Not every tennis match has a symbol but this one does: a tennis racquet with a handle that’s a cane. The match is the annual showdown between the San Ramon Valley High School boys tennis team and the Tuffs, a bunch of seniors who keep their skills honed with drop-in doubles Monday and Thursday mornings at Rudgear Park. It’s the Bob Vincent Tennis Challenge.
Vincent, who passed away in January 2003 at the age of 80, was a leader in youth sports and a much-loved coach at the high school. His list of accomplishments could fill this page. But older tennis players recall Vincent as one of the founders of the Tuffs in 1982. He soon became its “CEO,” keeping up the roster and the spirit of the informal sessions, where all are welcome to play as their schedules – and tennis injuries – permit. The level of tennis is high. It’s for men who take tennis seriously but have come to an age when they depend more on finesse than running down the ball. When my husband Jim began working out of our home a few years ago, he noticed them for months before he stopped by, tennis racquet in hand, despite being only in his mid-50s. Apparently he had enough gray hair and adequate tennis skills to qualify.
The maintenance crew at the park marvels that regardless of biting wind, January chill or August heat, the Tuffs are out there. Men who move away arrange their vacations to attend. Others stop in while visiting grown families in the area. One guy drops in from Guam, giving a new meaning to the phrase “drop-in tennis.” Roger Emanuel, who took over from Vincent, called it “a poor man’s tennis club” but said the best part is you don’t have to schedule a game.
Even in retirement, Vincent remained part of the high school tennis community – the courts are dedicated to him – and he started the tradition of the Tuffs playing the San Ramon team each spring during its “bye” week. The top boys are paired against the top Tuffs and on down the roster. Emanuel said some of the older gents decline to play because they don’t want to face young, fast, strong kids, and think it’s embarrassing to be beaten. He said he understands that but personally finds it satisfying to face the teens. “They’re pleasantly surprised and puzzled because we bring another style of play, with softer balls and more lobs,” he said. “They tend to hit the ball harder, with less variation.”
He also noted that especially the JV players looked so young and said he was sure they probably comment on the antiquity of the Tuffs. But he said at least the boys get to see they have a future – a long future – in tennis. Coach Andy Lutz agreed and said the boys find it “amusing to play guys that old.” He also points out to his team that the Tuffs learned to play on wooden racquets so they don’t hit as hard.
A special highlight this year was a match between the top San Ramon twosome and Coach Lutz with former assistant coach Jerry Jue. Emanuel said it was like an exhibition match, and he conjectured that Lutz felt his top team needed a better workout than that provided by even the best of the Tuffs.
But the main event was the individual matches. They play sets of eight, with the first team to win eight games declared the winner. The first six matches were divided 3-3, then, given the large number of varsity and JV players, the Tuffs had to “recycle” so they stopped keeping score. Emanuel said as they go down the roster, the Tuffs often emerge victorious as the younger players, slugging away a la Agassi, lose to experience – court sense and shots perfected over decades.
The Tuffs aren’t ready for the cane end of the racquet just yet.
