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The Unusual Sport Herbert Hoover Played at the White House

Tired of lonely morning walks, Herbert Hoover had his doctor codify a whole new sport to keep him in shape during his presidency.
ByChris Wheatley|
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Herbert Hoover attends the fifth game of the World Series.
Herbert Hoover attends the fifth game of the World Series. | New York Daily News Archive/GettyImages

Herbert Clark Hoover, who served as the 31st president of the United States between the years 1929 and 1933, faced one of the most difficult periods in the country's history. The Great Depression—a severe economic hardship felt around the world—is historically dated as having begun during the first year of Hoover's office, lasting until the outbreak of World War II in 1939. American citizens faced unprecedented levels of poverty and unemployment across Hoover's term, and the president's battles to combat this occupied most of his time.

Little wonder, then, that he found himself in need of a little release through sport. The sport in question, however, was unique.

A Game of Necessity

President Herbert Hoover standing aboard the cruiser USS Salt Lake City in 1931.
President Herbert Hoover standing aboard the cruiser USS Salt Lake City in 1931. | Imagno/Getty Images

Hoover's physical activity of choice was one of his own invention: Hoover-ball. Writing in his memoirs, the president claimed that the game "… required less skill than tennis, was faster and more vigorous, and therefore gave more exercise in a short time."

Hoover's idea sprang from a trip to South America on board the battleship Utah. Whilst on the ship, the president observed sailors playing "bull-in-the-ring"—a popular Navy sport wherein sailors grouped into a circle, throwing a medicine ball to each other, while a person in the center attempted to intercept. But why did Hoover feel the need to invent his own sport in order to keep active?

Rules of the Lawn

A standard leather medicine ball. Hoover-ball required players to catch and throw a heavy six-pound ball back and forth over
A standard leather medicine ball. Hoover-ball required players to catch and throw a heavy six-pound ball back and forth over an eight-foot net. | Martin Schutt/picture alliance/Getty Images

In the president's own words: "Once the day’s work starts there is little chance to walk, to ride or to take part in a game. Taking walks or rides early in the morning is a lonesome business, and the inevitable secret service guard when the president leaves the White House grounds is not enlivening company."

There was science behind Hoover-ball—it was White House physician Admiral Boone who actually codified the rules. The game was contested between two teams of between two and four players, using a six-pound medicine ball and an eight-foot net. One team served the ball, and it was the opposition's job to catch it and immediately return it. If you failed to intercept the ball, or if your return put the ball out of bounds, then the point was lost.

Games of Hoover-ball began at 7 a.m. on the south lawn of the White House. At 7:30 a.m., the loud blast of a whistle that emanated from a nearby factory signaled the end of the contest. It was a New York Times Magazine writer named Atherton DuPuy who gave the game a name, as described in his 1931 article titled "At the White House at 7 a.m." Hoover-ball proved so popular that, although not nearly as famous as other sports, it’s still regularly played to this day.

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