Friday, August 15, 2008

Blast from the Past - Tennis

Here are some old pictures from my senior year of high school. I played #2 doubles on the tennis team at Burke High in Omaha, Nebraska.

I chose tennis because I needed a sport that I could letter in so I could get a letter jacket. That's really the only reason. Football was out of the question - I was too scrawny. I tried out for the basketball team but didn't make the cut (by a long shot). Couldn't swim worth a flipper. Didn't care to run around in circles or for no apparent reason. That pretty much left tennis...

Here's a group of us relaxing while some of our other teammates played. This was a home meet at the fabulous (read: beat up and run down) courts of Burke. I'm there along with Troy Morris, Chad Surles, Brad Kratky, and Charlie Lessman.


This picture is from one of our daily practices. Coach Lundeen had this new "3-D" camera he was trying out. In the original pic it looks like my racquet is jumping off the picture at you. Kind of neat. My doubles partner was Ryan Caswell. He was a freshman. I was a senior. That was a little...um, awkward at first, but in the end we made a really good team. In fact, we beat the guys that ended up winning the State Championship the only time we played them. I remember that in the first match we played together, I beaned him square in the back with one of my serves.


This is from the 1991 Nebraska State Tennis Tournament. It was our first round match against Benson High. That's me with the ferocious overhead smash. We won. We were the #6 seed, and made it to the quarterfinals before losing.


And finally, here's me in the letter jacket I wanted so badly.

13 comments:

Brenda said...

Oh my goodness! I have no words for this! You are a BRAVE man!;o)

I would have to think that you probably beaned Ryan in the head just because he was a freshman!
Guess that killed the awkwardness...and probably gave him a good headache too. But I could see it as something you would do. ;o)

The jacket....PRICELESS!!!

Tammy said...

The hair....PRICELESS!!!

Brenda said...

See...now I wasn't going to mention the hair Tammy! I think it's priceless cause he had more of it back then! ;o)

(that's going to hurt me later isn't it?)

Shane Coffman said...

And it was so thick!

Anonymous said...

I hear you! The only reason I joined Latin Club was because I knew I could get the letter without any athletic ability. The irony is that I never bought the jacket because I couldn't afford it. So, I got the letter but had nothing to put it on!

Anonymous said...

Dude, you looked like Michael Phelps, minus the mile wide shoulders and towering 6'4'' frame. Awesome!

Shane Coffman said...

Wow. I'm not seeing that resemblance at all.

Maybe I should watch more of the Olympics.

Jeanne said...

Wow!

Mike Morton said...

There aren't too many high schoolers who do the letter jacket thing anymore. That's sad. I remember that a bunch of us in our high school went and bought our jacket as soon as we got that letter! I think that mine could walk by itself now, though.

TREY MORGAN said...

That last picture is the coolest.

preacherman said...

I needed a good laugh tonight.
Just joking.
Thanks for sharing with us.
I hope you have a great week Shane.

Linda L said...

No kidding about Michael Phelps! I had to do a double-take when I saw that picture! I love to see old pics of people I know! Thanks for sharing, you ARE a brave man!

Dixie said...

yep, that's how I remember you and then when I see you every now and then I see you like that first, and then realize we're grown-ups! And sweet Alice looks exactly the same!!!! Some folks have all the luck.
Take care
Dixie