OH PARRISH:  DOMINANT IN THE 60'S
5/08/06

O.H. Parrish hitched a ride to Byrd Park every summer day to hit with Sam Woods* and his buddies.  "Sam didn't charge for lessons, he just hit with you. I have memories of him living in that little house at Byrd Park."

O.H. started playing tennis at age 13, but didn't take the sport all that seriously until a couple of years later.  At Thomas Jefferson High School, where all the good players congregated, a player couldn't help but take it seriously, or they just wouldn't play at all.  Like many of the best Tee-Jay stars, after high school, Parrish attended UNC.

The University of North Carolina was the best tennis school on the East Coast.  During the period 1953, and until OH graduated in 1965, the school team lost only one match.  In those days, tennis scholarships were a rare commodity.  UNC had one to give, and O.H. got it when he was a senior.  "The former three-time ACC  champ finally graduated and left, so they gave it to me," said O.H.

In 1962, back in Richmond from his first year as a freshman, O.H. played Eddie Phillips for the City title, and won.  He was 19.  

"One of my fondest memories was playing on the first court at CCV while the crowd surrounded us.  It was always packed....it was such a neat venue and so unique," said O.H.

"Invariably Cliff Miller (who won the City singles title seven times in the 20's & 30's) was officiating.  He was so old by then and so arthritic, it took four people to get him out of the chair."

O.H. won singles city titles in 1962, 1965, 1967 and 1969.  He was a finalist to Bruce Sylvia in '64 and Tom Magner in '73. At doubles, he was even more lethal.  O.H. won ten times at doubles with different partners:  Massie Valentine, Bruce Sylvia, Dick Makepeace, Eddie Phillips, Richard McKee.  About McKee, O.H. said, "That was the year I found a good kid to carry me."

"Tennis was a much smaller world back then," O.H. explained. "All of those guys played in the city tournaments, the state tournaments and for the Hotchkiss team at one time or another."

According to O.H., the Hotchkiss Cup team years were "really special times."  Players were chosen to represent Richmond in competitions against other regional teams.  (The competition died down in the 70's for inexplicable reasons.  The Cup is currently housed at the Country Club of Virginia).  

After O.H. graduated from UNC, he went to work at a bank, where he stayed for 34 years.  When he retired, the bank's name was Crestar, and he was the President of Regional and Corporate Banking.  O.H. married his wife, Sally, in 1965, and had two sons, Brad and Howard.  In a terrible tragedy, Brad was lost in a car accident at the age of 18.  "He would have been a senior at St. Christopher's that coming year," O.H. said. "He was a great kid, an athlete, with a three-handicap."

Howard, also a golfer, is now 36.  Howard's kids' artwork decorates their proud grandpa's office in his home on Roselawn Road near the winding CCV golf course.

Like his son, O.H. has become an avid golfer.  (We had to work our interview around a very busy week of golf.)  He has a persistent twinkle in his eye, and a grin, as if he is considering whether or not it is appropriate to tell you a joke.  At his retirement party from Crestar, Lou Einwick recalls O.H. saying that "whatever I am going to do [post-retirement], I'm not going to wear shoes."  That's a pretty good reason for not playing much tennis.  The fairways at CCV are said to be very nicely groomed. Every once in a while, O.H. watches major tennis tourneys.  As for local tennis, "Sometimes I stumble into a match at CCV."  He says the differences in the games of today are certainly topspin and extreme grips.  "And more good athletes are playing the sport now.  The tennis is better."

O.H. Parrish, 2006

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*Sam Woods coached tennis at Thomas Jefferson for 19 years until his death in 1963.  His teams advanced to the state finals 15 consecutive years and won 11 consecutive state championships, 1948-1958.  During that 11-year streak his team did not lose to a Virginia High School League team.  Players he developed won 12 state singles championships over 17 years.  He would not accept money for coaching, instead, using donations from parents to buy tennis equipment for boys and girls who could not furnish their own.

**Richard McKee, who won the City singles title in 1970, went on to become the Florida State Tennis Coach.

by Sara James