by James Zug
In mid-December 2023, the Racquet & Tennis Club hosted the twenty-sixth annual United States Court Tennis Association dinner and auction during the traditional Whitney Cup weekend.
Nearly two hundred people came to the dinner. It was ably chaired again by Ted Goneos, with assistance from Ben Lawrence; they both wrangled auction lots, helped set up the east and south lounges, donated wine and reached out to USCTA members. For those not watching a very tight, long-delayed final match on the West Court (Anderson Good & Noah Motz topped Chris Holter & Tom McGinnis 6-4 in the third set) a splendid cocktail hour was the launch of the evening. As usual, there were a wonderful panoply of silent auction items: a number of rare books donated by Adam Inselbuch; a photograph from the 2023 World Championship taken by Tim Edwards and signed by Tim and its subject, Camden Riviere; Freddy Adam’s photographs of Lord’s and the Racquet Club of Philadelphia; two 1970s Bancroft racquets; a framed version of the famous Petworth player’s prayer; and court tennis stamps issued in 1965.
Dinner was again in the south lounge. It featured smoked salmon, roasted chicken with wild mushrooms and haricots verts and chocolate mousse for dessert. Peter Pell, the Whitney Cup tournament chair, welcomed everyone to New York for the eighty-eighth Payne Whitney Memorial Intercity Tennis Doubles Cup. As was traditional, Pell welcomed all the new players to the Whitney family: Ned Batstone (New England), Wil Hagen (New York), Ben Lawrence (Greentree) and Mark Windmill (Philadelphia).
Mary Livingston, the president of the USCTA, emceed the evening. She asked for a moment of silence in honor of all of the members of the Association who had died since the last annual dinner: Anne Boenning (Newport), Doug Cox (Philadelphia), Winfield Foreman (New York), Allan Sorensen (Aiken), Bardyl Tirana (New York) and Jay Wilkins (New York).
Livingston welcomed many of the honored guests at the dinner. She thanked the former USCTA presidents in the room—Charlie Johnstone, Bill McLaughlin, Jeremy Wintersteen (all the way from Bordeaux) and Jim Zug. She noted the cohort of professionals in attendance: Tim Chisholm, Pete Dickinson, Josh Dodgson, Nick Howell, Adrian Kemp, John Lumley, Ivan Ronaldson, Leon Smart, Barney Tanfield and Steve Virgona. In addition, Livingston honored Camden Riviere who had another amazing year. The South Carolinian took the U.S. Open and British Open in singles and doubles, the U.S. Professional Singles for the thirteenth straight year and retained the World Championship in singles in a riveting match on the new court at Westwood Country Club. “Cam was asked to play his very best this year,” Livingston said, “and his best is a beautiful thing to watch.” Livingston also praised the U.S. national junior team that captured both the Van Alen Cup and the Clothier Cup last summer at Westwood.
During dinner, Livingston announced the winners of the Association’s annual awards. Leon Smart was the winner of the 2023 Professional of the Year Award. Given out to a pro for outstanding, non-on-court tournament accomplishments and service, the award went to the Tennis & Racquet Club’s director of athletics. Smart first learned the game at Middlesex University in London. After playing college lawn tennis at Delta State University in Mississippi, Smart turned professional in court tennis. He worked at the T&R from 2015 to 2019, then Tuxedo from 2019 to 2022 before returning to Boston in September 2022. He has helped reinvigorate the T&R’s tennis program and in 2023 he helped run the most lucrative and successful U.S. Open in Boston’s history.
Livingston gave the 2023 H. Dickson S. Boenning Award for sportsmanship to Dave Tedeschi. Based in Boston, Tedeschi has been an avid player and supporter for decades. He is noted for his courtesy, fair play and fellowship on and off the court.
The 2023 Grassi Family Junior of the Year Award was given to its youngest recipient ever, Kurt Mueller. An eleven year-old at Tuxedo, Mueller captured the Under Twelve title at the British National Juniors last August. His speech—funny, appropriate and precocious—was perhaps the highlight of the dinner.
Livingston gave the 2023 Robert M. Goodyear Award to Anne & John Motz. Perennially generous and accustomed to a full house of guests, the Motz family hosted players and officials for more than a week at a stretch for both the Van Clothier Limb event and the World Championship in 2023.
The 2023 Most Improved Player Award went to Andrew Peabody. Playing at the Tennis & Racquet Club, Peabody recorded dozens of matches in the next ten months, with his handicap plummeting from a 30 to a 22 while playing more than a hundred matches in total at Boston, Newport, Aiken and New York.
The 2023 Most Improved Junior Player Award went to Annie Clark of Washington. A former No.1 doubles player on Virginia Tech’s lawn tennis team, Clark’s handicap dropped from a 70 to a 40 after first picking up a court tennis racquet in June.
Jim Zug inducted Walter Kinsella into the International Court Tennis Hall of Fame. Kinsella was the first American-born professional to challenge
A rare photograph of Walter Kinsella (r) and Joshua Crane, during a 1914 trip to England, courtesy of the Racquet & Tennis Club.
for the World Championship: he challenged in 1922, 1923 and 1930 (the next time an American-born professional challenged was Tim Chisholm in 2002). Kinsella was the U.S. professional champion from 1915 to 1925 and won the inaugural U.S. Open in 1934. He worked as a pro at Aiken and Racquet & Tennis Club. The induction of Kinsella means the International Court Tennis Hall of Fame now has thirty-eight members.
Brook Hazelton served as auctioneer for the Association’s auction. Outstanding lots included a week in Crested Butte; fly fishing in the Poconos; a week in a London flat; and golf at Baltusrol, Daniel Island, Maidstone, Merion, Secession and Yeamans Hall. In addition, Lot 12, the paddle raise for the USCTA’s national sponsorship program for professionals, was extremely popular.
Because of Hazelton’s professional abilities and the exceptional quality of the lots, the auctions raised more than $121,000, the most successful auction in USCTA history.
The evening ended with the awarding of the George Plimpton Prize for literary excellence to Alan P.H. Chalmers. In September 1988 Chalmers established the Tennis Bookshop, a specialty bookshop for lawn tennis, squash, court tennis and racquets books and memorabilia. “Alan single-handedly created and sustained a market for these rare books, Adam Inselbuch said in his introduction to Chalmers. “Without Alan, much of the rich history of court tennis would simply have been lost.”
Chalmers charmingly spoke for a few minutes about his life in these games. He plays court tennis at Petworth and worked as a steward at Wimbledon for more than forty years, watching more than two thousand two hundred matches on Centre Court. His witty speech provided a fitting conclusion to a memorable night for the USCTA.
PHOTOS BY MARCO CALDERON
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Pro of the Year - Leon Smart
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George Plimpton Prize - Alan P.H. Chalmers
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Grassi Junior Player of the Year - Kurt Mueller
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Most Improved Player - Andrew Peabody with Leon Smart
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Junior Player of the Year - Annie Clark with Ivan Ronaldson
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H. Dickson S. Boenning Prize for Sportsmanship - Dave Tedeschi with Dick Boenning
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