Jim Sulzby IV Croquet Tournament Continues For 14th Year

MOUNTAIN BROOK, AL - When members of the Crestline Park Lawn Sports Society lost one of its founding members in a car accident, they worked on trying to pay tribute his legacy, and did so by creating a croquet tournament in his honor. This year marked the 14th incarnation of that tournament as the CPLSS held its annual Jim Sulzby IV Memorial croquet tournament.

This year's tournament was held at the Mountain Brook home of Arthur Bagby, the second year Bagby has hosted the tournament. After two rounds of Waterford doubles competition, Todd Russell and Matthew Jackson defeated Jake Waitzman (one of the winners last year) and Eddie Greenhalgh.

Russell and Jackson have now each won the tournament four times.

Sulzby helped start the CPLSS back in 2002, and he taught his friends, their friends, and anyone who wanted to participate how to play croquet, a game he grew up playing. The croquet club grew exponentially over the years, even after Sulzby's death in 2006.

"Jim Sulzby was a prince of a man, and his death was a loss for Birmingham," Russell said. "This tournament is our way of celebrating the life of a great friend."

Sulzby was a 1990 graduate of Mountain Brook High School, and his parents, Jim and Robin Sulzby, still live in Mountain Brook.