Archie Peck, Competitive Croquet Star, Dies at 76
May 18, 2012

rchie Peck, one of the most celebrated players in a sport of cutthroat gentility — croquet — died on Wednesday in West Palm Beach, Fla. He was 76.

His death, of cancer, was announced on the Web site of the United States Croquet Association.

A champion player in the 1970s, ’80s and afterward, Peck was for decades a familiar presence in the croquet circles of Palm Beach and beyond, characteristically attired in playing togs that were whiter than white and crisper than crisp.

With his rugged good looks, effortless athleticism and aggressive style of play, he was widely described as having brought virility to a sport that had long been considered only somewhat less geriatric than shuffleboard.

This notwithstanding the fact that Peck, in his playing days, was commonly known as Silky Legs. As The Miami Herald explained in 1982, “Women say he has the silkiest legs around when he wears his Italian-made tennis shorts.”

Archie Peck won six national titles in the 1970s and '80s.

eck, who ran a successful real estate business in Palm Beach, had already been a scratch golfer, skilled surfer, tennis player, snow and water skier, professional jai alai player and United States Marine when he took up croquet in his 30s. He became a six-time national champion in the sport, earning four singles and two doubles titles, and was inducted into the United States Croquet Hall of Fame and the World Croquet Federation Hall of Fame.

He was also an ardent public ambassador for competitive croquet, which, adherents say, combines the finesse of billiards with the strategy of chess. Unlike the backyard game, which employs nine wickets, official American-rules croquet is played with only six, each so narrow that negotiating the ball through it is a true test of skill.
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John Archibald McNeil Peck was born on Oct. 10, 1935, in Norwalk, Conn., and raised in Palm Beach. As an adult, he was the longtime president of John W. Peck Real Estate, founded in Palm Beach by his father. He lived in West Palm Beach.

Peck was divorced twice. He is survived by four children, John Peck, Nina Noel, Alexandra Weary and Amy Nelson; a sister, Lucie Peck Moffett; eight grandsons; and his longtime companion, Amy Weiss.

So passionate was Peck for croquet that he is known to have said only a single negative thing about it in his lifetime.

“It’s about the world’s worst spectator sport,” he told The Orlando Sentinel in 2006, “unless you’re a croquet player.”