Evening star., 1941-08-06
Tennis Graybeards
Put Life in Sport
As L Ebbs Here
Men 40 and Over Take
Spotlight From D. c.
Title Tournament
BY BILL DIsMER, Jr.

Graybeards came to the rescue
OF the District tennis tournament
today at Edgemoor Club.
With interest in local racketing
about to hit an all-time low as q
result of the same old faces in the
quarter-fnal round for the third
time this season, complete boredom
was to be averted through the start
Of . competition which may prove
rs laugh-provoking-in its early
rounds-as 1t Is novel.
We refer to the beginning OF the
veterans tournament, the first held
here in years and which Is open
only to men 40 years Of age and
older. 1t should be productive OF
more news, humor and good fellow
ship than any local tournament for
q long time.
Forgetting for a moment those
who have been seeded, for they're
really not so feeble, 1t should be
worth the price Of a taxi to Edge
moor just to see such gents as A..
K. Tigrett. Chet Adair, Strand
johnson, Dick SPENCER and Charles
Hackney, ST., tearing around the
courts In shorts.
Veterans in q Serious Mood.
They're taking 1t all mighty seri-
ously, too, and already squawks are
being heard from some that they
deserved to be seeded. Because they
weren't, they're set to take the courts
with as much blood in their eyes
as there isn't spring in their legs.
Personally, we think the commit
tee did fairly good job Of seeding,
for the four ranked favorites-
Comdr. r. N. Dole, Deane Judd,
Hugh Trigg and Col. Carl Ristine,
president of the District Tennis As
sociation-still have plenty of tennis
in their systems. To be sure, they
play purely for recreation these
days, but we guarantee they're get
ting more pleasure out of the game
than their younger colleagues who
take everything so darned seriously
in tournament competition.
Apparently, though, tournament
was just what these old-timers
wanted, for IS of them signed up
for the event, which wasn't publi-
ciZed much. Seven vacancies still
were open in case any late-comers
wanted to enter before today's 6
pm. deadline.
officials are confident the final
will be reached by Saturday so that
the battle for the veterans cham
pionship may be played in conjunc-
ton with the finals of the District
mems tournament Sunday after
noon. Newspapermen were trying
to verify the rumor that Barney
Welsh and Don Leavens, If they
reach the final as expected, will be
asked to make their match the
preliminary Sunday.
Due to Reach Semifinals.
Both Welsh and Leavens were
due to arrive in the semifinal round
tonight, with the former beating
Bill Breese and the seasons most
consistent runnerup disposing of Ed
Kilgus. From that point it will be
only matter of time until Welsh
whips Charley Charming in the
semifinals of the lower half of the
draw and Leavens beats Hugh Lynch
for the third time this year in the
upper half
Charming eliminated the next-to-
last unknown quantity yesterday
when he routed Bill Black, 6-1,
SO. Lynch, meanwhile, found his
experience much too much for
young Eddie Miller, the newly
crowned public parks champion.
Miller bowed. 63. 81.
quarter final doubles pairings to-
day sent Leavens and Murphy
against Shenkin and Rosenbaum,
Bennion and Underwood against
Royal and Smith, Lynch and Welsh
against Lyman and Dole and Chan
ming and Breese against Adair and
Miller.