Nov. 6, 1959 - Sep. 13, 2025
Damon Bidencope (65) passed away early this morning after a battle with Melanoma.
Damon was accomplished in many areas of his life, but his passion, after Jennnie and his children Michael and Emma, was croquet. Damon began his croquet in earnest in 1978 at University in Sydney, Australia and was chosen to represent Australia at his first MacRobertson Shield in 1986 when they played in England.
In the mid 1980's he migrated to Northern California and was instrumental in establishing the croquet courts and program at Sonoma Cutrer and later at Meadowood, in Napa valley. Damon taught many people the game during this time. He was involved in producing the first World Croquet Championships at Sonoma Cutrer, co-hosted by Meadowood in 1986.
1990 saw Damon going across the country to establish, with Dick Pearman, the first Chattooga Challenge and ProAm. He was able to bring the top players from around the country and the rest of the world to compete at this brand new facility in the mountains of western North Carolina. Damon went on to serve as General Manager of The Chattooga Club in 1991. This is also where he met his wife Jennie. In 1992 he and Jennie moved to Charlotte, NC and Damon continued his efforts to bring new people into the game by participating in the Traveling Pro program for the USCA. Along the way he collected three National Doubles and four National Singles titles and was co-captain of the 2006 MacRobertson Shield team for the USCA. Damon was inducted into the US Croquet Hall of Fame in 2016. Damon also began giving back to the croquet community in the 1990's by serving on the management committee for the United States Croquet Association. This culminated in eight years as First Vice President followed by four years as President. Damon only recently stepped down from that position this past April. While he was in those roles he supported a number of causes. Foremost however was his passion for teaching and making the game accessible to as many people as possible. Several years ago the High Performance and Talent Development program was started. Damon immediately championed this initiative, throwing his significant energies behind it. The program promotes the sport through a series of weekend clinics throughout the year. These are taught by experienced pros at different venues around the country. The dual mandate is on developing new talent and fostering and refining the skills of our top competitive players. The success of our USCA players and teams in the last few years bears witness to these efforts. The cost of this program is funded through donations to a restricted account. The instructors are unpaid volunteers, but the clinic participants have their expenses covered by the fund.
The fund will be renamed the "Damon Bidencope HPTD Fund" in honor of Damon's lifetime of giving back to croquet. His family requests donations in his honor be made to the USCA "Damon Bidencope HPTD Fund". (The USCA is a 501 C 3 charitable organization).
The friends Damon made in his 47 years of loving croquet were a constant source of happiness for him. His family wishes to thank all of you for the love and support you have shown him.
If you would like to send a note to Damon's family. You may address these to:
Jennie Bidencope & family
224 S. Caswell Road
Charlotte NC 28204
Jennie's cell phone number is (704) 451-1365 for those who wish to send a text.
We will post information as soon as we have it regarding Damon's funeral arrangements and a planned Celebration of his Life.