Thomas and Patrick Bedore became the first father and son to win US Masters titles together in the 112-year history of the National Singles.
Four players –including Dominic Hughes, Richard Chin, Steven Baicker-Mckee and Thomas Bedore – extended their title streaks at the event this month.
Ten national champions–including four first-time champions–were crowned in age divisions ranging from 35+ to 80+.
The Bedore family’s historic performance follows an already impressive 2023 tournament where Thomas–a five-time champion–reached the 65+ semifinals and Patrick reached the 35+ final. Newly aged into the 70+ division as the two seed and coached by his son, Thomas came back from 2-0 down against top seed Richard von Hirschberg to clinch the title 10-12, 9-11, 11-7, 11-1, 11-6. In the last final of the day, Patrick avenged his 2023 35+ final loss against Ashraf Yassin in a close final 16-14, 13-11, 11-9 to capture his first national title.
“It’s unbelievable, I never had this dream, but it is a dream come true,” Thomas Bedore said.
“To think that we would be here with these two trophies today, I didn’t think our chances would be that good–certainly for me. For him, different story, I know what he’s been doing to prepare for this tournament. For me, I’ve just been doing the best I could for a guy who just turned seventy. What Patrick put his body through to train for this tournament was impressive, but it doesn’t mean you’re going to win because the other guys are doing the same thing. Thanks to US Squash for putting on such an amazing event.”
For Patrick–a Baltimore-based coach–the tournament proved to be full circle with his former player Hao Ciu–a member of Penn’s national title-winning men’s team–who coached his former mentor throughout the weekend.
“It’s really cool, I got to coach my Dad on his way to winning the 70+ title this morning, I had a little breakfast, stretched, played and now we’re double national champions–it’s a good day for the Bedores,” Patrick Bedore said.
“I’ve been a coach for seventeen years and I got to become a player again and it’s been really fun. I did a lot of work to get fit and it was exciting to play my hardest squash today. It was a super tight final all three games, I was lucky enough to come out on top. It was a battle from the first point to the last. I also want to thank my coach. One of my students, Hao Cui, who plays on the Penn team. He was here for all of my matches, and it’s such a cool feeling to have the kids I coached come back and coach me. So thank you Hao.”
Nineteen years after earning his first national title, veteran and first-time 80+ participant Ned Monaghan fulfilled his top seeding to claim the 80+ national title. Monaghan defeated 2023 finalist and three seed James Zug, Sr. in a four-game final.
“Squash is a wonderful game, it doesn’t matter how good or bad you are as long as you find a comparable player–then go and play,” Monaghan said. “That’s what I’ve been doing for the last fifty years. I started too late, I was over thirty when I started squash. I might have been able to take a game off of Jay Nelson if I started in my twenties. I’d like to thank US Squash for hosting this event. This is both physical and emotional therapy. Coming down and doing your best against nice people—that’s a lot of what makes life good.”