Doubles Championship

When I was in college, I had a part time job during the summer maintaining the dirt tennis courts at Presbyterian College in my hometown of Clinton, SC. The job didn’t pay much, but it got me outside, and I had plenty of people with whom to play tennis. I had never been much of an athlete and certainly didn’t aim to become a tennis pro, but I developed a rather unusual serve. Later, as a member of the US Navy stationed at NAS Pensacola, I was greeted one day by Chief Cantland, a known expert tennis player. He said to me, “Cooper, I understand you play tennis. I want you to be out on the courts tomorrow at 2:00. It’s the base doubles  championship, and my partner has hurt his leg. Can you serve?” When I indicated that I would do my best, he said, “Then just serve and get out of the way.” We won the base championship without much help from me. However, when I did serve well, the crowd went wild, figuring out right away that I was no Andre Agassi. That trophy is the only sports trophy I ever won.