Hall of Fame: Dina Birch-McBride (Estancia)

Richard Dunn

With the right look and tennis swing, Dina Birch-McBride has gained

more notoriety on the set than any match.

Birch-McBride, once a touring pro on the Women’s Tennis Association

Tour, has filmed two television movies and three commercials, including

the recent ABC movie “When Billie Beat Bobby,” a show starring Holly

Hunter and Ron Silver, depicting the 1973 Battle of the Sexes at the

Houston Astrodome, when Billie Jean King defeated an aging Bobby Riggs in

perhaps the most unusual tennis match in history.

Birch-McBride, who was Hunter’s tennis-playing body double in the

movie, which aired April 16, was also a body double in the television

movie “Costly Affair.”

“If they like your look and how you hit the tennis ball, you’ll

usually get the part,” said Birch-McBride, who does not knock on

Hollywood doors for auditions, instead relying on an agent to find gigs.

These days, the former Estancia High tennis standout is busy as a

first-time mother, raising her leap-year baby boy, Parker, who was born

Feb. 29, 2000.

Birch-McBride married a tennis player, Desi, and plays open mixed

doubles with her husband. In fact, the couple won the Adoption Guild

Tennis Tournament in mixed open doubles in 1997, when they started

playing together.

That’s when her father, Tom, officially approved of his daughter’s new

dating companion.

This year, Birch-McBride has enjoyed a banner season, winning the open

singles and doubles titles at the prestigious Ojai Valley Tennis

Tournament, along with women’s and mixed doubles victories at the Irvine

Open and singles and mixed doubles titles at the Arcadia Open.

The couple also reached the Adoption Guild mixed doubles finals this

year at Newport Beach Tennis Club.

“People ask me, ‘How can you play with your husband?’ But it’s not

hard at all. He’s so easygoing and we’re both pros. He doesn’t try to

coach you,” she said.Birch-McBride said one of her career highlights is

winning two Ojai titles in the same year -- 14 months after giving birth

to her son.

Last year, eight weeks after her son was born, Birch-McBride won the

Ojai women’s doubles title with partner Tracie Currie.

Birch-McBride, who grew up in Costa Mesa and graduated from Estancia

in 1990, played at the University of New Mexico for 1 1/2 years, then

turned pro, earning world rankings in the top 500 in doubles and 630 in

singles after only one year on the WTA Tour’s satellite circuit.

Birch-McBride, however, realized how difficult it was as a touring pro

physically and financially. She was able to get her amateur status back

and returned to the collegiate scene at the University of San Diego,

where she graduated in 1995.

At Estancia, Birch-McBride played No. 1 singles for three years,

following former Eagle standouts Cathy O’Meara, Natalie Hastings and her

sister, Elena.

Beginning at age 12, which is late in life for most junior tennis

players, Birch-McBride picked up her first racket and played at Mesa

Verde Tennis Club and Los Caballeros in Fountain Valley. She made her

biggest steps, she said, at the Balboa Bay Club Racquet Club junior

program under Sam Olsen.

When she started playing tournaments in the girls 12s, her opponents

already had solid strokes, while she was relying heavily on athletic

ability.

Eventually, Birch-McBride found her stroke, and, by the time she

reached the 16s, her Southern California singles ranking was in the top

30. By the 18s, she cracked the top 10.

Birch-McBride and her husband, who live in Woodland Hills, are hoping

to open a tennis club in Valencia, the first of its kind in the Santa

Clarita Valley.

Birch-McBride is the latest honoree in the Daily Pilot Sports Hall of

Fame.