Bill Simons
Tennis promoters come and go. Sponsors and players alike – inflated with high hopes – emerge and vanish. But when it comes to junior tennis, there was just one starting point – Seena Hamilton.
Brash, feisty, wise, lovable and inventive, the passionate one-of-a-kind New Yorker long was a larger-than-life presence – a benign force to be dealt with.
Back in 1968, Hamilton was a PR pro and a newcomer with a vision to create a junior tournament like no other. From then on she ranged from being an outspoken thorn in the ample side of the establishment to a valued consultant to the USTA which, at last, came to draw from her well of wisdom.
Comfortable in assorted roles, Hamilton was an author, editor and corporate consultant. She also worked with Wimbledon, the US Open and the Olympics. An Upper East Side hostess of note, she brought together top players like Arthur Ashe and Stan Smith and CEOs and media moguls for her annual rooftop party during the US Open.
But junior tennis and her beloved Easter Bowl was Hamilton’s oyster. More than just a tournament, the junior festival, which still thrives, was touted as “the Wimbledon of the national [junior] tournaments.” With an array of tournaments, it has been a launching pad for cream-of-the-crop pros (just ask McEnroe, Austin, Shriver, Roddick or some guy they call Connors, who, as a pugnacious kid reached the finals of the first boys’ 16s at the Easter Bowl back in the days of President Lyndon Johnson).
To Hamilton, the Easter Bowl was far more than a mega-cluster of well-run elite-level matches. Always held at user-friendly resorts where kids, parents and coaches mix and mingled, it was where she initiated key studies and seminars on serious junior issues – travel costs, health, parenting and assorted stresses – that benefited the game greatly.
At the core of Hamilton’s success was not merely a tireless drive, but a cutting-edge insight and creativity. Her secret was simple: Bring big-money corporate America and public relations savvy to the party. (“Hey baby, junior tennis has sizzle, so lose the bake sale mindset.”)
As writer Al Picker noted, “She didn’t invent junior tennis, she just made it famous.” Seena regularly got the backing of sneaker and bottled water corporations, or Gatorade or makers of snazzy sunglasses. One official said the Easter Bowl generated $1.6 million a year for the Coachella Valley community.
Tennis is a sport that invites energetic innovators and rewards wise entrepreneurs. In junior tennis, many contribute selflessly, but few could stand in the shadow of an inspired dynamo-extraordinaire – Seena Hamilton, who passed away earlier this week at age 92.
