It's 1:30am and I can't sleep. My grandfather, Dr. Robert Walter "Whirlwind" Johnson, is being inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island. TOMORROW!
Like I said, I can't sleep. What I can do is put up an article I wrote a couple of years ago for Tennis Magazine's website, "A Whirlwind Event." They just ran it again, so I'm going to run it in honor of Dr. J - right here at the Bleacher Report.
Here's to you, Whirlwind!
Love, the little bastard.
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A Whirlwind Event
By Julian Johnson
Robert W. Johnson Jr. (Left) & Dr. Robert W. Johnson on his court in Lynchburg, VA
Dr. J didn’t like me and looking back, I can’t blame him. He’d begun the American Tennis Association’s Junior Development Program back in the late 1940s to train talented black players. Before Nick Bollettieri and the other tennis academies of our day, there was a small-town doctor with a homemade court who, as a hobby, coached several generations of the best black tennis players this country ever produced. His goal was to create tennis champions who could break down the segregated doors of the country club tennis set. He did just that. I had my own prepubescent plans, which is why Dr. J and I didn’t see eye to eye. My idea of fun didn’t include a pro tennis career or a boot camp training regimen, at least, not as a toddler.
When Dr. J, a.k.a. Robert Walter ‘Whirlwind’ Johnson, began inviting black youth from across the nation to spend summers at his tennis court-equipped house in Lynchburg, Va., who knew that he would change the tennis world? I was only a rumor in the reproductive organs of my parents when Dr. J began rousting kids out of bed at 6:30 a.m. to do sit-ups, push-ups, and crosscourt/down the line drills. The concussive sound of tennis balls striking taut gut strings sometimes woke up the roosters and angry neighbors.
Tennis was Jim Crowed until the 50s, meaning that black athletes from earlier generations were barred from playing in United States Lawn Tennis Association tournaments, including any national championship events. In response to this exclusion, the American Tennis Association was born in 1916, the black equivalent of the USLTA. It provided tennis tournaments and social interaction for black players. The ATA would also provide a political crow bar that would, through the backdoor agitation of its executive officers, eventually help black players gain entry to white tournaments.
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