On
Friday, 16 teams vied for the 60+ National title. Hank Irvine
and Doug Russell again proved themselves the class of the
field, defeating Steve Bromley and Steve Griggs by a score
of 6-2, 6-1. Griggs and Bromley upset 2 seeded teams en route
to their encounter with the top seeds.
Saturday
dawned wet and ugly, and the weather didn’t improve
as the day wore on. All but one of the registered teams showed
up to play, with the 50+ and 70+ National crowns on the line.
 Rich
Lombard returned to the court following coronary bypass surgery
in December, and paired with Bill Childs to claim the gold
medals in the 70+ category, defeating top seeds Bob Brown
and Howard Sipe 6-2, 6-2.
Team Chicago,
Jean Kempner and Jim McNitt, prevailed over Hank Irvine and
Jeff Hodges (aka Dr. Detroit) in the 50+ division by scores
of 6-2, 6-4. Each pair had a close call competing against
an upset-minded team playing in the rain on Saturday, but
managed to uphold their seedings.
Many thanks
to Ken Persson, Caryl Swain and the staff at Englewood Field
club for all of their work – and the many dry towels
they supplied on Saturday!
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