YTA Kid”s Dinner Honors Buz Walters
Youth Tennis Advantage is honoring age and youth — Frank “Buz” Walters and Kenzo Hirakawa Wong of San Francisco — at its For the Kids Dinner at Stanford.
Walters, an investment advisor from Atherton, active player, former YTA president and founding board member, will receive the TYA’s coveted Arthur Ashe Excellence Award for his continuing commitment to bring tennis and tutoring to youngsters in underserved Bay Area communities. Hirakawa Wong is to receive a new YTA award called Scholar Athlete Emeritus. The college senior is a product of YTA programs. He became the only player in history to win four consecutive San Francisco city high school championships while attending Lowell. He plays on the Santa Clara Univ. varsity and is honored for YTA community volunteer work as a collegian.
The July 29 dinner is held during the Bank of the West Classic in a big tent near Stanford’s Taube Stadium and attracts around 200 patrons. It’s a major fundraiser sponsored by Blue Shield of California. The Oakland-based nonprofit has been hit by the economic downturn.
Emcee Barry MacKay will conduct the annual interview with a Bank of the West star player who is unannounced until the evening arrives. Bank of the West is sending YTA $10,000 for the first 200 money pledges made for the organization’s Aces for Kids program.
Peter Pearson Arrested; Goes Up for Strike 3
Peter Pearson, who dominated NorCal tennis headlines in the ‘80s, faces a third strike that could put him behind bars for life after he was arrested in June for pulling a string of Peninsula bank robberies.
Police arrested Pearson, 53, June 10, without incident in a Mt. View motel. An officer who had seen him at the Pacific Inn at 1984 W. El Camino Real recognized him in surveillance film taken during a June 8 heist at California Bank and Trust, 700 W. Camino Real. Pearson took a taxi from the bank to the motel, a getaway mode he had used before, police said.
Police departments from Mt. View, Sunnyvale and Santa Clara were investigating five bank robberies and one attempted robbery they believed were connected. Police said they found incriminating evidence in Pearson’s Pacific Inn room. Pearson was on probation. He had been released 18 months previously after serving time on a drug conviction. In ‘98, he was arrested in Oakland on nine counts of casino online robbery, mostly of small businesses, and was found guilty.
A much different court from the one he mastered as a child star and then a pro tour player will decide his fate. Liz Smylie, Mt. View police public information officer, confirmed that Pearson faces a third strike. He’s being held without bail in San Jose Main Jail.
The smooth-stroking lefthander from Sunnyvale was nationally ranked No. 4 in the 16s in ‘72 ahead of Gene Mayer and Nick Saviano. Pearson was NorCal’s top junior the next year, a handsome, curly-haired youngster with a charming smile and promising future. He attended USC on a tennis scholarship but was asked to leave the team, his friends told IT in ‘98.
Pearson turned to the pro tour. He became No. 118 in the world in ‘78 and had wins over Tomas Smid and Paul McNamee. But his friends said he started a crack cocaine habit on tour.
Back in NorCal, Pearson was ranked among the area’s top three men players from ‘79 to ‘87. He won many open titles and was IT Player of the Decade, as announced in the ‘90 NorCal Yearbook. Pearson graduated in ‘97 from a drug rehab facility in Napa. His mother and daughter attended the ceremony and the twice-divorced Pearson vowed to toe the line. Four months later, driving a car erratically at night with no lights, he was stopped in Oakland and arrested for robbery.
Western AC Offers Multi-Club Memberships
Western Athletic Clubs is offering membership plans that package its clubs. The Club West plan means you can access all nine of Western AC”s Bay Area clubs — San Francisco TC, the Bay Club Financial District, Bay Club Marin, Courtside Club, Decathlon Club, Golden Gateway Tennis & Swim Club, Pacific AC, the San Francisco Bay Club and The Gym-Tiburon.
“There are 56 tennis courts in the system,” said SFTC GM Larry Krieger. Also available is an Executive Club membership, which includes the five S.F. clubs.
Stanford Teams Add Five Blue Chips
Stanford varsities welcome five blue chip recruits in August, three men and two women who are among the nation’s top high school recruits, according to the TennisRecruiting.net website.
Stanford men hope to make up for its senior losses — Matt Bruch, Blake Muller and Jeff Zeller — with Matt Kandath of New York, Denis Lin of Thousand Oaks and Walker Kehrer of Pacific Palisades. The website calls them blue chips — the top 25 graduating prospects.
