When it comes to having a sports-related fund-raiser, golf tournaments are at the top of nearly every list. They are a popular choice for major sports figures, large corporations and civic groups.
Yet when the San Diego chapter of the Breakfast Club America ” whose membership includes many prominent local business leaders ” decided to create a weekend event to help raise money for the community, the members ultimately decided on a tennis tournament. Yet they did not stop there. A wheelchair tennis tournament was their final choice.
“There are already enough golf tournaments, so we didn’t want to do another one,” said Jim Bernet of the Breakfast Club America, one of the key organizers of the event. “We wanted to try something a little different but at the same give back to the community.”
The first Wheelchair Tennis and Luau event was launched June 16 at Barnes Tennis Center in Point Loma, with proceeds benefiting Sharp Rehabilitation Services.
According to Bernet, there was plenty of initial skepticism about whether a sporting event in which such an overall small percentage of the population can participate would draw enough entrants and interest.
“Most people thought we were crazy. We created the tournament for 48 competitors, and almost everyone predicted we would be lucky to get half that number,” Bernet noted. “We ended up with 70 entrants, of which 22 of those are juniors. The response has been unbelievable.”
Bernet said entrants came from as far away as Ohio, Texas, Utah and Nevada.
“The age range of the entrants is from 8 years old to 60 years old,” he said.
As the event title suggests, this one-day tournament offered much more than simply wheelchair tennis, with a Hawaiian-themed luau next to the tennis courts.
So, where does the inspiration for such an event begin?
“Last year at the U.S. Open wheelchair tennis tournament here in San Diego (in October), some of us begin talking about having a similar event,” said Mike Lutosky, who is also a Breakfast Club America member and event organizer. “One reason we chose this date is because it falls between French Open and Wimbledon Grand Slam tennis tournaments, so people are more aware of what is happening in the sport.”
Highlighting the tennis action was the final match of the day in the Men’s Open Division between two competitors ” Derek Bolton and Steve Baldwin ” who first learned how to play wheelchair tennis in San Diego.
Each rose to a Top 10 ranking in the world. Baldwin won the pro-set match 8-4.
The announcer for the match was well-known television sports commentator and La Jolla resident Dick Enberg, assisted in the booth by Jim MacLaren. As much as Enberg’s career is one that creates envy for even the most casual sports fan, MacLaren’s story is one that often brings people to tears of admiration.
MacLaren, who played football at Yale and was working toward a career in acting, was broadsided by a 40,000-pound New York City bus, which ultimately resulted in his left leg being amputated below the knee. The year was 1985.
Eight years later ” in 1993 ” MacLaren, who had since become a world-renowned triathlete while competing with an artificial lower left leg, was competing in an event in Mission Viejo.
On a closed course, a van suddenly crossed his path, and MacLaren was thrown from his bicycle against a signpost. The accident left him a paraplegic, with a broken neck.
“I am just a 44-year-old work in progress,” MacLaren told the crowd after the Bolton-Baldwin match. “Trying your best means exactly the same thing, whether you are Lance Armstrong, an 80-year-old woman or these two men who just played tennis.”
The event also had special meaning for MacLaren.
“Last year, I spent 36 days at Sharp Rehabilitation Services,” he said. “Everyone there is like family to me.”
This was the way Bernet had envisioned the spirit of Saturday’s event.
“If there is one thing I don’t like to do on the weekends, it is leave my children,” he said.
“Everyone here today is a volunteer. Nobody is being paid for their efforts. All the kids helping are children of parents who are also here. In addition, we asked the competitors to all bring a friend, family member or loved one with them. We wanted this to be something for the entire family.”
Plans are already under way for next year’s event, and organizers are hoping it will be even more successful.
“The business community’s efforts through donations, cash, prizes, products and more has far exceeded our expectations,” Bernet said.
For more information, call (888) 738-7808, or visit www.wheelchairtennisandluau.com.
Information about Breakfast Club America is also available by visiting www.breakfastclubamerica.com. MacLaren’s story can be viewed online at www.jimmaclaren.com.