Random reminder

Press, 1 September 1983, Page 32

Random reminder

Voice from the past

Chris Lewis’s success at Wimbledon brought back memories to a retired (many years ago) Christchurch tennis player. In the 19305, he says, he lived near St Albans Park. No-one was poorer than his family. His mother had been widowed and left with three young children. The pension then was $1.50 a week. With an old, cast-off racket, he haunted the Edgeware Tennis Club, then in the park. His two local heroes were Jim and Eddie. Two more disparate people you would not meet, he says. Eddie was a vsion in immaculate cream from his head to his shoes. Jim was rough, more than somewhat. His toes came clear out of the ends of his shoes, he wore no socks, his shirt hung out of his trousers, and he always looked as if he had stepped straight out of bed. Jim always won, which gives the lie to the Jack Nicklaus belief that “you must look good to play good.” Eddie always lost graciously, not like today’s surly

losers. He would hand the near-new balls to our hero, whose cup finally overflowed in 1936. At that time Fred Perry dominated world tennis, and he used to devour every word they wrote about him. At that time he had a relative in Wellington who made a very good living from people who assumed they could pick the winners of horse races. Imagine his delight when he unwrapped a Fred Perry autographed racket, with his face on it.

This may not seem much to today’s children, who get a new bicycle every Christmas, whether they need it or not. But in those days it had cost more than a man’s wages for a week. He swaggered down the street making passing shots. Life was very sweet. By the way. Jim, the raggedy one, became chairman of the Christchurch Stock Exchange. Bang went another old saw: “Clothes maketh the man.”