Don Butcher
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Donald "Don" Butcher was a professional squash player from England. He was the first player to actually win the British Open men's title (for 1931), and successfully defended the title in 1932.
Butcher was a professional squash player based at the Conservative Club when he played in the first British Open final in December 1930. His opponent in the final, Charles Read is officially considered the first British Open men's title "holder". Read (who was a former English professional champion) was designated the holder at the initiation of the event, which was a 'challenge' event without any preliminary rounds. The final was played under a best-of-three-legs format. Butcher defeated Read in the first match at the Queen's Club 9-6, 9-5, 9-5. He then won the second match at the Conservative Club 9-3, 9-5, 9-3 to claim the title and make the third match unnecessary.
In 1932, Butcher beat Charles Arnold in the final to successfully defend his British Open title. He won the first match at the Conservative Club 9-0, 9-0, 9-0, and the second match at the Bath Club 9-3, 9-0, 9-5.
Butcher also played in the British Open final in 1933 and 1935, losing on both occasions to the Egyptian player F.D. Amr Bey. He also won the British Professional Championship in 1930, 1931 and 1932.
Butcher was considered a very innovative player in his time. He deviated from the conventional up-and-down-the-wall style adopted by most players in his era, making full use of boasts (shots that come off a side wall before hitting the front wall), lobs, drop shots and reverse angles, as well as cultivating the serve. His lack of stamina during long matches was considered to be one of his main weaknesses, however, and this gave Amr Bey a key advantage over Butcher on the occasions they played.
Butcher was involved in a bizarre controversy when a doctor from the St. John's Wood Club in London, where Butcher was coaching, was testing the effects of Benzedrine and asked Butcher to take some before playing a match so that the results could be measured. When London newspapers found out about this, it was carried as a sensational story and Butcher was suspended from playing squash until the matter had been investigated. The doctor involved explained the situation to the enquiry and Butcher was absolved from blame. But the incident led to Butcher being known by the nickname of the "Benzedrine Kid" for quite some time [1].
