Tennis: Venerable Adoption Guild Tournament turning 40

Richard Dunn

It is the second major tennis tournament this month at Newport

Beach Tennis Club with an adoption agency as the beneficiary.

But, in this one, it’s a milestone anniversary for both the Adoption

Guild Tennis Tournament -- it turns 40 -- and Holy Family Services, the

nonprofit charity which has been helping local families for 50 years.

In keeping with tradition, the Adoption Guild tournament will take

place over Memorial Day weekend, starting Saturday, and conclude June 2-3

at Newport Beach.

The venerable Adoption Guild, which, like Memorial Day, represents the

unofficial beginning of summer, is one of the oldest sporting events in

Orange County and has been the largest charity doubles tournament in the

nation.

With $6,000 in prize money at stake in men’s open singles and doubles,

the Adoption Guild has increased the purse from last year in those

divisions by $1,000.

Brett Hansen-Dent, the 1990 CIF Southern Section singles champion from

Newport Harbor High and NCAA All-American at UC Irvine and USC, is the

defending champion in singles, beating Michael Jessup in last year’s

finals, 7-6 (5), 6-3.

Hansen-Dent and Jessup are seeded No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, this

year, according to tournament co-chair Gail Glasgow, the all-time

winningest player in Adoption Guild history with 11 open titles.

The former No. 1-ranked men’s doubles team in the world of Scott Davis

and David Pate is seeded first in two Adoption Guild draws -- the men’s

35s (or seniors) and men’s open doubles.

Davis, who recently made his debut on the men’s senior tennis circuit

at the Success Magazine Champions Tour at Newport Beach Tennis Club, is

the club’s director of tennis.

In 1985, Davis touched the No. 11 spot on the Association of Tennis

Professionals Tour computer rankings and enjoyed victories over, among

others, Stefan Edberg. Then, in 1991, Davis and Pate won the Australian

Open doubles title, elevating them to No. 1, where they lasted for about

six months before finishing the campaign No. 2 behind Australia’s John

Fitzgerald and Sweden’s Anders Jarryd.

Davis, a former Stanford star and the ATP Tour’s Rookie of the Year in

1983, and Pate played doubles for the U.S. Davis Cup team in ’91 in a

semifinal tie against Germany in Kansas City, Mo., a home victory led by

Jim Courier and Andre Agassi.

It should be an exciting 40th anniversary for the Adoption Guild with

Davis and Pate playing doubles.

Over 600 players are registered to compete in this year’s tournament.

One of the changes at this year’s Adoption Guild, Glasgow said, is

allowing juniors (18 and under) to play in either the open or 6.0

divisions. Previously, they only played in the open divisions.

Newport Beach resident Donna Davison, president of the Adoption

Guild’s South Orange County chapter, said 30% to 60% of the agency’s

placements each year involve “special needs” children.

Davison, whose handicapped son, Billy, is also 40, got “hooked” on her

involvement with the Adoption Guild because of her own son.

“In pursuing his needs through the years, I have witnessed the crying

need of this segment of our society,” she said. “It is truly the neediest

of the needy. Holy Family Services is extremely unique in its devotion to

this very special cause.”

Holy Family Services provides counseling, adoption and foster care

services for children, regardless of race, religion, sex or ethnic

origin. The adoption agency also provides free birth parent counseling,

temporary foster care, in-home counseling services, parent education and

community outreach, as well as assistance to “special needs” children.

Davison added that Holy Family Services is generally the first contact

local hospitals make when an unwanted handicapped child enters the world.

The Adoption Guild has has raised over $2.5 million for Holy Family

Services over the years, including $83,000 last year.

The Champions Tour, the five-day event which concluded May 13 at

Newport Beach Tennis Club and featured John McEnroe, also benefited an

adoption agency.

The event raised about $50,000 for the Kinship Center, Henry Brehm,

the tour’s executive director, said.

The Lido Isle Tennis Club boys 12-and-under team, coached by Jon

Flagg, won the USA Penn League Southern California regional championship

last month at UCLA.

Ian Connolly, John Hutchinson and Daron Arnold played singles, while

Connor Curry and Wade Hatton played doubles for Lido Isle.

In the finals, Lido Isle defeated Rancho Bernardo Tennis Club, 3-1,

and beat Lakewood Tennis Center in the semifinals on games, 35-32, after

a 2-2 tie.

“Little tiny Lido Isle -- shaking up the world,” said Flagg, the head

professional at one of the smallest tennis clubs in the nation with two

courts, but one which is producing remarkable players.

The third annual Quiksilver and Roxy Junior Open for nationally ranked

players is this weekend at the Los Caballeros Racquet & Sports Club in

Fountain Valley.

Corona del Mar’s Cameron Ball and Carsten Ball in the boys, and

Natalie Braverman of Newport Beach in the girls, are among the top-seeded

players.