The Pro-Player

When you look around Dr. Hawking’s classroom, you might notice the not-so-subtle hint of a tennis obsession. A stack of Wilson balls next to the row of sinks. A green, blue and white racket sitting in the front of the room. A tennis schedule taped to his white board.  Or even his electric ball hitter, for if you’re feeling lazy one day. If that didn’t give you a hint, then maybe it’s the stories he tells of being on the pro circuit.

            “I started playing tennis when I was little because I was such a hyper child, that my mother thought sticking me in a 100 foot square I would eventually run out of energy…Which I did. So she kept sending me back day after day and refusing to pick me up until I was manageable. So one day I decided to pick up a racket and play, and its been an amazing ride ever since.”

“I played on the Pro Circuit from 1980 to 1980. Nine months to be specific. My only goal was to be able to say I played in the circuit and had a great time doing it.” His biggest aspiration was to play against John McEnroe, one of the top ten players in the world at that time. But if they had played, “He would have made a fool of me. I really wanted to play him, though. Just so I could stick him in his place because he was always being a big brat on the courts.”

Having to give up his love of the Pro-Circuit wasn’t that hard because, ”It was very demanding, people think it’s all fun and games but it isn’t. My group was playing tennis for 8-10 hours a day and we weren’t even near the best there.  I also had recently gotten married and was starting a family, and I would come home for two weeks and then be gone for eight. We couldn’t afford to bring my wife with me because we didn’t have the spare cash. Everyone assumes you make a lot of money playing pro sports, which you do but you also have a lot of expenses. I mean if my wife had joined me at the time we would have been losing money. So I guess you could say I made a fair trade, Pro-Circuit for a family.”