Historic Sendoff for Bradley at Alpine Hills
The closest thing in history to what happened the night of Nov. 1 at Portola Valley’s Alpine Hills Tennis and Swim Club was an old-fashioned ‘60s love-in.
So many people jammed the clubhouse that by the time you burrowed your way to the hors d’ oeuvres your drink glass was dried up or spilled. The local Fire Marshall wouldn’t have been amused.
More than 600 club members, teaching pros, coaches and former college players converged to wish tennis director Chris Bradley godsend and a big thanks for the memories. There were plenty. Bradley, a go-getter and idea man with a quip, had been a fixture for 35 years and a friend and mentor to three generations of kids and as many adults.
The club had not renewed Bradley’s contract. And it had set him free just the day before. But the club showed class by springing for his last hurrah. Bradley was up to the emotional challenge and replenished himself with music. An avid Deadhead, he periodically tore himself from the arms of friends to play blues harmonica with a pickup band. They weren’t very good and it sure didn’t matter.
Someone said they didn’t know that this many people — elbow to elbow — could fit into the glassy Alpine Hills clubhouse that’s nestled into the bucolic countryside. It was like stuffing a phone booth, and the atmosphere was delirious.
The club walls were plastered with nostalgic photos that sent members back in time. Guests waited in line to pen touching comments in a sign-in book about Bradley’s affect on their of life, the good times, the laughs, the legacy he leaves.
Stanford’s Dick Gould and Frank Brennan were there, plus so many former Stanford players, teaching pros from the Peninsula and East Bay, members young and old and of course Bradley’s wife, Christine, and son Matt.
“Gee,” one attendee observed, “there won’t be this many at my funeral.”
Bradley got a severance package but didn’t retire. He casino has settled into teaching on courts mostly south of Portola Valley.
“It’s a new life,” he says, “and I’m enjoying it. I have some things going, too.”
He always did.
The Farm’s Klahn/Thatcher No. 1 in Preseason
Stanford scored a historic first in doubles at the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor title in November and three months later the Cardinal’s top men’s team received the ITA’s pre-season No. 1 national ranking.
Cardinal sophomores Bradley Klahn and Ryan Thatcher won the men’s doubles at the Yale event in New Haven and Stanford’s Hilary Barte, a junior, and senior Lindsay Burdette won the women’s title. Officials said it was the first time in the tournament’s history that teams from the same school won both events. (The men’s championship was inaugurated in ‘78 and the women’s in ‘84). The Cardinal women’s team got ranked No. 2.
The Campbell ITA pre-season national rankings also put the Stanford men’s squad at No. 9 behind USC, No. 1, and UCLA No. 4. Stanford women were No. 13 behind Cal, No. 3, USC, No. 9, and UCLA No. 12. Stanford’s two-time NCAA semifinalist, junior Alex Clayton, was not among the top ten in singles. ITA rankings are computed every two weeks starting in February.
Stanford’s Plans For ‘11 NCAA Championships
In preparation for hosting the combined men’s/women’s ‘11 NCAA Championships, Stanford tennis is adding some bells and whistles this year equal to primo extras that fans expect at Grand Prix sites.
Near the stadium, which will get a touch up, will be a large screen bringing all manner of results to viewers. It will feature live matches on various courts, the scores of matches in progress, live tennis broadcasts, videos and DVDs, and snippets from YouTube. Stanford will refurbish its varsity locker rooms and lounges and add scoreboards and video streaming for all its 12 competition courts for the May 19-30, 2011 event. Also, “thanks to a special gift honoring coach John Whitlinger,” the Cardinal website says, a grand kiosk will be added. It will feature 300 hours of “on call” historical DVDs of the Cardinal’s players in college and in the pros, John McEnroe, Tim Mayotte and Jim Grabb among them. The all-weather kiosk will have 24-hour access.
Stanford hosted the NCAA women’s championship in ‘97.The Cardinal won the team title, and its top players, Lilia Osterloh, won the singles title. She and four teammates received All American honors.
Pearson’s Plea: No Contest
The Probation Department will recommend a sentence to Santa Clara Superior Court by March 18 for former NorCal tennis star Peter Pearson, who pled “no contest” Jan. 25 to five counts of robbery and one count of attempted robbery.
Pearson, 53, faces a sentence of 182-years-to-life in prison. With two previous felony convictions he is a “three-striker.”
The Department 88 judge has discretionary power in setting the sentence, which will likely be issued in May, Deputy DA Erica Engin, who prosecuted the case, told Inside Tennis.
Pearson was arrested without incident in a Mt. View motel in June for pulling a series of bank robberies in the area. Pearson played on the international pro circuit in the late ‘70s, won many NorCal men’s Open titles and was IT’s Player of Decade in the ‘80s.
