Sam Milstein combined his passion for tennis with running a tennis and ski shop.
Milstein, who died at his home Saturday at 99, and his brother, the late Sid Milstein, owned the Aspen Leaf in Cherry Creek for almost 30 years.
The store, one of Denver’s earliest sports stores, sold tennis and ski clothes as well as equipment for both sports.
Milstein opened his first tennis store in Hollywood, Calif., and after a few years moved back to Denver, said his daughter-in-law, Pat Milstein, of Denver. He opened the Denver Ski and Tennis Store at 14th and Tremont streets in downtown Denver, in the 1930s and moved the store to 221 Detroit St., in 1950, said his son Peter Milstein of Denver. Sam Milstein sold the store in 1970 and it is now a home furnishings store.
Milstein’s love of tennis earned him many trophies. According to a 1966 column in The Denver Post, he won the first tennis tournament he entered, at age 14. He won several Denver city championships, the Colorado State Closed Tournament, tourneys in Arizona and reached the quarterfinals in the European Senior Championship in Cortina, Italy, in 1958.
Both he and his brother were charter members of the Denver Tennis Club, and Sam Milstein coached tennis at the University of Denver and University of Colorado, according to The Post. Columnist Charlie Meyers called them “Denver’s elder statesmen of tennis.”
At one time Sam Milstein had a tennis court at his home in west Denver and finals of the Denver tournaments were held there, Peter Milstein said.
Sam Milstein loved to tell stories, said Pat Milstein, and one of his favorites was about his father, Harry Milstein, driving cattle through downtown Denver.
Peter Milstein said the cattle arrived by train from their grazing pasture in the mountains. The animals likely were driven from the train station to the Elephant Corral, a downtown city block were cattle were butchered in the early 1900s, said historian Tom Noel. The Elephant Corral is now an office building. The original Elephant Corral was bordered by Blake and Wazee and 14th and 15th streets.
It was moved out of downtown when citizens complained of the smell, said Noel.
Sam Milstein was born in Denver on March 29, 1909. He was in the first graduating class at East High School’s present location. The school had two previous locations.
He got interested in tennis early, getting jobs maintaining the courts at Washington Park and the Denver Tennis Club.
He married Hilde Brandt in 1940. She and her sister-in-law, Sally Milstein, did the buying for The Aspen Leaf. Hilde Milstein died in 2003.
In addition to his son, Milstein is survived by another son, Gene Milstein, of Genesee, two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Virginia Culver: 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com