San Francisco Lady Dons Slay Lions
The Lady Dons against the Lions from Loyola Marymount sounded like a Roman coliseum mismatch. USF had beaten them once in 10 years. But what ensued over nearly six hours, as USF coach Hilary Somers said,
was as close as college tennis gets and the most intense time of her 10 years coaching.
Played on the Santa Clara University courts in February, the three doubles matches went to 8-6, and the Lady Dons lost them all. USF then lost four first sets in the six singles while the team struggled for a new definition of coming from behind. Actually, five of the six singles split sets.
As the afternoon’s “emotional roller coaster” wore on, the nailbiter eventually evened out at 3-3 accompanied by rampant fist-pumping. Julia Wartenburger at No. 2 and Alana McMahon at No. 3 had rebounded to win three-setters after No. 5 Jessy Mekpoh won in straights. But No. 1 Jenni Heinser, last year’s WCC Player of the Year, was still battling.
“The deciding Heinser match was nearly enough stress to put me in labor right there,” said coach Somers, who’s expecting a boy after the season ends in May, her first.
“It was pure adrenaline,” Somers wrote on the USF website. “After losing the second set in a tiebreaker 8-6, [Heinser] kept her composure and pulled off the dramatic win 6-4 in the third. We had a well deserved dog pile for this win.”
She credited Noah’s Bagels for the team’s carb-loading endurance and proclaimed it an unequalled day of excitement for USF women’s tennis. But Somers, cherishing a high-tension scrap, said she could appreciate the day on the same scale even if the Lions had clawed their way to victory. The Lady Dons are 4-2.
USF”s Perfect Team Remembered
The USF Athletic Hall of Fame honored in February its ‘49-NCAA-winning men’s tennis team, mostly made up of WWII veterans attending school on the GI bill. The team members were Sam Match, Harry Roche, Conway Catton, Frank Sample, Bill Green and Don Lowenbein. They were undefeated the entire year.
Roche, 86, lives in Roseville now but was recuperating from a heart attack the month before and had to miss the dinner. He explained that he was on and off the team for the seven to eight years it took him to graduate because he had so many responsibilities.
USF was a powerhouse in the late ‘40s and early ‘50s. San Francisco’s Harry Likas Jr., an ‘08 inductee in the NorCal Tennis Hall of Fame, won the ‘48 NCAA singles championships, upsetting Vic Seixas. In the team competition, USF tied for second place.
“Harry’s father had bought him a new Buick, beige I think, and he drove down to the UCLA campus where we played,” Roche said from his Roseville online casino home. “I took the bus all night and had to play the next day. Most of the guys were in school on the GI Bill and had state help. I got $1,000. But I had a wife and two kids and a construction job, too. I had to take time off to play matches, and I couldn’t play them all. But they were fun times.”
The only old-time team member present at the Feb. 13 dinner was San Leandro’s Art Larsen, 84, who played No. 1. But it was not until ‘52, and two years after he won the U.S. Championships at Forest Hills, predecessor of the U.S. Open. In those days, all but a handful of small tournaments were amateur on a far-flung international circuit. The ‘49 team was the zenith of USF tennis. Its members also dominated the ‘49 NorCal men’s rankings, too. Larsen was No. 1, Match, No. 2, Catton, No. 4, and Roche was No. 6.
Condo Developers Face Opposition
“Look Up In the Sky!” That’s the headline on a 7×9, four-color card announcement that features four senior citizens underneath it peering up, grimacing and pointing to the sky.
Inside, you learn that it’s neither bird nor plane. It’s Super Condo. As in 407 feet high. It’s a lobbying effort by the Cathedral Hill Neighborhood Association, Japantown Neighbors and the Sequoia’s senior residents to protest the proposed “ghostly white glass structure that would be visible from much of the city.” Adco Group, the New York developer, plans to plop the giant cylindrical thing down at 1481 Post St. near Geary and Gough should it win over the Planning Commission in public hearings.
Those keeping chapter and verse on local courts know that the super condo will wipe out the two lighted courts at the Cathedral Hill Plaza Athletic Club, adjacent to the Cathedral Hill apartments at 1333 Gough St. The club has about 60 players. Other developers, meanwhile, are threatening courts at Golden Gateway and the Presidio but so far have been foiled at SFTC, after forces for recreational space found City Hall allies. The Post Street activists say the “monstrosity” doesn’t fit the neighborhood. They welcome interested parties to get involved to stop it. The announcement has a card attached to fill out and mail in.
In Brief
The biggest athletic event in the world for Jewish youth is coming to San Francisco August 2-7, the JCC Maccabi Games. It will have competitions in several sports, even dance. In March, informational meetings for boy and girl tennis players ages 12-14 and 15-16 wanting to be on Team San Francisco were held at the San Francisco Jewish Community Center, event sponsor. The tennis players will be part of the city’s 300-member team. Some 1,500 teens are expected to compete in August. Richard Goldman is honorary chairman. The center is looking for 600 volunteer families to host the visiting teens. For info, visit jccmaccabisf.org.
Billie Jean King could not be on hand for the BASHOF induction ceremonies on March 9 due to the fact that her 86-year-old mother, Betty, was hospitalized in Phoenix with pneumonia and heart problems. But longtime pal Rosie Casals was there to represent her. Casals told the audience, “[Billie Jean] was a pioneer and leader for women’s causes. She had a vision and believed in what she was doing. She was so dynamic in her personality. She was the right person at the right time in the ‘70s.” King’s fellow inductees were legends Craig Morton, Gaylord Perry and Dave Casper.
History Note: Who was the nation’s best Filipino player in ‘40? Why, San Francisco’s Bill Madamba. In September, he had just returned from winning the National Filipino Championships, singles and doubles, in Washington D.C. Of course, he was the heavy favorite to win The City’s upcoming Filipino tournament, which had attracted 150 entries, according to a copy of San Francisco-based Tennis Brevities of that time. Brevities said Madamba was very popular and played for the San Francisco State University Teachers’ team. Look for other History Notes from Brevities in San Francisco Volleys in future issues.
