Hyde’s tennis game still at an elite level

Chris Yemma

When Palisades Tennis Club regular Bill Hyde was 17 years old, he won

the national hardcourt championship in singles and doubles in the

under-18 category. Fifty-three years later, he’s back at it again.

This year, at age 70, he won the national clay court championship

and the national doubles championship in the men’s 70-and-older age

group. He placed second in the national grass court championship and

third in the national hardcourt championship, all with three

different doubles partners.

Just how many events has he won over the years?

“Oh, I don’t know, it’s too hard to count,” he says. “It’s in the

hundreds.”

But in between Hyde’s younger years and golden years, he wasn’t

really playing tennis.

After playing for and attending UC Berkeley, he joined the Navy

during the Korean War. And, after the Navy, he went to work in

business.

During those years, he didn’t have much time to take down Agassi

or Sampras at Wimbledon. He had an MBA to pursue. He became a senior

marketing manager for an oil company. He got married, had a couple of

kids -- on and on and on.

And then he retired.

“I was so used to working 60-70 hours a week,” Hyde said. “I

didn’t know what to do.”

So, he wrote a book -- a science fiction western called “Bodie,”

which takes place in a small mining town near Mammoth Lakes during

the gold rush era.

But finally, after this accomplishment, and that promotion, he

swayed back to his roots.

He even partnered up with an old UCLA rival he used to play tennis

against while playing for Berkeley. Together, Hyde and Dick Doss

teamed up to become the senior tennis champions of the world.

Well, that doubles team won a couple national championships, but

Doss was the one to go on to win a world championship, with a

different partner.

So, Hyde only became the national champion -- what a letdown.

“In the 70s division, [Hyde] is definitely one of the top players

in the country,” Doss said.

Hyde said his aspirations in tennis are nowhere near over yet. He

wants to try and follow in the footsteps of two of the most famous

doubles players ever -- Gardnar Mulloy and Billy Talbert.

But there might be a holdup in this year’s plans for any world

competition.

“They’re being held in Turkey this year, and that’s not the

friendliest of places,” he said. “But, down the road, there’s no

reason all of us can’t continue to play until we’re 90 or 95.

“I’ll keep striving. It’s not about money, it’s about the pleasure

of being in the company of good people and good competition.”