Ashmore Rumored To Return As Sunday Captain
Left-handed former champion captain left club four seasons ago amid leadership disputes; source anonymous.
Widmer says only that he's heard the rumor too; McCoy doesn't recall him.
Club president declines to comment on captaincy or any contact.
By Anita Bath·Staff Reporter
A whiteboard inside the Rowayton hut still reads "Ashmore??" in handwriting no member has come forward to claim.
“Ashmore? I don't think I know an Ashmore," Mr. McCoy said, before naming, unprompted, four current Sunday players he described as being "on his radar.”
ROWAYTON, Conn., Aug. 31 —A club member who declined to be identified said Friday that Michael Ashmore, the left-handed former captain who led Rowayton's top Sunday side to a division championship before leaving the club four seasons ago amid disputes with its leadership, may be preparing to return and reclaim the captaincy.
Ashmore is not listed on any Rowayton roster for the coming season and has not set foot in the club's hut since his departure, according to three members who said they remembered the day he left clearly enough to describe it unprompted. The side he once led, Rowayton E, is the highest-ranked of the club's four Sunday teams, playing in Division 9 against opponents from Darien, New Canaan and Wilton.
The tip reached the Screen at 9:47 p.m. Friday, by which point it had already traveled through at least six separate group texts and one voicemail, according to a member who received it in the seventh.
The source spoke only on condition of anonymity, saying he was not authorized to discuss a personnel matter that has not been formally raised with the club's leadership.
Tim Widmer, who plays left-handed for Rowayton D and is Ashmore's most frequently cited fellow southpaw at the club, confirmed only that he had heard the same thing as everyone else. "Lefties talk," Mr. Widmer said. "We don't have a choice — we're always on the other side of the net from everybody's forehand." He said he had not spoken to Ashmore directly and referred further questions to "whoever's actually in charge, if we can find him."
Ken McCoy, who captained Rowayton B through last season's Division 1 championship, said the name did not register. "Ashmore? I don't think I know an Ashmore," Mr. McCoy said, before naming, unprompted, four current Sunday players he described as being "on his radar." Ashmore was not among them.
Skip Dunphy, who holds both the presidency of the Rowayton Paddle Tennis Association and the captaincy of Rowayton B, declined to comment on the rumor, the captaincy, or whether the board had received any communication from Ashmore. "I don't think it's appropriate for me to weigh in on a personnel matter that hasn't been formally raised," Mr. Dunphy said — a position several members said had done more than anything else to convince them the rumor was true.
Rowayton E is currently captained by Andrew Simone and Kyle Avery, both of whom, by their own account, learned of the rumor from three other members before hearing anything from the club itself. Neither captaincy is believed to be in immediate jeopardy; the roster deadline is not until later this month, and no proposal to alter it has been filed with the board. For now, the only official record of the matter is a single line added to the whiteboard in the hut, in handwriting nobody has claimed: "Ashmore??" It has not been erased.
