March, 2009

Venice Tennis Player Profiles

Welcome to our inaugural player profile. For our first installment, we picked a player who recently experienced a sports milestone. We have the unique pleasure of introducing Richard "Dick" Morse.

Several weeks ago I had the privilege of visiting with Dick and his lovely wife Charmaine, at their home in South Venice. When we sat down for a interview I had no idea what to expect, but was immediately put at ease by their graciousness and homespun manner.

When you spend any time with Dick, you feel relaxed and comfortable and are pleased to discover that someone near the very top in their sport can be humble about their accomplishments. He has no need to boast. The record does that for him. I did a little digging beforehand, though, and found his record of success on the court to be extraordinary.

There are statistics that tell the tale, and I'll cover those briefly, and then move on to what I think is equally impressive about him.

Achieving the the #1 ranking in New England in any sport is a huge accomplishment, but Dick did so during each of the last three decades. Making it more impressive was the fact that he didn't take up the sport of tennis until well past his 30th birthday. If tennis were a religion, and some treat it as such, Dick some day might be honored as the Patron Saint of late beginners.

On June 21st, 2008, Dick was inducted into the USTA New England Hall of Fame. At the ceremony, held in Newport RI., he was honored for both his personal rankings over the years, and for being nine-time captain of the Atlantic Coast 65 and 75 teams. Also, and equally important, he was honored for supporting tennis off the court by being a seeding committee chairman for 18 years. This was very beneficial to the USTA. Because of his extensive involvement in competition (New England and Florida), he well knew the nationally ranked players in his age group and their respective ability levels.

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