Stan Patmor, 86, pub owner, restauranteur, croquet afficionado and good friend, passed away February 13, 2023. Stan grew up in Phoenix but graduated high school in Portland, Oregon. He then enlisted in the U.S. Navy, where his considerable intellectual gifts placed him in an intelligence unit that often manned a ship in the South Pacific, intercepting electronic communications from America’s adversaries during the dark days of the Cold War. Post-Navy Stan returned to Phoenix and began his lifelong love of plants and landscape design.

In 1962, at the height of the popularity of coffee houses with folk music, Stan and a business partner/folk singer opened his coffee house, The Mews. The Mews was successful, but Stan wanted his own place with a beer and wine license, so he opened The Blue Goat across the patio from The Mews. As the folk singing era and coffee houses waned, The Blue Goat prospered. The Mews was absorbed into The Blue Goat, which became legendary in the Valley of the Sun. One of his favorite nearby restaurants became increasingly popular and his wait times for a table and food got longer. In Stan’s mind, the only proper thing to do was open his own restaurant. In fact, he designed and opened two in Scottsdale: the Bombay Bicycle Club and the Salt Cellar (a seafood establishment built completely underground). Both became rather iconic, and the Salt Cellar still operates.

He eventually sold both establishments and returned to landscape architecture and design and of course, croquet. Stan’s backyard croquet court was where the Arizona Croquet Club was founded in 1975. He became more involved in croquet and traveled to new clubs in the west, teaching and helping organize tournaments. All the high-quality croquet equipment was made overseas, which was expensive and costly to ship. Stan started “Arizona Croquet Mallets,” selling less expensive locally manufactured quality mallets and equipment. In 1986 Stan was instrumental in starting the first International Croquet Singles Championship hosted by Sonoma-Cutrer Vineyards in Windsor, CA. In 1987 Stan helped found the American Croquet Association to promote the play of the Association Laws croquet. In 1987 Stan also organized the first American Croquet Association US Open Championship held at Sonoma-Cutrer annually until 1990. In 1991 that annual tourney moved to the Mission Hills Croquet Club in Rancho Mirage, California, where it is still held. For his decades of dedication to the sport of croquet, Stan was inducted into the United States Croquet Association Hall of Fame in 1995 along with W. Ellery McClatchy, Archie Burchfield and Captain Forrest Tucker. That was one interesting night.

It is difficult to overstate the significance of Stan’s contributions to croquet. And it would take far too much space to list them all here. In those early, heady days of the Arizona Croquet Club Stan mentored, encouraged and bantered with every one of the Arizona players who dominated the USA croquet scene for several years. Nothing made him happier than a novice who progressed and passed Stan in playing ability. He was a generous man. The semi-annual pro-am tournaments hosted at his court were epic (and episodic). He also had one of the most diverse, interesting home libraries I have seen. Only Charlie Smith’s has awed me more. His rule was simple: take any book you want; return it when you want; don’t take another until you do. He could, and often did, orate for hours on nearly any topic you could choose. I found him endlessly interesting, kind yet cranky at times, and most of all fun. He made a huge difference in my life. I will miss him.

(Much of this material was derived from Stan’s obituary, penned by Jim Hermann.)

—JIM BAST