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AMANDA TEVEPAUCH MACAULEY: HARD WORKER
4/21/06
by Sara James
Scrapbooks are cool.
Amanda Tevepaugh Mcauley, three-time Richmond City Tennis Champion, has one dating back nearly 60 years
ago. Her first cousin kept it for her, cutting and pasting newspaper
articles of Amanda's success on and off the court. It is bursting with articles
about the "promising young tennis star."
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Amanda started playing at age
9 when she was given a racquet as a gift.
By age 12, inspired by tennis pro Jimmy Mitchell, she was traveling as far as
Florida to play in tournaments. Jimmy Mitchell was her motivation and
inspiration. "I was an anomaly, actually. My parents didn't
know what to do with this athletic person. They didn't encourage the
tennis, didn't see it as anything viable long-term... I didn't play
tennis circuits as a young girl, but they did let me enroll in camps."
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Her father died when she
was a sophomore in college. She pursued her tennis by taking a job as a
roving tennis person for the City. Her job entailed traveling to all the
community playgrounds in the area to teach kids. Amanda would carry a net,
racquets and balls to Westhampton School, Westover Hills, Ginter Park, Seminary
Park, Forest Hills-- for this she was paid "hardly anything." But
she didn't mind. It was a great way to meet lots of cute boys.
At Wheaton College in
Massachusetts, she played on the tennis team, while her friends would sit by the
pool. "I had to find men to play, there just weren't that many girls
playing at my level."
Amanda entered and won the city tennis title
in 1958 when she was in her early 20's, defeating Sarah Townsend. She won
again in 1959, in another final with Sarah. "We had classic, horribly hard matches. It was always
so hot.
"In those days,
you didn't drink water. It was considered bad for you if you drank
it on the court. If you were desperate for it, it was okay but only
if you drank it lukewarm. Instead of water, we were encouraged to
take salt tablets, so that's what I did on hot days. I popped
salt. Isn't that crazy?"
Instead of defending her
title in 1960, she went on a
college trip. In 1961, she entered and reclaimed the trophy, defeating
Francis White. Her old nemesis returned for a rematch in 1962, but Amanda
had changed somewhat. She had married and as Amanda Tevepaugh
Macauley, she lost to Sarah in the finals. Sarah won their final rematch
in 1964.
Amanda went to work
for St. Catherine's in the mid 60's where she coached basketball, field
hockey and tennis for ten years. It was here that she worked with
players who would go on to win tennis titles of their own: Betty
Baugh Harrison (1975 City Champion), Lloyd Hatcher (1974 City Champion
Finalist). "Lloyd was the first woman to receive a tennis
scholarship at the North Carolina," Amanda said.
Martha Saine
Condyles, who didn't lose a set in three years, Susan Betts, Liza Wallace
and Jewel Caven all came through the St. Catherine's tennis program under
Ms. Macauley. "These girls had been trained before I had the
privilege of coaching them," explained Amanda. "I just
left them alone, really. We'd do drills and I'd give them
encouragement, but I wouldn't pretend that I developed any of these good
players."
Amanda's daughter,
Katherine Mueller, played with many of those girls in high school.
She played on the tennis team at Trinity College and currently plays on
the Championship team at CCV. "I'm just so proud of her, and
amazed at how hard she works," Amanda said.
For her part, Amanda
hasn't given up tennis. She still plays doubles, and played Suburban
League tennis for a number of year. As a member of the Country Club
of Virginia, she played on the prestigious Anderson Cup team. Over
the years, the one change she's noticed that has made a huge impact in the
sport is the equipment used by today's players. "Kids start so
much earlier now....They can do that because the equipment is made to
allow for the lack of strength in younger players. Racquets are
smaller and lighter, and we didn't have that 50 years ago.
"It's okay for
kids to start younger, as long as they are truly interested. They should
have fun playing, they should be given lots of opportunities to have
success just hitting the ball. I think that's why you see so many
two handed backhands these days. The kids are more successful
hitting that way when they are little, so they stay with it. We were
never taught to hit that way as an option.
"And of course,
that's another improvement I've seen over the years. There is so
much good instruction out there," she said. "The RTA has
done really well developing players. Then there is the growth of
indoor courts and year-round instruction. In the 50's and 60's kids
went to tennis lodges, camps for players up in the New England area.
That was really all there was out there. Then in the 60's and 70's,
specialized tennis camps just sprung up all over the place, and made
tennis more accessible to the non-country club players. That, and
Title IX of course, which made a huge impact on all women's sports."
Looking back through
her scrapbook, Amanda stops at an article which quotes her as crediting
'lady luck' for her string of tennis victories. "Miss Tevepaugh
insists she's 'not all that good'", the article
stated. "She says there is a lot of luck
involved."
Amanda smiled and
said that now she believes her success was more likely due to
hard work. "It took a great amount of time, and meant giving up
lots of things for tennis. Social things, school things."
She came to an
article from 1954, covering her match for the CCV Junior Title.
"Tevepaugh rated promising star after big
win," was the
headline. Describing Amanda's "hard deep forehand" as her
major weapon, the column proclaimed that "if her backhand ever
improves, watch out."
"Well, I'm not
sure if it ever did," Amanda said, laughing.
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NEXT:
Bobby Payne and Bobby Bortner, O.H. Parrish
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