I was recently in
Newport, Rhode Island,
covering the Tennis Hall
Of Fame induction
Ceremony and the
Campbell’s Hall of Fame
Grass Court ATP
Tournament
I walked down the steps of the press room smack into my fellow Marco Island tennis pro Doug Browne.
The place was a three-ring circus, the public grass courts were full of happy tennis players experiencing the game the unique way it was meant to be played. It is, after all, technically, Lawn Tennis.
The walkway between the clubhouse and the courts was packed with vendor and sponsor tents, hawking everything from the latest tennis fashions and equipment to hotdogs and cold beer.
The ATP pros were playing matches on the stadium court, clinics being run on the back courts (all grass courts) and there was Doug overseeing it all.
Normally in summer, Doug would be geared down a little from the grueling dawn to dusk, eight-month-long winter tennis season at the Hideaway Beach Club.
This spring however, he got a call out of the blue from Chris Clouser, a former club member of Doug’s when he worked at the Interlachen Country Club in Edina, Minnesota.
As it turns out, Mr. Clouser is currently the chairman of the board of the International Tennis Hall of Fame and the call was prompted by the abrupt resignation of the tennis director at the Hall of Fame.
Clouser needed a huge favor if it could possibly be arranged. He needed Doug to get to Newport as soon as possible to take over the operation for the summer.
Doug approached the board at Hideaway with the proposal that he leave for the summer and go to Newport to help Clouser out, assuring them that Leslie Browne, Doug’s wife and associate professional at Hideaway, could run the show in his absence.
The Hideaway folks were very gracious and consented to the proposal, so Doug was off to New England.
His position in Newport consists of organizing and running numerous tennis and social events during the course of the week, quite often three or four a day, as well as hobnobbing with many of the greats in tennis, like Tony Trabert, Donald Dell, Barry Mckay, Mark Woodforde and commentator Bud Collins. He also had the opportunity to meet comedian Steve Martin who was playing with his band at one of the events, a folk festival.
Trabert, a huge influence in tennis, is president of the Hall of Fame. He complimented Doug on how well he was running the many events.
Collins, of the flashy pants, a famous tennis commentator, takes credit for bringing the volatile tennis great John McEnroe to the commentator’s booth. According to Browne, Collins said he urged those in charge to allow McEnroe to share Collins’ booth, with Collins saying, ‘he will be good some day.’
Unfortunately, Doug’s other duties has limited his teaching schedule to only a few hours a week. Like most career tennis pros he loves teaching and misses the student pro interaction that we all consider the best part of the job.
If you are traveling through New England this summer make it a point to get to Newport and drop into the Hall Of Fame to say hi to Doug.
Doug will be wrapping up his summer position and begin the drive back to Marco in mid-September.
He should have some great stories to tell this winter!
Howie Burnett is the tennis professional at Island Country Club on Marco Island
Acing Depression
Acing Depression, a tennis champion’s toughest fight, a new autobiography from former pro tennis star Cliff Richey, begins with a bang. In the first few pages of the book, Richey’s daughter Hilaire Richey Kallendorf offers an observation that cuts to the bone:
“My sisters and I agree that our father, famous celebrity or not, was among the top few flaming assholes of all time.” Kallendorf continues, “I remember the drunken rages, inevitably followed by a depressive stupor. To this day, I wake up with a panicky feeling in my stomach, afraid at some subconscious level that he’s going to yell at me for something I did not do.”
Richey, the hot-headed bad boy from Texas, has written a compelling story about his life on the professional tennis tour and his ongoing battle with depression. His exploits on the professional tennis circuit are colorful and sometimes entertaining, but it is his endless battle to understand his moods, both on and off the court, that make this book a must-read for any tennis enthusiast.
Dating back to my own days as a ball-boy, I knew both Cliff and his sister Nancy Richey because the two of them played in the United States Clay Court Championships at our home club in Milwaukee.
One of my sharpest memories of the Richey family was their relentless approach to practicing: after a short break on the practice court, brother Cliff would reach for a big grocery bag of tennis balls, then proceed to strike “hundreds” of ground strokes until not a single ball remained in the bag. Rarely was a word spoken and it appeared that the brother-sister combo was not having any fun, as no one smiled for the entire hitting session.
On another occasion, my father, the Player-Personnel Director, was summoned to the Town Club locker room to meet with Cliff after a tough defeat. Tournament officials had heard a rumor that the fiery Richey was bolting the tournament, even though he was scheduled to play doubles with Arthur Ashe.
My father spent three long hours convincing young Cliff that he had an obligation to fulfill, and it was simply not acceptable to walk out on it. To my father’s relief, Cliff agreed to stay in town to play doubles with Lieutenant Arthur Ashe. But on the court, Cliff often was unable to control his explosive temper.
The score didn’t matter; it was the imperfection that drove young Cliff to explode like a lit firecracker. Life inside the Richey household, which the young Cliff dubbed “Richey, Inc,” gives readers a glimpse into the pressure the young player faced. Cliff says, “‘Richey, Inc.” is my retrospective name for a creed and an enterprise.
It entailed inordinate success, a strong work ethic, fidelity in marriage, and a conservative approach to finances.” Richey’s father, George, was a struggling club tennis pro, and the family lived a meager existence, at times living in poor neighborhoods. The stigma of this challenged Cliff as a child and he was subjected to bullying from kids who lived down the street near his home.
Both parents had high expectations for their kids, and as Cliff began to play tennis, his father was determined to build a champion. Dad quickly realized that his son had a greater talent than he did, and he started to push young Cliff to maximize his abilities.
Quickly, Cliff began to win enough big events to move to the professional tour. Once on the circuit, Cliff met the love of his life, Mickie, and they soon married. To save money, the newlyweds moved in with Cliff’s parents. But as Cliff traveled the world, playing as many as eleven tournaments in a three-month span, his emotional life began to spiral out of control.
Now that Richey was almost constantly separated from Mickie and his new family and unable to cope with bad losses, his depression started to take a toll. Ironically, it took an observant dermatologist to diagnose his depression, and almost as soon as Richey began taking an antidepressant, he began to see his life turn around.
Today, Cliff says philosophically, “Excellent can be the enemy of good. When I made a come-back on the senior tour, I changed my thinking to: ‘Bring it on. I’m man enough to lose.’” With Cliff’s tenacious attitude, he knows that he can battle depression and lead a truly fulfilling life. Whether one is an athlete or not, Richey’s book is a treasure because it captures the true heroism of turning a life of trouble into a life of triumph.