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'America's Most Wanted' star coming for polo match
John Walsh is known by most people as the host of the television show "America's Most Wanted."
What many people may not know is that Walsh is also an amateur polo player and that he uses these skills to raise money for any number of philanthropic causes.
The latest event is the Capital Hospice Polo Cup to be played at Great Meadow in The Plains Sunday, June 28. The proceeds will benefit a new hospice facility that will be built on Route 50 in southern Loudoun on the Van Metre Campus for Hospice Care.
In a June 24 telephone interview with the Loudoun Times-Mirror, Walsh discussed his work and the benefit polo match.
He emphasized that first on his list of commitments are lost and abused children.
In fact, he had spent the day of the interview on Capitol Hill hosting the National Teen Summit on Cyber Safety, sponsored by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and Fox Broadcasting, a summit that has taken place annually for five years.
Walsh became involved in anti-crime activism following the murder of his son, Adam, in 1981.
Shortly after Adam's murder, the Walsh family founded the Adam Walsh Child Resource Center, which merged with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in 1984.
Together with his wife, Reve, Walsh was one of the key figures in the lobbying efforts that led to the passage of the Missing Children Act of 1982 and the Missing Children's Assistance Act of 1984.
Walsh indicated that the benefit polo matches are, for him, fun-for-charity undertakings.
"I've played against Tommy Lee Jones in Texas," Walsh said. "We played for a little girl who has severe cancer and a brain tumor."
There have also been benefit polo matches to raise money for Ronald McDonald House, and Walsh has played on the Washington Mall with Ralph Lauren model Ignacio "Nacho" Figueras for the Smithsonian Young Benefactors.
"We play celebrity tournaments to raise money, but I also get to play with some of the best players in the world," Walsh said.
In the winter, he plays competitive polo in West Palm Beach, Fla. Walsh has had his own polo team, Shamrock, for five years.
"[Hospice] is a great charity," Walsh said. "I've known about hospice in D.C. for years because it does such wonderful things in the Washington metropolitan area, and in Northern Virginia. But it is really because I was asked by Tammy Salinas of the Great Meadow Polo Club and John Gobin, who is the polo manager at Great Meadow. They asked me to play in this kind of celebrity professional game."
His team for this event is Black Watch, sponsored by Van Metre Cos. Team members include Figueras and Ashley Van Metre, daughter of Beau and Dee Van Metre, co-chairmen of the event.
The members of the opposing team, Outback Polo sponsored by Booz Allen Hamilton, include fashion designer Salvatore Ferragamo, who is coming from Italy, plus Jose Lezcano of Argentina, Tim Gannon of Outback Steakhouse and Gobin.
Walsh also reported that his 14-year-old son, Hayden, would be coming to compete in a match at Great Meadow at noon.
"These are a combination of highly skilled professionals and amateurs," Walsh said. "I think Virginia will see a very good game out there. … It will be a fun game, a great game."
For a complete rundown of times and ticket prices, check out the Entertainment section on this Web site and the Go section in the June 24 print version of the Loudoun Times-Mirror.
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