Back in 1973, when he was graduating from Dartmouth with a bachelor’s degree in engineering science, the odds were probably slim to none William “Bill” Kellogg or anyone else would have predicted that 35 years later he would be inducted into a tennis hall of fame.
“I was planning to attend graduate school right away with a further emphasis in engineering,” Kellogg said. “Honestly, I was trying to avoid any connection to tennis in terms of a career.”
A seemingly simple thing to say and possibly even think but not necessarily to make happen. Especially for someone whose great-grandfather, Frederick William Kellogg, founded what is now the La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club in 1935.
Furthermore, Kellogg had also just completed a stellar tennis career at Dartmouth as co-captain of the team and being named All-Ivy League. This was all preceded by his being a top-ranked junior player in Southern California.
In addition, he attended Thacher School in Ojai for high school, where he played tennis all four years. Tennis up until that point played a big part in his life.
Yet it was a conversation with his father, ironically also an engineer, that may be the defining moment in Kellogg’s life in terms of the direction he would take for a career.
“My father suggested to me it might be a good idea to take a year off before starting graduate school,” he noted. “So I followed his advice.”
What happened next was probably the beginning of the end of any career in engineering.
“I had a friend who was working with Dick Leach (former USC tennis coach and legendary Southern California instructor),” Kellogg explained. “My friend told me his dad had just built a club and he needed to go help him, so maybe I should take his spot and work with Leach. I literally started the job the next day at 8 a.m.”
It was during this time he also took some accounting classes, which he figured would help should he ever decide to pursue a future in engineering.
Then, after a year and a half working with Leach and through a combination of people and events, he was asked to be the general manager and head professional of the Westlake Swim and Tennis Club in Westlake, Calif.
At that point, Kellogg’s career in tennis management was launched and all thoughts of graduate school and degrees in engineering disappeared.
“I had to come up with the marketing plan for memberships and create a teaching program,” he explained. “In addition, I was also doing a lot of teaching and playing tournaments.”
He stayed at Westlake from 1974 to 1979, at which time he decided, after an offer from his brother, to come to work at the La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club. Since 1989 he has served as president of the club and is the fourth-generation Kellogg family member to serve as president of the Kellogg family properties.
So, 35 years later, in a career path he was initially trying to avoid, Kellogg is a member of the 2008 class to be inducted into the San Diego Tennis Hall of Fame on Saturday, Aug. 23 at the Balboa Tennis Club.
The inaugural class of 2006 included Kellogg’s grandfather, William Scripps Kellogg.
“It is an honor to be inducted alongside my grandfather, who had such a big impact on my life and career,” Kellogg noted.
His achievements, contributions and volunteer efforts in helping the sport of tennis are voluminous on all levels ” local, national and international. Kellogg has also given enormous amounts of time to helping his beloved La Jolla community, including being on La Jolla Town Council, La Jolla Community Planning Association and La Jolla Historical Society, to name just a few organizations.
Yet Kellogg believes the dots all connect from those days at Dartmouth to the upcoming induction ceremony.
“I have had a career I never anticipated,” he said. “Yet there is a lot of aspects of engineering involved in tennis, and those accounting classes really helped me with the job at Westlake and my later employment.”
While an induction into almost any hall of fame often signifies an exclamation point in a person’s career, Kellogg talks as though this is just the beginning of another phase in his life.
“It is a little strange to be inducted into a hall of fame when my tennis career is not yet finished,” he said. “I am in a position where I can help bring even more tennis to La Jolla and San Diego.”
Other members of the 2008 class are Franklin Johnson (immediate past president of the USTA); Brian Teacher (former touring pro); Jim Perley (senior tennis standout) and Jean Kremm (San Diego Tennis Patrons volunteer).
The Balboa Tennis Club is located at Morley Field. The induction banquet begins at 4 p.m. Tickets will sell quickly and are very reasonably priced at $15 each. They can be purchased by mailing a check made payable to SDDTA (San Diego District Tennis Association), 2221 Morley Field Drive, San Diego, CA 92104.