President Hoover Plays Hoover Ball

This photograph shows President Herbert Hoover playing a game of Hoover Ball on the South Lawn in February 1933. The game developed following a recommendation by White House physician Dr. Joel Thompson Boone that President Hoover improve his health by increasing outdoor physical activity. Incorporating aspects of tennis, volleyball, and medicine ball, the game was created by Dr. Boone, President Hoover, his personal secretary Lawrence Richey, Secretary of the Interior Ray L. Wilbur, Secretary of Agriculture Arthur Mastick Hyde, and Supreme Court Justice Harlan Fiske Stone.