Notes

Who is the Greatest Tennis Player of All-Time? Federer, Sampras, Riggs? Aspen Hustle - Part One
The La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club has played a large part inside our family's life over time. My partner Sally, our son Mike and I used to live up the street until we forsook the beauty of the ocean for the lure of the golf courses in the desert. The Club was our home abroad -- to play a little tennis, visit with friends, walk the beach or have a glass of wine on the promenade, hoping to see a green flash at the sun's setting. Produced by a true patron of tennis and tennis players William S. Kellogg, the Club was transformed from its original marina design right into a hacienda style resort directly on the sand. It sprawls across the beach front, quietly welcoming generations of families who come each summer for their vacations. And during the quiet months it remains its humble self, filled up with locals who play on its 16 courts and who still take a seat on the promenade after a set or two, hoping to visit a green flash. The green flash occurs on rare occasions when the sun hits the horizon at the end of an extremely clear day.

The Beach and Tennis Club is not the grandest of most resorts on earth, but it includes a certain something that lots of the newer and bigger operations do not possess. Perhaps, it's soul. It is probably the soul of the Kellogg family that continues to oversea the property. It could be the eons of paint that cover the adobe walls producing a color you can't quite identify. Is it salmon? Is it orange? Could it be tan? The rooms are small, but are continually being upgraded. The grounds are kept immaculate having an infinite variety of palm trees swaying in the sea breeze high above the court fences. And there are roses, lots and lots of roses. Nothing significant has changed at the Club for a long time and probably that's why is it so special. My partner can verify that. She started playing here as a young girl in junior tournaments, then in women's events and finally in national senior championships, winning titles along the way. She is one among the many champions who've played at the Club through the years. Stoffen, Mako, Budge, Gonzales, Kramer, Bond, Ralston, Olmedo, Bundy-Cheney, Fleitz, Brough, Laver, Emerson, Smith, Lutz, Ramirez, Edberg, Osuna, Pasarell, Roddick, Conners, Segura and a million more.

So it is with great excitement that we have returned to the La Jolla area, correcting the mistake of having left to begin with, and especially on this day returning to the Club to lunch with old friends.

Old friends are not just old, as in this case, but old as in friends for a long time. Jay Smith probably the most vociferous of the luncheon attendees greets us with his usual enthusiasm, "Marv, Sally, great to see you. Roger was fantastic yesterday, wasn't he?! The greatest player I've ever seen!" Jay speaks with some authority, a former teaching pro out of LA, a connoisseur of tennis for quite some time, a heady competitor himself and today a scratch golfer. "He's got everything," continues Jay. "His serve is probably not as large as Roddick's, Pete's or Pancho's, but he's consistent and his placement is superb." His wife Sheri nods. She lets Jay do almost all of the talking most of the time. She sits quietly and waits her turn, usually when things quiet down. Learning the overall game in later life, Sheri herself has turned into a keen observer of the game.

"Uh huh," agrees Sheri.

"I'd need to agree too," adds Mardi Stein, another of our table companions. She has played social tennis at the Club for years and like Sheri, what she lacks in skill she accocunts for for in dress. These two are possibly the best dressed players this side of Sharapova.

Mardi's husband Shel, who's usually as quiet as Sheri, breaks in, "I believe there are 8 critical skills to tennis greatness." Shel is a fine player and tough competitor. He could be intelligent and mindful on and off the court so his opinion counts here. "Most champions possess 3 or 4 4 of the abilities in spades - a big serve, killer forehand, lethal backhand, aggressive volley, fantastic return, great court coverage, concentration and the capability to win critical points. I believe Federer has them all. He is the greatest by default."

"I wouldn't disagree," says a voice from behind me. I turn to see that Jack and Carmen Stone have arrived to join the luncheon party. "He could be the very best I've ever seen," continues Jack, and Jack has seen lots of tennis players over the years. He has been an associate of the Club for 50 years and still plays a respectable game of doubles. His wife Carmen still turns heads when she enters an area. Her beauty is not only skin deep. She actually is lovely in every way and shares a pastime with Sally in matters of a spiritual nature.

Sally chips in, "He plays in the ethers."

"What? What are you discussing?" demands Jay.

Sally has a tendency to see things in a different light, even if she is agreeing with everyone, as she was here. "Don't you see the way he moves around the court? He is absolutely one with the ball. He progresses another plane, like JORDAN did on the basketball court. He could be fluid. He is liquid. He could be airborne. He is the greatest tennis player of all time. No-one comes close!"

Words began to fly, but finally I couldn't take it anymore. "I strongly disagree!" I volunteered. The table conversation stopped. I continued, "I believe the greatest player is the person who has made the greatest impact on tennis to date and that has been Bobby Riggs!"

"Riggs?!" yelled Jay. "He was a hustler. What did he ever do? What have I missed here?"

Now I had to explain myself. Diners at nearby tables were perking up their ears as our discussion became more heated. "Firstly he was great - a world champion at the age of 21. He won the singles title at Wimbledon, 3 U.S. titles, played on the Davis Cup Team. He also won Wimbledon doubles and mixed doubles titles. He loved tennis and he too had all of the shots and some trick ones not seen today. Yes, he was a hustler, but he was also a tennis promoter. In fact the single biggest tennis event, actually the single biggest athletic event, ever sold was created by Riggs. The Battle of the Sexes $100,000 Winner-Take-All match against Billie Jean King in 1973, uplifted the knowing of tennis to the level of a major sport. There were 30,000, standing-room only at the Houston Astrodome with another 50 million TV viewers around the globe. Not even the 2008 Democratic and Republican Conventions reached 40 million and they were the biggest viewed ever sold Riggs efforts along with Billie Jean King's did more for women's lib than all of the efforts up to that point. That event helped women break the equal pay and equal everything barrier in lots of, many fields beyond tennis. Besides all that he was a man in his mid-50's who could still play at a very advanced. Sally and I understand this from personal experience because he came to Aspen in 1976 to help us open a fabulous new tennis club called The Tennis Club.

Back in the mid 70's when Sally and I first met up she was ending her career as a touring Virginia Slims tennis pro, still ranked in the top 20 on the planet, and I had just left a top marketing and promotional position with Hallmark Cards in Kansas City to pursue my entrepreneurial destiny. We were offered an opportunity to go to Aspen with a deed to 25 spectacular acres of land along the Roaring Fork River just south of town to develop a world-class tennis resort for a fresh York investor. The offer was worked out on a paper napkin as we had lunch at the center court restaurant due to the old Forest Hills Tennis Club where in fact the U.S. Open was being held. Sally will be the head rackets pro and I would supervise construction of the brand new club and the sale of 20 luxury condominiums scheduled to be built on the club property.

After Sally played her last Slims tournament in Austin, Texas, we packed our bags and headed for Aspen. The investor had wisely hired a local Aspen attorney, Andy Stern, for us to utilize to secure the required local government approvals before starting construction on the project, together with build an interest in the club for local and non-resident memberships. We'd likewise have the 20 condos to sell.

So that it was with great anticipation and a feeling of freedom that we made our way by car along Interstate 70 out of Denver through the low reaches of the Rockies toward our future.

We hit Glenwood Springs, then turned south on Highway 82 for the last 40 miles up along a narrow alpine valley bordering the Roaring Fork River. Cascading water ran from the higher elevations of Independence Pass and the Continental Divide in to the river and down the valley. The fresh air and the chance of wandering trout streams felt good to my soul. The aspen trees making use of their shimmering golden leaves welcomed us along our new path. "Sally, I know I'm going to like this project. I know it!"

As we passed through Carbondale, still climbing, the ranches looked grander, the cattle looked bigger and the river looked clearer. Finally at an altitude of 7,500 feet we entered the little town of Basalt, where just one more whitewater river roared. That one, running east to west, called the Frying Pan, falls into the Roaring Fork which runs south to north. The largest landmark in Basalt can be an old cowboy bar called the Frying Pan Restaurant and Bar. Right out of the 1800's, this is a hangout for after work ranch hands. "Let's stop," I said, eyeing some fishermen laying their catch out on the porch of the restaurant. I've got to check this out."

We climbed the steps and peeked in to the creels the men brought to carry their catches. "Looks like you've had a good day," I ventured.

"Always an excellent day here. Always a good day," was the response from a vintage weather-beaten local still casting in to the Frying Pan close to the porch. But better still was the response from the restaurant. Wafting out of your doorway was the smell of fresh, pan-fried trout. The fisherman, who looked as though he had experienced these mountains since birth, continued to fill me in, "Rainbows. We mostly catch rainbows having an occasional brownie occasionally from the deep pools close to the waterfall. But, if you are adventurous you can try several high mountain lakes where you may catch some golden trout - above 10,000 feet. Great eatin'."

My mouth was watering, not merely from the smells escaping from the nearby kitchen, but from the possibility of wandering stream and lake banks and actually catching fish. Probably the most precious times in my youth were spent with my dad doing that - hopping from rock to rock, casting, reeling in, moving along and casting again with the promise of a fish dinner in the evening and all the while not paying attention to how my feet got me from one rock to another.

"Would you give us a little background to the area? I asked. "Tell us about Aspen."

That brought a smile to the old man's face. His hands continued doing the tasks of a fisherman without his great deal of thought. "Well, it goes back to the Ute Indians. Since way back when they used to summer in the high meadows here, hunting elk. In the late 1800's silver was discovered and all hell broke loose as miners came and raided the place. A big mining camp on the Roaring Fork developed called Ute City. It's now Aspen, but even then it had everything - an opera house, hotels, banks. Actually they're still here today - the Hotel Jerome, the Wheeler Opera House, even the Ute City Bank. But like many good things, the boom didn't last. The price of silver crashed and the population which was nearly 12,000 dwindled to 800 people." He stopped to cast again.

"In the 30's, I really believe it was, a wealthy Chicago industrialist named Walter Paepcke tried to build a ski resort, but World War II changed things. The area was turned into a training ground for the 10th Mountain Division to obtain our troops ready to fight the Germans in the alpine areas of Europe. That was my unit and after the war a lot of us returned here. We loved it and knew it had been special. A number of the men, like me, became ranchers. Others like Friedl Pfeifer formed the Aspen Ski Corp. That's how Aspen had become."

We thanked our new friend and went inside to see if the trout tasted as good as it smelled.

more info narrows the previous few miles into Aspen, winding above the river, then opens up into the last high meadow before climbing almost straight up to Independent Pass, the most notable of the Rocky Mountains with an altitude of over 12,000 feet. On that last high meadow sits the town of Aspen, now a complicated, refurbished Victorian village using its own airport capable of handling small private and corporate jets. Meticulously restored, the city glows from the faces of its charming multi-storied buildings and brick chalets making use of their arched windows and peaked roofs. The Aspen Music Festival was in full session when we arrived, with a huge selection of student, classical musicians inhabiting every nook. Every street corner and every open window above every store along Galena, Hyman and Main streets was enlivened making use of their magical music making. They rehearsed 24/7 to the delight of the locals and their instructors who included a lot of the world's greatest musicians such as Itzhak Perlman.

Above the rooftops and the din, stood the most majestic of most mountains, Aspen Mountain, called Ajax by the locals. It soared from the biggest market of town up through the clouds to 11,000 feet. This is indeed a sublime place no wonder so many free-spirited celebrities like John Denver, Jack Nicholson, the Kennedys, Clint Eastwood and Merv Griffin made Aspen a regular stop or perhaps a second home.

So in the summertime of 1975 we moved into a vintage sod-roofed ranch house in the middle of those 25 acres with the Roaring Fork River rumbling nearby. For another year we worked hard and long to bring the proposed project to fruition. But it was whenever we got close to the end of the construction phase that people decided that people needed a dramatic event to launch the membership program also to start the condominium sales.

We had it all. Our new mountainside complex boasted three indoor tennis courts, 12 outdoor courts, two squash courts, 16 racquetball courts, a complete indoor gymnasium, an indoor swimming pool and spa, plus a beautiful restaurant, lounge and bar. On top of this, it had been staffed by top health practitioners. Although there were five other tennis clubs in town, there was nothing like this in Aspen at that time. But we needed a large event never to only draw attention to the project, but additionally to draw focus on Sally, the first female head pro of a major tennis club in the U.S.

At a particular breakfast ending up in our Aspen attorney, Andy, our New York investor, Ben Goldstein, and some key Aspen local leaders, we proposed bringing Bobby Riggs to Aspen to play Sally in a winner-take-all exhibition tennis match. This is just 3 years after Bobby had played and beaten Margaret Court in a "Battle of the Sexes" match, claiming that no professional woman player, no matter how strong could beat a professional man player, whatever his ranking. He proved it once. Then, of course, a couple of months later with that same bravado he took on Billie Jean King. Over 50,000,000 people worldwide watched that eventful match on TV. Bobby was featured on the cover of Time magazine. History was made because the glass ceiling of a cement tennis court was broken, thanks to Billie Jean.

We felt we're able to draw the eye we wanted through the help of Bobby. Fortunately, he was available. The offer we exercised was simple. It guaranteed him $3,500, plus a chance to win the $1,000 winner-take-all challenge money. Naturally we had to add his airfare, room and board, but that was easy. We were a resort. We also asked that he make himself designed for socializing with our locals. He was only too willing. We planned to invite everybody in town to enjoy the event and the particular glam he brought with him. Having never met Bobby Riggs, I must say i did not know what to anticipate, so we tried hard to cover all VIP treatment bases.

Among the key supporters of our project was the president of the neighborhood branch of a statewide bank chain. He suggested that their bank chain co-sponsor the function, not merely to defray our costs, but being an incentive to their customers. They finished up giving away tickets at all of their branches throughout Colorado, for any new deposits of several thousand dollars or more.

Coloradans love any excuse to go to Aspen, so the event wouldn't normally only bring potential new members to your club, but fill hotels, restaurants and the club stands. It will be a great promotion for everyone involved. The function was starting to grow and grow, dealing with a life of its. Again, I had never met Bobby Riggs, therefore i didn't know what to anticipate. But, this event was needs to ramp up -- big time!

Copyright 2008 Marv Huss

Marv Huss graduated from the University of Callifornia, Berkeley. Captain Huss served in the USMC as a fighter pilot in the South Pacific. After his military service he rose through the corporate ranks at Hallmark to corporate Director of Advertising, in charge of the Emmy-award-winning "Hallmark Hall of Fame" television series. Retiring from corporate life he helped create a world-class resort, The Aspen Club in Aspen, Colorado. In the 90's, Marv focused his marketing skills on his wife - considered among the leading artist/writers in the united kingdom. Together they will have licenesed her art on clothing, purses, books and even baby bibs. Their latest creation, Happy Musings, is a newspaper feature combining her charming art with a whimsical life thought syndicated by King Features. Happy Musings are actually available as e-cards at [http://www.happymusings.com] or through http://www.sallyhuss.com Marv now lives and writes full-time in his home in La Jolla, California while overseeing his wife's artistic endeavors.
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