The Racquet Club of Chicago was host to the Sales/Price/Walsh tournaments, and held a stag in honour of Willie Surtees.
Congratulations to the winners:
Sales Singles: Peter Pell vs Keene Addington 15/2, 15/0
Sales Doubles: Keene Addington & Jay Leonard vs Peter Dunne & Will Fitzimons 18/13
Walsh Singles: Rowan Carroll vs Manny Tancer 15/5, 15/0
Walsh Doubles: Colt Landreth & Rowan Carroll vs Merrill & Daniels 15/8, 15/7
Price Singles: Rowan Carroll vs Peter Dunne 12/15, 15/11, 15/1
Price Doubles: Max Drake & Peter Dunne vs Manny Tancer & Ted Daniel 15/5, 15/2
Weekend recap is courtesy of Norb Madison:
Fantastic event – speakers included John Prenn, Rob Wood, Kevin Broderick, Greg Van Schaak, Davis Anderson, Peter Pell, Fast and others. Attendees included, in a surprise appearance, Willie’s son. Over 80 in attendance. Willie was touched and thrilled. Many stories told. The RCoC totally outdid themselves.
Dinner was the “tomahawk steak” – so large it covered the entire plate, and the wines were fabulous.
On Saturday morning I went on a rackets court archeological tour to the University Club (2 rackets courts), which once housed Willie’s favorite court in Chicago, and the Chicago Athletic Association (2 rackets courts and a real tennis court). Although I was denied access to the athletic area of the University Club, I was told that in a renovation 5 years ago, both courts were dismantled. The Chicago Athletic Association is now a hotel and has been completely renovated. Fortunately, they were required to maintain the original façade of the building. The courts are gone, but an employee took me all over the building and I discovered that one of the rackets courts is now a workout center (see attached photo). The second court apparently has been transformed into 2 levels of hotel rooms. The real tennis court that was once on the top level of the building is now a roof top bar, which is very popular. You can still see some of the structural steel.
A “roundtable” lunch on Saturday lasted over 3 hours and included most to the “older” (ahem) rackets players, including Willie and John. Many more stories were told, including all of the ones that couldn’t be told the previous evening, which, as you all know, is saying something about a rackets stag. Stories as old as the original Rackets Quadrathlon held in Montreal in 1976.
To put it mildly, a great time was had by all. Home recovering now.
Norb