, Doug Talbott, had been a big proponent of sportsmanship. As a two-time winner of the U.S. Open, Talbott also said that this was his first time seeing the Open at Drexel and how impressed he was with the event.
Talbott, who arrived on The Farm in 2004, has developed the Cardinal into a consistent top-10 program focused on community outreach and junior player development. Inducted into the U.S. Squash Hall of Fame as part of the inaugural class in 2000, Talbott is arguably the greatest squash player in American history.
His major titles, which include more than 250 career tournament victories, include five North American Opens, six World Professional Championships, three Canadian Opens, two U.S. Opens, three Boston Opens, three S.L. Green Softball Nationals and a pair of North American Open Doubles titles. Mark was featured in numerous magazines during his illustrious playing career, among them Gentlemen's Quarterly, New Yorker, Esquire and twice in Sports Illustrated. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2011 World Squash Awards.
Regarded for his sportsmanship, Talbott was a paragon of graciousness on the court. Twice in major tournaments, he took points away from himself by calling a winner down, losing games as a result. In 1991, the men's hardball tour awarded him the Sharif Khan Sportsmanship Award. From 1996-2004, Talbott served as the head coach of the women's team at Yale, leading the Eli to the national title in his final season.
Throughout the 113-year history of U.S. Squash, the association has celebrated the core values of squash: courtesy, fair play, graciousness and an abiding sense of respect and fellowship with opponents. Because of the uniqueness of squash—unlike most other racquet sports, squash opponents physically share the same space—sportsmanship is a core value of the game.
Stanford opens its season on Nov. 17 against Virginia in Charlottesville.