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The
boys tennis tournament is the second oldest high school
tournament in the state. Started in 1920, it is three
years older than the boys basketball tournament (1923),
but 12 years younger than the state�s oldest
competition, that for boys track, which began back in
1908.
Unlike
most of the other state championship competitions,
tennis, be it boys or girls, does not honor a team
champion. In fact, in tennis there are but two titles
awarded each year, one for the best singles player, and
one for the best doubles team. However, this is not to
preclude some schools from excelling at this sport and
gaining some recognition as a �tennis school� of sorts.
Topping this list is Upper Arlington High School. The
Golden Bears first made their mark in Ohio high school
tennis back in 1938 when Bob Faught won the school�s
first tennis trophy in the singles competition. It
would be another 24 years before Upper Arlington added
any more tennis hardware to its trophy case, again in
singles, but ever since then the school has become the
state�s most consistent winner of boys tennis
championships. The Golden Bears have won a total of six
singles titles, the last coming in 1973, but it has been
in doubles competition where Upper Arlington has really
excelled. Between the years 1965 and 1999 the Golden
Bears took home 14 boys doubles championships, twice the
number of the next best school, Bexley High School. The
school�s combined total of 20 boys tennis championships
is also tops in the state.
Leading
the Golden Bears over the last 18 seasons has been coach
Dick Fryman, whose overall winning percentage of .865
(256-40) is currently the third best of all Ohio boys
tennis coaches, active and retired.
Perhaps
the most dominating performance by a single school in
state tournament play belongs to Walnut Hills High
School of Cincinnati. The Eagles, under the direction
of coach Cliff Beaver, won the singles competition in
both 1939 and 1940, with Marshall Chambers taking the
honors each time. In 1945, Walnut Hills finished second
in both the singles and doubles competition, but this
was only a preview of things to come. A freshman by the
name of Tony Trabert was half of that doubles team in
1945. The next season Trabert switched to singles
competition and the rest, as they say, is history. One
of the country�s all-time tennis greats, Trabert won
three consecutive Ohio singles championships in
1946-47-48, the first Ohio high schooler to do so.
Walnut
Hills� tennis success did not end with the graduation of
Tony Trabert. Now coached by Dean Giacometti, the
Eagles swept both the singles and the doubles
championships in 1949 and 1950. John Rauth won the
singles competition both years, while Barrie Rich teamed
with Don Brown in 1949, and Bill Bowling in 1950, to
take the doubles titles.
No
school has ever managed to equal this accomplishment of
seven championships in five years (1946-1950), although
a few, like Youngstown Rayen in the 1920s, Lakewood in
the 1930�s and Bexley in the �70s, have come close.
While
Tony Trabert�s singles �trifecta� is rare, he is not the
only Ohio school boy to accomplish this feat. Clark
Graebner, himself a future pro tennis great, won three
consecutive singles championships in 1959, 1960 and 1961
while playing for Lakewood High School.
The
only other boy to win three state singles championships
came within one match of winning four consecutive
titles, something only about two dozen boys in the whole
country have managed to do. That young man is Justin
O�Neal, who roamed the courts for Lima Shawnee High
School from 1993 to 1996. In 1993 as a freshman, young
Mr. O�Neal won his first state singles title. The next
year he missed making it two in a row when he was
defeated along the tournament trail, a loss that would
prove to be his only defeat during a brilliant high
school tennis career. Justin came back to win his
second state championship as a junior in 1995, and made
it three out of four as a senior in 1996. He then went
on to have an outstanding All-American tennis career at
the University of Florida.
The
team work and consistency of play needed to win a
doubles championship is extraordinary, so it is not too
surprising that there have not been many repeat
champions in this category. No team, manned by the same
two players, has ever won three consecutive doubles
titles (and there is no known record of this ever having
been done anywhere in the country), and only six teams
have managed to win back to back state doubles titles.
The last time this happened was in 1989-90, when Kevin
Seckel and Andrew Stern teamed up to do it for Bexley
High School.
Only
one boy has managed to win both consecutive singles and
doubles championships. Conant Ohl, playing for Toledo
Scott High School, won the first two state singles
championships in 1920 and 1921. He then teamed up with
Cornell Walbridge in 1920, and Edward Staley in 1921, to
capture the first two Ohio doubles titles. In this day
of specialization, we may never again see this
accomplishment repeated. Those are, by the way, Toledo
Scott�s only state boys tennis championships to date.
We tend
to focus on the schools and the student athletes in
these Centennial Moments articles. However, if it were
not for the dedicated coaches who pass on their
knowledge and expertise of the various sports, we would
not have these great stories of athletic achievement to
relate. Often this is a family thing, where a son will
follow in the coaching footsteps of his father.
However, in Ohio tennis we can go that one better. Rob
Cusick coaches tennis at Lima Shawnee High School. His
son, Eric, is the tennis coach over at Beavercreek High
School. Meanwhile, Eric�s grandfather, Ted Stepleton,
is the tennis mentor at Lima Senior High School. Three
generations of coaches, all teaching the same sport.
Compared to the tennis coaches around the country, those
who coach Ohio�s high school boys rank among the very
best. As of February of 2006, Jeff Sinnema at Rocky
River High School was the state�s most successful boys
coach in total wins with 567, while Ed Wolff at St.
Ignatius and Vin Romeo at Miami Valley High School were
right behind with 561 and 552 wins respectively. These
totals place these men among the top ten coaches in the
country. When you add in his victories while coaching
the girls team at Miami Valley, Vin Romeo�s total of
1,026 victories places him among the nation�s top
half-dozen high school tennis coaches.
Among
the state�s other top boys tennis coaches, either still
active or retired, are Arnold Bradshaw, Geneva High
School, 485-44, .917; Russ King, Cin. St. Xavier,
388-43, .900; Jim Click, Bexley/Polk County, 316-51,
.861; Jim Parkes, Portsmouth/Minford, 373-76, .831;
Larry Davis, Canfield, 349-77, .819; and Dave Rehnborg,
Norwalk, 350-91, .793.
Running
up victory totals like this means that a lot of factors
have to fall into place, not the least of which is
having quality student-athletes with whom to work.
Another factor which often goes unnoticed is the time
that these coaches put in. Not just the hours in the
day, but the years that these men and women dedicate to
their profession of tutoring our youth. Just using Vin
Romeo, Jeff Sinnema and Ed Wolff as examples, these
three men between them have been coaching tennis to
Ohio�s youngsters for an average of 35 years, and
counting. While this is obviously at the top of the
scale, there are dozens of coaches around the state,
including Bob Walters at Lakeside High with 41 years of
coaching, who have devoted 20+ years to their coaching
profession.
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