I am writing to provide further background into “Peek Into the Past” regarding the Novice Junior Tennis Tournament in 1962.

This was the brainchild of Dick Gould, who was the tennis professional of Fremont Hills Country Club at the time. We all know him now as the premier college tennis coach in the United States, since he has been at Stanford for the past 34 years. He designed this novice tournament, held annually during Easter week, for unranked junior players to give them a chance to work their way toward the finals. This would not have been possible in a sanctioned tournament filled with top-ranked juniors.

Gould was also the catalyst for the formation of the Los Altos Tennis Players Association to achieve his aim of boosting junior tennis interest in the area. He enlisted Joe Ignatius and me to spark this endeavor, and we raised funds by selling memberships for small fees.

To further raise funds, LATPA, under Gould’s intuitive direction, sponsored several tennis exhibitions in the gymnasium at Foothill College. These were well attended and featured Dennis Ralston, the greatly missed Rafael Osuna, Jane Albert, the daughter of Stanford’s Frankie Albert, Julie Heldman, and a number of well-known Australians. The money generated from all this went to pay for instruction, warm-up jackets and bus trips to junior tennis tournaments in Sacramento.

LATPA (subsequently renamed Mid-Peninsula Tennis Patrons Association) sponsored another of Gould’s ideas, the “Champagneships.” This was a fun weekend doubles tournament for men and women held annually for several years on private courts in the area and was a memorable event. Throughout all of this, Gould was the visionary and the maestro.

Frederick Costales

Los Altos