Keeping up the Tyroneses: The One about Tennis
This week, Drew continues to chase his dream of entering his high school's Hall of Fame. Seriously ...
By Drew Gallagher
HUMORIST
(This is Part II of the humorist’s effort to enter the Athletic Hall of Fame at his former high school—Exeter Senior High School outside of Reading, Pennsylvania. In Part I, the humorist pled his case to the current Exeter Athletic Director, Thomas Legath, who obviously had no familiarity with his athletic prowess and was not impressed with his soccer career which featured the first shutout in the history of the program [October of 1985]. Nor was he impressed by the fact that the humorist once gave up seven goals to a single player in a match which set a county record that still stands. When the humorist noted that he once faced 51 shots in a match against Kutztown and only allowed four goals, the AD did ask how many of those shots may have hit him in the head.)
DISCLAIMER: The opinions and views expressed in Part I and Part II of this column are the sole opinions and views of the humorist and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of the FXBG Advance or its editors. They certainly do not reflect the opinion or view of the Exeter High School Athletic Director.
I realized that in pleading my case to the current Athletic Director at Exeter, I failed to touch upon my second varsity sport at which I excelled. Perhaps it was naïve on my part to think that the Athletic Director had nothing better to do than take a deep dive into the annals of the online Reading Eagle newspaper archives to find further proof of my Hall worthiness. When I asked him if he was familiar with my tennis exploits, he claimed ignorance, so I suggested he contact my former tennis coach, Jamie Yousaitis, which is when he told me that Jamie was on the Hall selection committee and I could present my case to him.
My tennis legacy at Exeter is complicated. While some might say my impact upon the program for the three years I played varsity was consequential, there are others who feel that I was barely a blip on the history of the program — specifically my ex-girlfriend of four years who was shocked at a recent class reunion that I did actually play tennis in high school (and we were dating during the time when I reached the number-two seed my senior season). Fortunately, my former tennis coach and Hall of Fame selection committee member recalled that I at least did have a tennis career.
“Drew, please don’t get me kicked off the Hall of Fame committee. Why is the AD calling me to ask about you? I really like being on the committee,” said Coach Yousaitis via text message. “We have a close-knit Hall committee. I have great respect for everyone in the group. We generally share the same feelings on most nominations. They are good people. How did you get my phone number? I blocked you on Facebook.”
After a fair amount of mollifying my former tennis coach, he took a moment to reflect upon my Hall of Fame candidacy and tennis career and how it affected a program that had been around for nearly 30 years when I first stepped to the baseline.
“I cannot say I know of any two-sport stars at Exeter, in soccer and tennis, with your qualifications, other than maybe you,” said Jamie, which I took as hopeful. “As your tennis coach, I have never considered you for nomination, though now as I think back on your career, I realize you were a key contributor to our team. With your unorthodox style of play, I was able to move you ahead of better players in our lineup to secure singles wins in those lower flights. You also played some of the longest matches in the history of Exeter tennis, though I don't believe that is a qualifying factor for Hall induction.”
Coach Yousaitis once referred to me as a human backboard which, at the time, I thought might be a compliment and a reflection of my tenacity and my tendency to never approach the net or attempt to win any point until my opponent cramped up from sheer exhaustion. In hindsight, I do recall how some of my matches had to be suspended because the lights at some courts were coin-operated and when everyone ran out of quarters the match had to stop. This often meant that we weren’t able to stop at Arby’s for our team meal because it was so late. It had never occurred to me that some of my teammates may have faced starvation because of my marathon singles matches.
There was one teammate, however, who I knew remembered our time together fondly. Doug Gehret was my doubles partner and was our number-one seed. We went to the Pennsylvania regional tournament together as a doubles team and won two matches before running into the fourth-seeded team on that fateful day at Franklin & Marshall College. In my memory, we played that team especially well and lost a heartbreaking 10-game pro set to a team that would eventually move on to states. It was probably the highlight of Doug’s tennis career, and I knew he would remember that moment.
“What I remember about that day is that you missed two easy overheads that could have put us ahead in the match,” he said. “The overheads weren’t even close. You blasted them 10 feet past the baseline. And you made me sit in the backseat as we drove home and kept playing the same damned Todd Rundgren songs. It was funny, when “Can We Still Be Friends” came on I was thinking to myself that after the missed overheads my answer to that question would be ‘No’.”
Doug, who is now a Senior Vice President for Hilton Hotels’ U.S. and Canada properties, is obviously an important man and might have more pressing matters on his mind than a tennis match from 37 years ago, so I tried a different tack. I reminded Doug of how supportive I was when he ended the longest winning streak in Berks County history by defeating Scott Correll in a number-one singles match at Governor Mifflin.
“Supportive? You were playing on the court next to me and kept asking if we had the score backwards,” he said. “I’m playing in the most important tennis match in my career, and I’ve got you asking me if the score is correct. Then reminding me that he had not lost a match in his entire tennis career between every point. I think you may have even stopped your own match just to let me know I was about to make history if I didn’t choke.”
Doug did make history that day, and I was right there with him and even gave up on my own match to support a teammate. I asked if he might consider writing a letter of recommendation to the Hall of Fame committee on my behalf, and he laughed.
“We used to miss going to Arby’s because of your inability to play a match in less than three hours. Those had to be some of the longest matches in the history of Exeter tennis.”
And there it was again. The perception of both my coach and my former teammate that my tennis career was historic. Now it was time to write my letter to the Hall of Fame committee. The letter might be light on athletic accomplishments, but the Hall committee would have to recognize that their decision was going to be scrutinized by an entire Substack community and they would be judged accordingly.
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