HUGH ... After listening to this episode, it brought back memories of my precious fun time as a school kid with my older brother Bernie and older sisters Roselyn and Fern and my Mum and Dad and all of their friends playing Tennis on our back yard grass covered (not quite Wimbledon Lawn) ... tennis court in Innisfail ...
1942 Innisfail became a Naval Base for the USA Navy with about 5 ships and 1000 Navy personelle ... many of the crew and especially their Commander Hobbs loved to play tennis ...
My father who was the FNQ district mens champion at the time was also the President of the Innisfail Tennis Association ... he organised tennis courts for the crews and also a special opportunity and availability for use of the one and only tennis court with lights at that time ... FORTUITOUSLY IT WAS AT THE HOSPITAL BESIDE THE NURSES QUARTERS ...
1946 After WW 2 Commander Hobbs became the GM at a swanky hotel in San Francisco and invited Bill and Felicia to come and stay as his guests ... after the war everyone in Australia were poor ... of course they had to decline ...
1950's Janet Hobbs made top 10 in the USA women's tennis rankings ...
A second invitation arrived ... Bill, that is my daughter ... i taught her all of the things that you taught me ...
Pop said still too poor ... got for 4 growing kids to feed and school ...
Looking forward to listening to the next 50 chapters on Fletch ...
Good to know you’re listening intently Billy — it was a big effort on my part — turnig a 400-page book into a radio serial. But then I’ve done it before with Over the Top with Jim and Spies Like us for the ABC Radio’s Macca.
Hugh what a memory you have ... to remember all of the kids that Arthur Liddle took that Easter Weekend to Toowomba is fantastic especially Billy Penrose ... it was also the first time that a Greg Hughes turned up at a tournament ...
I recall that it was in the Quarter Finals when Kenny had to play Kenny Rosewall ... Fletch had to beat one of the Gayden boys to get there ...
Fletch won the first set and it was 3 all in the second and it poured down .. maybe 2 hours later it stopped but the courts were soaked ... they brought in a helicopter which hovered over the Ant Bed centre court for maybe an hour to dry the court ...
Play resumed Rosewall won in 3 sets ... after the match when he was interviewed Rosewall said ... still a school boy ? ? ? Well I don't want to be playing him next year ...
Hugh ... would be interesting to do a story on all of the kids who were in that photo that you reproduced sitting in the stands at Milton and what they have done during their lives after their time at the HOPPY SQUAD ... starting with Dot Deakin and Jimmy Sheppherd while they are still with us ...
I did meet Gary Baulch again who we commissioned to coach tennis in the FNQ Region in 1964 / 66 ... he followed former player/ coaches such as Graham Gayden and Ashley Cooper who during his time coaching in this area met a young school teacher from Tinaroo Dam who became Miss Australia and then Mrs. ASHLEY COOPER ...
Midway thru the 1966 season Gary had to return and take over his family farm in The Wheatley / Proston area ... that was when I took over to finish the year and saw what some of these little kids were doing or trying to do ...
IT WAS MY INTENTION TO FIND ANOTHER REGISTERED TENNIS COACH TO TAKE OVER THIS FNQ AREA ... THE FOLLOWONG SEASON ...
JIMMY SHEPHERD HAD SIGNED ON IN TOWNSVILLE TO COACH AND JIMMY MOORE WAS FULLY OCCUPIED WITH BECOMING A PROFESSIONAL INTERNATIONAL REFEREE ... AND KENNY WAS LIVING IT UP IN HONG KONG ...
SO I GOT STUCK COACHING TENNIS IN CAIRNS AND FNQ FOR THE NEXT 10 YEARS WHILE STILL TRYING TO RUN SPORTS STORES AND DEVELOP A MOTEL, CARAVAN PARK ETC, ETC, ETC
HUGH ... After listening to this episode, it brought back memories of my precious fun time as a school kid with my older brother Bernie and older sisters Roselyn and Fern and my Mum and Dad and all of their friends playing Tennis on our back yard grass covered (not quite Wimbledon Lawn) ... tennis court in Innisfail ...
1942 Innisfail became a Naval Base for the USA Navy with about 5 ships and 1000 Navy personelle ... many of the crew and especially their Commander Hobbs loved to play tennis ...
My father who was the FNQ district mens champion at the time was also the President of the Innisfail Tennis Association ... he organised tennis courts for the crews and also a special opportunity and availability for use of the one and only tennis court with lights at that time ... FORTUITOUSLY IT WAS AT THE HOSPITAL BESIDE THE NURSES QUARTERS ...
That’s the idea behind writing about the past: they’re not just my stories: they beong to all of us fair dinkum Austrlaians!
1946 After WW 2 Commander Hobbs became the GM at a swanky hotel in San Francisco and invited Bill and Felicia to come and stay as his guests ... after the war everyone in Australia were poor ... of course they had to decline ...
1950's Janet Hobbs made top 10 in the USA women's tennis rankings ...
A second invitation arrived ... Bill, that is my daughter ... i taught her all of the things that you taught me ...
Pop said still too poor ... got for 4 growing kids to feed and school ...
Looking forward to listening to the next 50 chapters on Fletch ...
.
Good to know you’re listening intently Billy — it was a big effort on my part — turnig a 400-page book into a radio serial. But then I’ve done it before with Over the Top with Jim and Spies Like us for the ABC Radio’s Macca.
Hugh
Good point, Australians have forgotten how poor everyone was in the 40s and 50s. Hugh
Chapter 13 ..
Hugh what a memory you have ... to remember all of the kids that Arthur Liddle took that Easter Weekend to Toowomba is fantastic especially Billy Penrose ... it was also the first time that a Greg Hughes turned up at a tournament ...
I recall that it was in the Quarter Finals when Kenny had to play Kenny Rosewall ... Fletch had to beat one of the Gayden boys to get there ...
Fletch won the first set and it was 3 all in the second and it poured down .. maybe 2 hours later it stopped but the courts were soaked ... they brought in a helicopter which hovered over the Ant Bed centre court for maybe an hour to dry the court ...
Play resumed Rosewall won in 3 sets ... after the match when he was interviewed Rosewall said ... still a school boy ? ? ? Well I don't want to be playing him next year ...
Hugh ... would be interesting to do a story on all of the kids who were in that photo that you reproduced sitting in the stands at Milton and what they have done during their lives after their time at the HOPPY SQUAD ... starting with Dot Deakin and Jimmy Sheppherd while they are still with us ...
I did meet Gary Baulch again who we commissioned to coach tennis in the FNQ Region in 1964 / 66 ... he followed former player/ coaches such as Graham Gayden and Ashley Cooper who during his time coaching in this area met a young school teacher from Tinaroo Dam who became Miss Australia and then Mrs. ASHLEY COOPER ...
Midway thru the 1966 season Gary had to return and take over his family farm in The Wheatley / Proston area ... that was when I took over to finish the year and saw what some of these little kids were doing or trying to do ...
IT WAS MY INTENTION TO FIND ANOTHER REGISTERED TENNIS COACH TO TAKE OVER THIS FNQ AREA ... THE FOLLOWONG SEASON ...
JIMMY SHEPHERD HAD SIGNED ON IN TOWNSVILLE TO COACH AND JIMMY MOORE WAS FULLY OCCUPIED WITH BECOMING A PROFESSIONAL INTERNATIONAL REFEREE ... AND KENNY WAS LIVING IT UP IN HONG KONG ...
SO I GOT STUCK COACHING TENNIS IN CAIRNS AND FNQ FOR THE NEXT 10 YEARS WHILE STILL TRYING TO RUN SPORTS STORES AND DEVELOP A MOTEL, CARAVAN PARK ETC, ETC, ETC
..