Editor’s note: In the Colorado Classics series, The Denver Post takes a weekly look at individuals who made their mark on the Colorado sports landscape and what they are doing now.
Bill Wright always can find time to put tennis on the map.
He could be walking outside his home in Tucson and not pass a tennis court without giving an impromptu lesson to a youngster. Or the pupil could be President Gerald Ford in a different venue, a different time.
It doesn’t matter; they all get a dose of Wright’s enthusiasm for his sport.
“It has been a lifelong thing,” Wright said. “It’s wonderful to work at something you really love.”
Youngsters and presidents aren’t the only people who have shared Wright’s tennis wealth. On the way to induction into the National Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame last week at Stanford University, Wright coached men’s teams at Denver, Colorado State, Illinois, California and Arizona.
“He isn’t a ‘will sit still a minute’ (guy),” said Tad Berkowitz, the tennis coach at Arizona. “He just brings a lot of positive energy. If it’s Tuesday afternoon, he’s giving somebody a lesson. There’s always a smile on his face and that energizes his teams.”
Berkowitz was Wright’s assistant coach at Arizona and took over when Wright retired last year at age 67.
Berkowitz’s description of not sitting still explains why the collegiate season was just part of Wright’s tennis year. When the college season was finished, Wright went to Vail, where he was the resort’s director of tennis from 1972-99.
“I couldn’t have raised a family on a tennis coach’s income,” Wright said. “When I went there, Vail was just getting started. It was just a wide spot on I-70. I was there during the glory years. During the school year, I was immersed in my team. Vail was a wonderful escape for me.”
Tennis wasn’t a sport that fell into Wright’s lap. He grew up in Cheyenne and had to come to the Denver Tennis Club for instruction. Wright credits John Marshall, his junior high school physical education teacher, with installing an interest in tennis.
“There wasn’t much tennis in Cheyenne,” Wright said. “There wasn’t any baseball in high school and at 5-foot-7, 160 pounds, I was too short to play basketball and too small to play football.”
Wright would go to Denver a couple of times a month for tennis tutoring. After high school, he went to Southern Methodist, helping the team to its first Southwest Conference tennis title. Wright was part of the conference doubles championship team.
Wright took a brief venture into the newspaper business in the late 1950s while a law student at DU, working on the weekend high school staff at The Denver Post. He kept his tennis skills, winning the Denver Tennis Club’s city title in 1960.
As a player, Wright competed on the amateur circuit and was ranked 44th in the country.
“I played against a lot of good players,” Wright said. “I lost in the finals in Detroit in 1964 to a young player who no one had heard at the time, Arthur Ashe. But I kept going the wrong way in the rankings and decided to turn my attention to coaching.”
Wright was the men’s coach at DU in 1961 and at CSU in 1962 while he still was playing. He became a full-time coach in 1972 at Illinois, moved to Cal for 12 years in 1974 and coached at Arizona for 19 years.
While at Cal, Wright had some of his best success. His 1980 team won the national indoor championship, and he was national coach of the year in 1978 and Pac-10 coach of the year in 1981. While at Arizona, Wright was Western regional coach of the year in 2002 and 2004. He retired with 436 career victories.
“I don’t know how many losses are there,” Wright said. “I’m not much of a statistics guy.”
Wright has highlights, including being nervous during his instruction with President Ford.
“There were Secret Service guys all over the place,” Wright said. “They actually stopped the traffic on I-70 because the courts were next to the highway. He hadn’t played much tennis, but he was a good athlete.”
What to do now? That’s easy. Wright is going to China next fall on a coaching assignment. The Chinese are gearing up for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
Irv Moss can be reached at 303-820-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com.
