Since childhood, Greenwich businessman Peter Orthwein has been an avid polo player, and he is also one of polo”™s biggest patrons.
Orthwein is the executive chairman and co-founder of Thor Industries, which through its wholly-owned subsidiaries is the largest manufacturer of recreational vehicles in the world. He founded Thor Industries with Wade Thompson in 1980, when the pair purchased Airstream. The corporation has grown to include nine different recreational vehicle brands and holds a $3.15 billion market capitalization.
Growing up in St. Louis, Orthwein and his brothers were introduced to the sport by their father and have continued to participate throughout their lives. A 1968 graduate of Cornell University, he was inducted into the Cornell University Athletic Hall of Fame in 2011 for his accomplishments in collegiate polo, which included winning the National Intercollegiate Championship Tournament in 1966. Later, Orthwein endowed the head coaching position at his alma mater.
“I endowed the coaching position because coaching is the mainstay of a strong program,” Orthwein said. “A strong coach keeps the horses right and builds the program.”
On the polo field, Orthwein achieved a five-goal handicap, placing him in the top 5 percent of players worldwide. He founded the Airstream Polo Team, which frequently plays at the Greenwich Polo Club.
“He was a great player, a five-goaler,” said Nick Manifold, the manager of the Greenwich Polo Club. “Polo is a difficult, difficult sport. He”™s older now, but in his younger days he was a great player, and he”™s a great horseman.”
Manifold, himself a five-goal handicap player, said that Orthwein”™s patronage has been crucial to the Greenwich Polo Club, which is the only venue for “high-goal” top-level competition in the Northeast.
“Peter helps bring teams to the area to play, which is important,” Manifold said. “No teams means no competition. His bringing teams here brings the club stability.”
Orthwein”™s involvement in the sport has helped him off the field as well.
“I was hired for my first job by Bill Ylvisaker, the chairman of Gould, who was the head of the United States Polo Association at the time,” Orthwein said.
The elements to being successful in both business and polo are similar, according to Orthwein.
“It”™s teamwork and it”™s hard work. There”™s a lot that goes into preparation,” Orthwein said. “You have to get the horses going right and your team has to be organized. Each player has to know who he”™s covering. It takes organization and planning, and it”™s the same in business.”
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