True tennis celebrities appear at Tennis-A-Thon

Normally the celebrity spotlight at Medical Lake's annual Tennis-A-Thon shines on members of the community who participate in a challenge match.

With apologies to the duo of Mayor John Higgins and his partner, Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich, who faced - and lost to - ML Schools Superintendent Tim Ames and high school principal, Chris Spring, you were rightfully upstaged.

Whether it was meant to be or not in the event's 20th year, founder Leroy Lemaster was able to talk a pair of true tennis pros, Kent Brennan and Julie Harrington, to come out to hit a few balls and chat about two widely varying careers.

Arguably the most famous of the two, is Harrington who spent six years playing professional tennis against some of the most notable names in the game.

Harrington said her top tour highlight was beating Pam Shriver at the U.S. Open in 1979.

That was special because the previous year Shriver was that event's runner-up. "Everyone was expecting big things from her," Harrington said of that first-round, straight sets upset, 6-4, 6-1.

Harrington made it a few more rounds, "But I don't remember the details," she said.

Brennan is more of a local name in tennis.

His many connections to the game earned him the honor of being selected to the Pacific Northwest Tennis Hall of Fame.

Brennan goes back well over a half century in Spokane where he attended Gonzaga High School - now Gonzaga Prep - and graduated in 1950. He coached college tennis at Gonzaga University from 1964 through 1980.

At 85, Brennan said he plays tennis regularly, three times a week, and has done so since he was 15, without let up.

Harrington and Brennan have known each other for 40 years and regularly play tennis together.

The two first played when Harrington was 15 and have been off and on the court ever since. After essentially not having a racquet in her hand for 10 years, Brennan said one day recently Harrington took to hitting again, "She went nine minutes without hitting the net and nobody can do that."

Harrington, who is a retired attorney in Spokane, attended Ferris High School but left school in her junior year because the administration would not allow her to be gone the amount of time necessary to be a pro.

Harrington later earned her GED along the way and when the luster of tennis wore off upon retiring from the pro game at just 22, she returned to school to pursue a legal career.

She attended Gonzaga University for both undergraduate and law school studies. "It was cheaper back then, Gonzaga was only about $8,000 a year compared to now," Harrington said. Her law school was paid for with a full-ride academic scholarship.

Harrington said when she was on the tour another young name at the time was Tracy Austin, who was also just 16.

"Most everyone was older than us," Harrington said, notable at the time were players like Billie Jean King, Evonne Goolagong and Chris Evert to name a few.

Martina Navratilova was taking over as No. 1. Harrington lost to Navratilova but never faced Evert. "It was a wonderful experience," Harrington said of playing professionally

Taking up the game at the late age of 12, Harrington's career flourished despite breaking her elbow and being told by her doctor, "You'll never use that arm again," she said.

Harrington said she came to the Tennis-A-Thon at the request of organizer and founder, Lemaster, who she met for the first time that day.

Brennan and Lemaster met each other when they were about 45 and played periodically against players 10 years younger.

Like Lemaster, who had a fine run of tennis champions and championships at Medical Lake over the past 50 years, Brennan had similar success with 18 individual champions in either the Greater Spokane League, the Inland Empire, regionals or at state.

As the Gonzaga tennis coach, Brennan took over a team that had played two years, and won just one match and lost 25.

On the verge of having everyone quit the team, his squad went 11-6 in Brennan's first year and 18-2 the second, claiming a Big Sky Conference men's title. Brennan's many contributions to the game later earned him membership in the Pacific Northwest Tennis Hall of Fame.

His coaching was all done part-time and some without pay as Brennan's bread and butter was the coin business where his specialty was silver dollars.

This year's edition of the 24-hour community fundraiser, took place July 19–20, raised about $5,500 for a variety of charities in Medical Lake.

Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.