Tennis Bums show age is but a number: ‘They liven the courts up in the morning’

It was 2017 when Richard Wolff met the Tennis Bums. The Elgin native was playing a round of singles at Naperville’s Nike Park when he came across the group.

“They said, ‘Hey, you want to play tennis? You look like you’re old enough,” Wolff said, flashing a grin. Eight years later, he’s still playing with them.

The Tennis Bums have been a local staple for more than two decades. A community tennis group with a 4.0 rating by U.S. Tennis Association standards, it boasts members from Naperville and surrounding suburbs. The catch: members are, at their youngest, in their 60s. The oldest Bums are in their 90s.

“It’s a great, great group, you know?” Wolff, 77, said. “We aspire to play well but, hey, we aspire to play.”

Speaking on a Monday morning earlier this month, Wolff stood beside a few of his fellow Bums after a couple hours of play at Plainfield’s Five Star Tennis. On any given Monday, Wednesday or Friday, that’s where you’ll find the Tennis Bums — scuffing around a few courts from 8 to 10 a.m. on the dot. That’s their well-worn routine these days, members say.

“It was a great find,” Wolff said. “I don’t know of any other groups like this.”

The Tennis Bums date back to 2003. It was founded by then-Naperville resident Richard Hutter. The group started out of a senior tennis match that Hutter organized among friends at the Vaughan Tennis Center in Aurora, he said.

By word of mouth, the group caught on and today totals 22 members.

For years, the Tennis Bums played at Vaughan through the winter months and at various outdoor courts — from Naperville North High School to Nike Park — in the summers. But lately, Five Star has been their go-to spot year-round.

Five Star co-owner Robin Henders said he’ll never forget the first day he met the Bums.

“We sat in (our) lobby,” Henders recalled. “They sat me in a chair and there were probably 15 or 16 of them that sat around me in like a semi-circle. And they just fired off questions to me … I think just to vet us out and make sure that we kind of knew what we were doing.”

The Tennis Bums came to Five Star a year after it opened. Henders, a graduate of North Central College in Naperville, launched the Plainfield facility alongside Dan Brown, former tennis coach at Naperville Central High School.

Brown and Henders crossed paths while both were working on tennis programs in the area. The pair started to stage summer tennis camps together back in 2007 and by 2014, they were breaking ground on their own facility.

Offering 11 indoor tennis courts, Five Star really “hangs its hat” on junior tennis, Henders said. But the center has programs catering to every age group. The Tennis Bums especially help Five Star “run the gamut where we do have something for every single type of tennis player that exists,” Henders said.

They’re a testament to what — and who — Five Star is, he said. A tennis club “is what it is because of the people that come in here and the atmosphere you create,” he said, “and (the Tennis Bums) are a vital part of it, for sure.”

Moreover, they prove that tennis really is a lifetime sport, Henders said, noting “they liven the courts up in the morning.” And to not only keep at the sport but do it with a tight-knit cadre of friendly competitors — that’s a “life goal,” he added.

“That’s amazing,” he said. “If I can be in my 70s, and I’ve got a group of guys that are like that, that I can count on and continue doing life with, that’s incredible. … Everybody should be so lucky to have a group like that.”

Asked if he’s ever played with the Bums, Henders said, “No, no. I don’t know if I could hang. I don’t play much these days. (They’re) the wily veterans.”

Born and raised in Ohio, Hutter, 89, started playing tennis when he was 36 years old. He and his wife moved to Naperville in 1980. His tennis career stretched on 51 years. He stepped back from the sport a couple of years ago, he said, but to this day remains close with the Tennis Bums.

He frequents the Bums’ post-play hangout spot: a nearby Panera Bread.

“It’s 8 to 10 a.m. (on the courts) then to Panera. We solve the problems of the world,” Hutter quipped, “and talk about all kinds of (things). It’s great camaraderie.”

It’s meaningful too, Hutter said. He pointed to members who are widowers or who have had health challenges.

When member Dick Jensen lost his wife nearly four years ago, the group came to her service, Jensen said.

“It’s kind of like just an extension of a bunch of brothers,” Jensen, 88, of Naperville, said. “They’re really caring and a good group.”

Jensen is going to keep playing with the Bums “for as long as I think my body will allow me to,” he said. “I like to play with the young guys because they can run the court,” he said.

William Jones, 76, of Shorewood, plays primarily for exercise, he said. Being a part of the Tennis Bums is especially helpful after having “a massive heart attack a year ago,” he said.

“If I don’t have exercise, my feet swell (and) my blood pressure goes up,” he said. “When you get older, you’ve got to find some exercise that you enjoy. People say swim. … My wife swam but I can’t stand swimming.”

Jones has played tennis since he was 10 years old. He recalls shoveling snow off the outside courts to play in his hometown of Lisbon, about 50 minutes southwest of Naperville.

Shrinivas Kamath, who offered a coy “70-something” when asked for his age, said he’s been playing tennis for 40 years. From India, Kamath said he moved to the western suburbs in 1982. He started out as a ping pong player but switched to tennis at the suggestion of a friend.

He looks to the Tennis Bums as his “elder brothers,” Kamath said.

“I have learned about humanity, dignity, respect and all of these life lessons that we need to learn no matter how old you are,” he said.

Plus, once in a while they let him win, Kamath said, “so that makes it even more special.” But winning is secondary to the companionship.

“I think that as a human being, I have improved,” he said. “As a friend, I have improved. As a competitor, I have improved. But that’s about it. I think that’s more important to me at this stage than … going up in ranks.”

tkenny@chicagotribune.com

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