June 12, 1977

To wake up on the Mercersburg Campus is a lot like waking up in heaven. The first thing you hear is the sound of birds chirping, then there is the sunlight streaming through the big maple trees and the smell of the wet dew in the grass. To the east the sun comes up early and with no curtains in our room it was imposible to sleep past 7-am. I was tired but woke up in the middle of the night because Mark Sanderson snores a bit! At 6'3 he barely fit in the bunk bed.

We got a room on the main floor of Fowle Hall on Sycamore Avenue. This is one of the underclassman dorms and during the year 95 boys live here, the dorm is very nice. Our room is the first room to the left off the lobby, theres a payphone on the wall and every now and then it rings with people on the other end asking for phantom and long departed students.

By 7:30 we were on the courts next to Nolde gymnasium. Part of the gym is ancient, built in the 20's the other part is new and the pool is spectacular, one of the finest I have seen on a campus, much better than Idaho State's pool complex.

Mark is a good hitter with a solid forehand and backhand, hes a bit slow and doesnt handle the short shots well...but he smashes his serve, just crushes the ball. He plays with a wood Spaulding, perhaps the worse wooden racquet out there, he does well despite the equipment.

We had a meeting at 9-am with the Head Counsellor Tom Sheridan, he is a tanned and blond and from Michigan, seems like a nice guy. He just graduated from the University of Georgia and has a car here! The assistant head counsellor is a guy from Scotland by the name of Eric Riley, I hear he is the Scottish champion and even played in Jr. Wimbledon. I saw him hit and he about the best player I have ever seen.

The town of Mercersburg is very beautiful with cobblestone sidewalks old mansions, it doesnt look as though things have changed much since the civil war, there are buildings from colonial times in the city square.

After lunch at the amazing Ford Hall we hit again on the clay, its so slow that I can easily hit with the hardest hitters, I have never had so much time to hit a ground stroke!