Tuesday, July 19th, 1977, Mercersburg Academy

It's hot again, I survived the day, Im in my room and according to WRCV its 103-degrees. It's hotter than a pizza oven in this room...Its so hot that I got a towel wet and wrapped it around my head just to cool off. When I was upstairs a few minutes ago Rick Fanning and Tom Vrana were in the showerroom sitting on chairs under the streams of cold water. They have been in there over an hour. Everyone has their ways of cooling off, I feel sorry for the kids they're really taking it hard. Mr. B had the pool opened for them and thats helping a lot...they place was packed.

I hit with camper Kathy Maso. Shes 16 and will play in the East Orange Pro tournament later this summer. She is solid off both sides, hits deep and doesnt miss...ever. We had one rally that lasted 55 hits cross court. She also has a solid serve and excellent returns.

Mr. B and I were watching Victor Amaya play at the Star. He is 6 feet 7 and has a cannon for a serve...its coming in at least 130 mph...but the guy he was playing this guy from the UK named Bertram, drop shotted him like crazy. Mr B says that if someone drops you, you should run with the racquet in front of you fully extended to give yourself the advantage of reach...and then you change the direction of the ball with a flick of the wrist should your opponet break one way or another. I tried it today and Mr. B is right...you dont have time to chase down a ball, pull the racquet back and then hit the shot. Its little tips like this that makes a difference in match play.

We got the video taping done, it was such a long tedious process but Mr. B's stories were fantastic. He told me a story about Betty Stove the great Belgian player...shes at least 6'1 and a very big girl. Mr B. told me that he and Billie were at Wimbledon practicing and someone threw a ball and hit her in the head. She came over to FXB and asked if he threw the ball, Mr. B. didnt and said so but she didnt believe him so she came over and picked him up and carried him across the court. He said Betty is sweet and nice but is strong as an ox could have suffocated him, it was a funny story and Mr. B's embellishments made it even better. He told me all about Clark Graebner and how he met his tennis pro wife Carol...he said in the late 60's they were the tennis couple of Forrest Hills.

Mr. B also told me Lenny's story. Lenny Saks is a counselor from Cambodia. He told me that his family escaped from the Khymer Rouge. He said they got out with just the clothes on their back and said thats why Lenny is so driven...and he's right, the kid wants to be the best at everything and he is...His tennis is perfect and flawless, his piano playing is stunning, Mr B says the kid made it through High School in just two years and will make it through college is three years. I dont know how he finds these counselors, all intelligent, all achievers.

Mark and I are still doing well on ball duty. Last session we lost just 48 balls...thats an average of just 5 a day. Mr B says he's never lost so few balls...I told him the count should be a bit better because the kids take balls back to their rooms so they can hit early in the morning. Nonetheless he said he's taking me to the Foot of the Mountain resturant for dinner in just a few minutes, he invited Mark but he has a match tonight with John Day.

Its bedtime now, but I have to say the food tonight was amazing. I had Alantic Salmon and had a side order of corn fritters. Mr. B. took a bottle of Rothschild's Mouton Cadet and I had a glass. I dont like red wine but this was very good. We talked about the depression and WWII. Mr. B says that his family struggled through the depression but it wasnt too bad, he mentioned that his mother had won the N.J. state Lottery and that got them through the bad times. I dont know if he was serious or the if the lottery was an allegory for something else but his stories were interesting.

He told me about the time when he was little, seeing Babe Ruth at Yankee Stadium. His story was so real that I swear I saw the Babe strike out twice before hitting a homerun late in the game...I think he said it was sometime in 34 or 35. He said that the Babe had a soft spot for kids...and after one game he was called out of a bar by some kids that wanted an autograph. He said that he signed one and then there were 20 or 30 out there. He signed them all and then had the bartended bring out three cases of coca-cola for all the kids. Mr. B's stories are amazing. I told him that he should write a book, he just let out a belly laugh and said no one would believe it.