QUINCY’S MOUNT SELECTED FOR
USTA NEW ENGLAND TENNIS HALL OF FAME
2015 USTA New England Hall of Fame Inductees
(From L to R: Gordie Ernst, Keith Jennings and Richard Mount)
By Stephanie Hom
WESTBOROUGH, MA – On Saturday, June 6, 2015, three new tennis honorees, Gordie Ernst, Richard Mount and Keith Jennings, will gather in Newport, RI to take their permanent positions as members of the USTA New England (USTANE) Hall of Fame. The USTANE Hall of Fame exists to recognize the most worthy achievements of New England players and non-players in the tennis community.
In perhaps the greatest celebration of New England tennis, the three 2015 inductees will become a part of the sport’s history. Though each encountered and experienced the game in his unique way, their shared passion for tennis and their desire to extend that passion to others is something they all fundamentally share.
Gordie Ernst (Chevy Chase, MD), originally from Cranston, RI began his notable career in tennis first as a player and then as a coach of one of the most esteemed tennis programs in the NCAA.
With more than 44 years of involvement in the sport, Ernst was one of the strongest players in New England, consistently ranking #1 in each of the 10-, 12-, 14- and 16-and-Under divisions.
As the son of Dick Ernst, the acclaimed tennis coach and 2005 Hall of Fame inductee, Gordie’s passion for competitive athletics was perhaps inevitable. Ernst was a natural-born athlete and a two-sport superstar at Brown University, where he played both hockey and tennis. In spite of being the 10th round pick in the National Hockey League draft, Ernst decided to hone in on tennis.
Ernst has coached for 18 years, beginning his career at Northwestern University as the assistant coach for the men’s team. It is there, he says, that he got “the coaching bug.”
“Coaching is a different environment. You don’t learn coaching in a book. You learn by doing it. You learn how to understand the kid you’re coaching and understand what his or her limitations are. You open your perspective to new games and styles of play. You learn the psychological aspects of how to motivate kids in a way that may be different from how I would motivate myself. That’s the fun- and the challenge.”
Having just finished his eighth season at Georgetown University, Ernst and his teams have accumulated more than 130 wins.
Richard Mount made his mark in tennis over his 64-year involvement in the sport with a three-pronged approach as a player, as a coach and as a youth tennis advocate.
As a player, Mount has played a respectable total of 27,134 sets of tennis. He has won 23 championships in Bermuda at the Coral Beach & Tennis Club, played on eight New England teams and competed in six Friendship cups. According to his bookkeeping records, he has averaged 519 sets per year for the last 53 years and considers himself an addict of the game.
Mount, a resident of Chestnut Hill, MA, coached the girls’ varsity team at Brookline High for 19 years, where he and his teams finished with an overall record of 282-72. He says, “As a coach, it’s important to extend to young players the fun of the game as well as the fun of competition. It always has to be a good time.”
Though Mount has had considerable success as a player and coach, perhaps his most admirable contributions to the sport have been through his work as an advocate for junior tennis. Mount was the 2006 recipient of the Gardner Ward Chase Memorial Award in acknowledgement of his efforts to promote junior tennis throughout New England.
As a board member of the Youth Tennis Foundation as well as a volunteer instructor at Tenacity, Mount is fully immersed in growing the game. He says, “If we can get more kids interested in tennis, it will be revolutionary. It is a sport everyone can play, and one that everyone can enjoy. It’s also a great workout!”
Mount, who turns 82 this spring, has been a tennis professional and groundskeeper at the Quincy Tennis Club for the last 25 years, though he says this will be his last. He says, “Tennis is my drug of choice. It’s been a great trip, and I’m looking forward to the next few years.”
Keith Jennings, originally from New Canaan, CT and now a resident of Wynnewood, PA, has had a lifelong passion for sports. From a young age, Jennings sampled everything from football to hockey, and baseball to basketball, but at the age of thirteen, he made the decision to focus on tennis.
“I loved sports of all kinds, but in the end I found tennis to be so fun and interesting. I loved the competitive side of it and chose to become really passionate about that. It’s human nature to want to see what you can do, to see how well you can do. I chose to do that with tennis. Tennis is my passion.”
In the late 1950s, Jennings was one of the most dominant players in New England junior tennis, where he held #1 rankings in the 13-, 15- and 18-and-Under divisions. His stellar junior tennis career earned him a spot on the varsity team at Princeton University, where he never lost an Ivy League singles match.
Even after competing at the collegiate level, Jennings went on to play in some of the most prestigious of sports arenas. In addition to the Irish Championships and several US Open and US Pro Championships, Jennings and his doubles partner, Chum Steele, a 1998 Hall of Famer, played in the 1965 Wimbledon Championships.
Jennings says, “I am grateful to USTA New England and its many officials and volunteers for the amazingly positive contributions the organization has made to the lives of players like me. I rarely left the court without a few laughs, great exercise and a lot of fun.”
Regarding his upcoming induction, he says, “It is a high honor to be associated with so many talented people who have contributed to New England tennis both on and off the court. I am particularly pleased to be joining several of my doubles partners, friends and people whom I have admired over the years.”
These three distinguished inductees will join the ranks of New England’s best at the 2015 USTA New England Hall of fame Induction Ceremony on Saturday, June 6 at the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, RI.
