Milton Tennis Club Centennial

The Centennial Celebration

On June 17 2023, the Milton Tennis Club held a grand celebration of its 100 year history. As part of the festivities, Jeff Truswell presented this narrative, accompanied by club members in period dress (photos at the end). 

Thank you for joining us today to celebrate the Milton Tennis Club’s 100 year anniversary! 

We will take a journey from the club’s humble beginnings to the first class facility it is today. 

First let’s welcome Abegail Cabio and Ghalib Riaz to the court. Abegail is dressed in typical 1920’s wear. You could also see shorter, light-weight dresses, tights, and headscarfs all coming together to create that Roaring 20s look. Many men wore the knickers along with matching sweaters and socks that were also popular for golf. Men’s 1920s Tennis outfits included: high waisted white pants with turned up cuffs and a thin belt of brown or black leather. They wore white dress shirts, unbuttoned at the top with rolled-up sleeves. Players used wooden racquets often with a sweet spot the size of a grape, oh my…did someone say frame shot!

Key Canadian events during this time include: The discovery of insulin, the halibut treaty, the king- byng crisis and the great depression. Now let’s get back to our journey.

In 1922 three men had a vision. That vision was to build two (and later three) courts to bring together the Milton community through the sport of tennis. Rex Hume, Dr. F.E. Babcock and Thomas A. Hutchinson bought the Main Street swamp filled land for $50. Wow, you can’t even fill up your gas tank for $50, how times have changed.

The three men hauled in loads of clay to create the Milton Tennis Club’s clay court surface. Yes, you heard me : the Milton Tennis cCub began as a clay court facility.

By 1923 the tennis courts were constructed and the Milton Tennis Club was officially established. There were no lights, so the members had to play during the day or just after work before the sun went down. And there was no fence : the members played in what seemed like an open pasture field.

In 1932, lights were installed and night time tennis began. By 1935, the Milton Tennis Club was participating in tournaments with neighbouring communities of Acton and Brampton. A wire fence was put up at the back and on one side of the court to contain stray tennis balls. A clubhouse and benches were made by the members of the club.

Tennis play was limited throughout the 1940s into the early 1950s due to the World War and economic recovery. At one time there were only 14 members. By the mid-1950s there was a significant rise in membership. The club entered the Inter-county League where they played against Brampton, Port Credit, Acton and Mimico. We continue today to play Inter-county against some of those same clubs.

Now into the 1960s : Let’s welcome Irene Carroll and Barney Henderson to the court.
Men dressed in classic sweater vests and collared polos. Women often wore low waisted dresses with a flanked skirt. During the 1960s, synthetic fibres such as quick-drying polyester began replacing cotton.

Key Canadian events included: The great Canadian flag debate, Expo 67 and the October crisis.

As these events were happening, the Milton Tennis Club continued to grow in membership and resources. In 1964 the courts were upgraded. Three courts were re-constructed, with new lighting, nets and fencing. By 1965 membership rose to 150 members.

As the club membership continued to grow, a new facility was sought out, and in 1969 the Milton Tennis Club moved to Rotary Park. With this move, lessons, junior programming, club tournaments and social events flourished.

The 1970s were termed a “Tennis Boom” as the popularity of the game skyrocketed. World class players like Laver, Connors, Newcombe, Ashe, Borg captivated many of us with their stylish shots. John McEnroe burst onto the tennis scene with his -let’s just say – glowing personality. Remember the ”you can’t be serious” event?

In 1975 the MTC members built their clubhouse. An adult could get 8 lessons for $5 and junior lessons were free. [Nowadays $5 doesn’t even get you a can of balls.]

The rise in popularity of tennis led to an increase in competitive adult tournaments and rivalries.Jeff and Carl Smith, Chuck Alcock and Mike Rigo, Bill Morgan and Jamie White, Anne Wollaston and Pauline Brand were some of the champions along the way.

Into the 1980s. Let’s welcome Dave and Judi Adams to the court. The Adams are dressed in
classic 1980s wear. Short shorts for men were in fashion, and skirts and visors for the ladies. In the 80s, the bright yellow tennis ball was adopted so that it could be more easily spotted in televised matches, replacing white tennis balls from previous years.

World events included creation of the first mobile phone, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the attempted assassination of US President, Ronald Reagan.

By 1980 a Milton Tennis Club ad hoc committee had been formed to look for another new MTC site, due to the continued rise in membership. Committee Members included: Barny Henderson, Bruce Hood, Bill Morgan, Tony Schafer, Jamie White, Roy Wollaston. Original plans included a community centre with racquetball courts and a pool, as well as additional rooms to host social activities. Though the full dream wasn’t realized, the club did move in 1983 to our Child’s Drive location : 6 beautiful hard courts and a cottage-like clubhouse were built. It was a perfect escape from the elements as the courts were nestled between houses and a berm protected the courts from the wind.

I’ll always remember the social events at the Child’s Drive location. Car rallies, fashion shows, scavenger hunts, casino nights, over 40’s “white glove“ tourney, and so much more. It was also the introduction of the Rideout Auto Part parent/child tournament, the Gordon’s Gin Charity Cup tournament, the junior Shrader cup, the high school challenge tournament and the Gallinger Cup, where a local car dealership sponsored an adult tournament and gave cash prizes to the winners. We even participated in the Santa Claus parade and had our own segment in the Milton Champion newspaper. One of the more popular ones was called “on the courts with Fran Frampton.”

In the 80s the Milton Tennis Club joined the Lakeshore League, as well as the Sunday Morning Men’s League. MTC’s legacy of having formidable teams began and over the years the Milton Tennis Club won several league titles, including three division-one titles in a row.

In the mid-1980s, the junior program exploded, first under Tony Schafer’s guidance and later Pat Rideout’s. As many as 125-150 juniors participated in junior team tennis (house league) alone. We had grand slam tourneys, junior interclub, fun Fridays. In 1988, we hosted our first Junior National tournament. Tony was awarded the Distinguished Service Award by the Ontario Tennis Association for his contributions to the sport of tennis.

In 1990 we again hosted a Junior National tournament. Many MTC members opened their homes to players all over the country. Yes, that’s right, most players stayed at member’s homes, only a few stayed in hotels.

The 90s also sprouted new Milton Tennis Club tennis talent. Katherine Rammo was one of the fiercest and most talented junior players of that era. She dominated back-to-back Junior singles national championships, even though she was two years younger than her competition, and she represented Canada on the world stage. If not for a serious wrist injury, we may have seen her on TV playing for WTA titles.

The success didn’t stop there for Milton Tennis Club members. Tony Lechee represented the MTC and Canada at the World Deaf Games and the Deaf Olympics.

Junior social programs also expanded in the 90s. A junior executive was established. They successfully raised monies through fundraising and purchased new tennis nets for the club, participated in charity fundraising for the Salvation Army, decorated a float in the Santa Claus parade and hosted some of the most epic junior fun Fridays.

Some included: talent shows, the price is right, scavenger hunts, an evening at the club with magician and acrobatics, comedy nights and much much more. These events were solely organized by the junior executive made up of youth between the ages of 9-16 years.

As we reached the end of the 90s and into the early 2000s uncertainty hit the tennis club.

In the early 2000s, a developer came looking to expand the housing market in Milton. Our location proved too tempting for both the developer and Town and we were told we would have to relocate. Nervous tension filled our minds as our private nestled community club was being taken away from us.

In came the new club committee to try and salvage the legacy of the Milton Tennis cCub. Led by Belinda Kuipers, the team of Tony Schafer, Barney Henderson, Tracy Morgan and Jeff Truswell negotiated with the Town and developer to secure an eight court facility, with the structure to support a winter facility down the line. This new location was where we stand today : the Santa Maria location.

Let’s welcome Brian Fernandes and Ritchin Sen to the court (photo below). In the 2000s tennis evolved from flat strokes and continental grips to full western grips with heavy topspin and power tennis. Tennis attire went from short white shorts and heavy cotton or polyester t-shirts to microfiber, quick dry materials, poly strings and high-tech tennis racquets.

During this time of evolution, the Milton Tennis Club followed suit. In August 2003, the long awaited Santa Maria location was completed. We hosted our first tournament of the year the day after the paint had dried. The courts were done but the windscreens not yet installed.

For those who haven’t played at the club on a regular basis, we sit on some sort of weird wind tunnel/vortex that has caused wild playing conditions. Gusts have been so bad that they’ve taken down our fences on a number of occasions. Imagine that first tournament day without windscreens. Let me just say there were a lot of swear words, oh my! With Town support of planting trees and creating a mini berm, as well as our extra duty windscreens, things are a lot
better now.

The 2000s saw the continued evolution of the tennis club. Both the junior and adult programs offered and continue to offer a variety of lessons, activities, socials, non-competitive and competitive matches. Milton re-entered the adult Inter-county league in 2003 and over the years MTC has been league and playoff champions in the Mixed adult league A, B, and C divisions, as well as, Junior league and playoff champions. Go Milton!

Let’s not forget the social events: Wimbledon strawberries and cream, Survivor theme, Hawaiian evening, Christmas in July and so much more. We launched our website in 2006 and later moved to online booking. We were ahead of our time for a community run outdoor facility.

We introduced the Belinda Kuipers tournament in 2010, as a way to celebrate her life and raise funds to complete the projects on her “MTC wish list”. It was more of a social tournament, with auctions, merchandise tables, food, tennis, prizes and fun.

At this time, we also started to see the rise of another junior talent, Rachel Krzyzak, who started playing tennis at 3 years old, emerged to become five-time provincial singles champion, U12 national singles and doubles champion, U14 nationals doubles champion, U16 national singles champion and G5 ITF singles and doubles champion. She also represented Team Canada at the 2017 World Junior tennis championships. She’s currently attending Ole Miss in the United states on a tennis scholarship.

I can’t talk about the 2000s without mentioning the expansion of the singles ladder. This has been arguably the most successful adult program through the 2000s. Dave Fairfax and his incredible organizational skills has evolved the ladder into a template for other clubs to emulate. He often gets requests to use his format. Many players who don’t live in Milton join the club specifically to play in Dave’s ladder.

Shifting to 2018, it was a year of transition. The club was closed for most of the
season due to major court reconstruction. Nassagaweya Tennis Club and other supporting clubs helped provide tennis opportunities for our members. Susan Kitamura and the executive led the membership through these times, offering options and reassurance. She also helped solidify the partnership between Tennis Clubs of Canada, the Town of Milton and the Milton Tennis Club. In 2018, winter tennis finally arrived in Milton! Tennis Clubs of Canada operates their programming through the winter and the volunteer-run summer club takes over May 1st of every year.

Susan was also instrumental in bringing back the Junior Nationals to Milton. In 2021 and 2022 the Milton Tennis Club hosted the U16 Fischer Outdoor Junior Nationals – and both of those years we had Milton Tennis Club players win the girls doubles championships. In 2021 Ellie Daniels and her partner won and in 2022 Andrea Cabio won with her partner. Make sure to see Ellie and Andrea’s full player profiles in the memorabilia tent.

Thanks to the Pro’s in the past and our current Pro’s from ACE who have provided the foundation for developing great tennis champions.

In addition to the Nationals, the last few years brought a host of other junior and adult tournaments to the club, including U10-U18 selection tournaments, adult 4.0 and 5.0 tourneys and the Milton “Hydrogen” Open, where the top players in Ontario compete for cash prizes.

The Milton Tennis Club is known as one of the premier outdoor facilities in Ontario. Okay, I just made that up, but I think it’s true! The volunteers, the programming, the high quality instructors, the balance of recreational and competitive opportunities, make the Milton Tennis Club an elite facility that has something for almost everyone.

I’m so proud to be a part of this amazing club that has survived through world wars, the great depression, upheaval and reconstruction over the years. I have been a member for 40 years and hope to be a member for another 40!

Thanks to all the tennis demonstration players and the 100 year committee of Kim Robinson, Tracy Morgan, Dave Fairfax, Divya Kala, as well as Susan Chen and Susan Kitamura for all your hard work and support. Many many hours behind the scenes have allowed today to be a true celebration of this amazing club. Thank you and thanks to all who have come out to support us today.

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