Two years after nearly walking away from polo, Mike Azzaro is living the dream again.
The last American 10-goaler and seven-time U.S. Open champion was ready to pack up his family, sell his Lonesome Wind Ranch in Floresville, Texas, give his horse string to his oldest son Harrison, and move to the mountains when Lee Evans Lee walked into his life.
Lee, Mrs. Momma Bear clothing apparel founder, designer, and fifth-generation rancher from West Texas, wanted a polo lesson. “She came into our lives sent from God above and changed everything,” Azzaro said.
Fast forward to the recent Wellington Polo Tour’s Outback Cup final at Valiente Polo Farm.
In a thrilling, hard-fought game, Mrs. Momma Bear/Lonesome Wind Ranch (Harrison, Mike, Jared Zenni, Matt Coppola), a team comprised of all American players, knocked off La Dolfina Catamount (Scott Devon, Mia Cambiaso, Santi Torres, Tommy Panelo) in overtime, 12-11. Harrison scored the winning goal on a 30-yard penalty conversion. Mike, playing off a 3-goal handicap, was Most Valuable Player. Cambiaso’s horse DS Altamira was Best Playing Pony. Both were 17-goal teams.
“I went with the idea that we were going to win this game,” Mike said. “I needed to play a solid wall in the back like I did when I played with Zacara and go for it when I had my opportunities.”
At 60, Mike showed flashes of the past, his aggressive style of play when he won back-to-back U.S. Opens with Zacara (2012-2013). After stealing the ball from him, he withstood a bone-jarring bump from current Argentine 10-goaler Panelo that brought smiles to his longtime fans.
“I believe besides my game, I brought everybody else’s game to a higher level,” Mike said. “I think Panelo had a lot to prove. We beat them before when Adolfo [Cambiaso] was playing. I saw the horses Panelo was playing on and they mounted him fully to win the game. He didn’t hold back at all, he is a super talented player, but I think a bit of experience got the edge.”
No one was happier for Mike and the team than Lee, their patron and now polo player.
“SO SO PROUD of this incredible team and how far we’ve come!” Lee posted on Facebook. “There hasn’t been an All-American team since 1991. We’re making history.
“MMB + LWR champions of the 2026 Outback Cup. Months of training, growing together, and pushing each other on and off the field paid off BIG time. From the polo fields to everything in between, we play in our signature MMB fabric, built for performance and worn everywhere we go.
“Huge shout out to Harrison Azzaro for the OT winning goal and to Mike Azzaro, Jared Zenni and Matt Coppola for giving it their all, as they always do. Here’s to more wins, more games and more moments like this, LET’S GO!”
Lee explained the team name: “The Mrs. represents YOU. The first person you marry is yourself. When you are confident in who you are and love yourself well, you can conquer the world…I’m an 80s baby and I remember any woman who was fashionable, confident and killing it was a Momma…My son has always called me ‘Momma Bear’ and is the love of my life. The Bear is an ode to my Baby Bear.”
Teammates and opponents were impressed with Mike’s playmaking throughout the Wellington tour.
“Mike and I were teammates and are close family friends,” Devon said. “He’s a great competitor and a winner. He works very hard and can still play at an elite level in the right polo and on the right team. He played 6 goals or more against us.”
“It was very cool to play with Mike,” said Zenni, who won the 2019 Westchester Cup with him. “Once we got our footing as a team and figured things out, it was off to the races.
“Mike being an American legend, it’s awesome to play with him,” added Zenni. “To be honest, for his age he is a beast. He would make these plays and you would be like, ‘yea, he’s still got it’ and ‘that was cool.’
“Mike was always known for being a freak athlete and player at 10 goals. What I do know is every Argentine 10-goaler said Mike Azzaro was the real deal. He still has the fire in his belly. I don’t think there is a reason for him to stop playing any time soon.”
Mike, a Hall of Famer who held a 10-goal rating for 14 years, admits it wasn’t easy to come back. “The first month of playing was tough,” he said. “It had been eight years since I played anything above 8-goal polo. Physically, I stayed fit all the time but playing this level took me a while to get back to my form and anticipation on the field.”
It’s Mike’s experience and desire to promote American players along with Lee’s vision that has his competitive fires burning again.
“She did her research and saw how difficult it was for young Americans…why we don’t have any 10-goal Americans any more and why I was the last American 10-goal player. She told me she wanted to create a monster organization and wanted to create young American players starting with my boys and Santi. With her support I started rebuilding. I had been breeding for quite a while and had a base of really nice horses, but nothing like we have now. We beat La Dolfina in the final and to do that in a short amount of time is a gigantic achievement alone.”
The plan now is to play in Santa Barbara over the summer with Lee playing in the 12-goal and his sons Harrison and Hunter, son-in-law Torres, and Mike playing the 16-goal tournaments. From there they are all Argentina-bound to play in various tournaments and next winter will return to Wellington to play the series again. Fingers crossed in two to three years after playing overseas in England, they will field an All-American team for the U.S. Open. “We’re all in,” Mike said.
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