STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK
John McEnroe put on a pouty face and pretended to jump on his pickleball racquet to keep his bad boy image intact.
And tennis legend Mats Wilander kept a running commentary going, praising his partner with words like “Nice!” as the Legends Celebrity Weekend Pro Pickleball Invitational unfolded this past weekend at the Valley Club north of Hailey.
McEnroe, Wilander joined Vince Van Patten and Mikael Pernfors in a four-day event to benefit Men’s Second Chance Living, giving Sun Valley-area residents a unique chance to see the legends of tennis playing the new fast-growing game of pickleball.
Mike and Corry Clayville bid $10,000 at an auction Saturday night to play the legends. They’d already played John McEnroe at Wimbledon as part of a charity event for the John McEnroe Foundation’s Johnny Mac Tennis Project to introduce tennis to under-resourced New York City kids. So, Corry said, they couldn’t pass up a chance to play with him in pickleball, too.
“Nervous? Maybe a little,” said Corry Hart Clayville. “But we’re long supporters of Men’s Second Chance Living so we have to do this.”
Allison Speer was also among four people, including Clayville, Elizabeth Lucas and Rebecca De Santis, who bid $10,000 each to play.
“I grew up a McEnroe fan—I loved his irreverence. So, it’s a bucket list thing playing with him and the other pros. I’m not as nervous today playing with the Legends as I was playing in the tournament yesterday. I didn’t want to let my team down.!”
This was Speer’s third year playing in a pickleball tournament to benefit Men’s Second Chance Living, a recovery program for men in Hailey. But the third annual pickleball fundraiser grew exponentially this year as Wood River Pickleball Alliance President and National Pickleball Champion Lee Sponaugle brought the nation’s top 16 pickleball players to the event.
Meanwhile, Wilander, who is married to Men’s Second Chance Living founder Sonya Wilander, brought his tennis legend buddies.
The guests held a pickleball clinic for local pickleball players on Thursday. The Senior Pros played games for spectators on Friday and Sunday. And 64 local pickleball players took part in the tournament on Saturday.
“It’s a chance to give back,” said Mat Panegasser, who oversees pickleball operations at high-end private clubs and resorts in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico; Florence, Italy and Dubai. “And to see the participation in the clinics and the support for it here is phenomenal.”
“It’s an absolutely unique event,” said Swedish native Stefan Andren, a former Nike produce designer director who is No. 9 Senior Pro Doubles.
Rich “Thunder” Lopez, who transitioned not from tennis but from ping pong to badminton to racquetball to pickleball, noted that pickleball is now making inroads as a collegiate and even high school sport.
“I stumbled across it on holiday in Baja, Mexico, and at first I wasn’t sure about it,” added Andren. “But you get hooked. It’s a social game. And it’s complex—like boxing. You have to think in combinations like you do in boxing where you think ahead how you’re going to hit this stroke, then that, to set up for the big shot.”
The temperature in the 80s over the four-day event was above normal for the Sun Valley area. But the pros didn’t let it bother them. And the hundred-plus spectators who watched the exhibitions free of charge huddled under umbrellas and other shade.
McEnroe sat back a little the first couple points as his partner slammed a couple balls across the net. Then, while others lunged one way and the other chasing the ball, he made it look easy as he practically stood in place batting whatever came his way.
Gus Gustafson left the event smiling.
“I’m going to get the whole family involved next year,” he said. “It was wonderful having an event like this at the Valley Club because it made for a unique intimate setting with the pros and legends. Then throw in the dinner and what a weekend.”
Sonya Wilander said that the money raised from the event will go towards providing transitional housing for men in recovery.
“I want all the pros and legends to know that they made this a successful event and going forward hopefully we can continue to have a successful event next year,” she added.
MSCL 3rd ANNUAL PICKLEBALL FUNDRAISER WINNERS:
1st place - Doug Niedrich, Munzer Qaddourah, Steve Beck and Jill Beck
2nd place - Adam Taylor, Kristin Hovencamp, Kristin Schofner and Brett Schofner
3rd place - Kristi Drinkwater, Elinor Jannotta, Teresa Sorlie and Jim Sorlie
4th place - Geoffrey Wells, Cooper Taylor, Allison Speer and William Peppo
Team McEnroe defeated Team Pernfors in the finals match of the SENIOR PRO INVITATIONAL.
The pros included Wood River Valley residents Lee Sponaugle and Richard Brown, along with Chris Mills, Brian Levine, Rich Lopez, Mattias Johansson, Steve Dawson, Marty Reist, Chuck Hamaker-Teals, Matt Pengasser, John Sperling, Dan Granot, Stefan Andren, Todd Robertson, Billy Jacobson and Alex Simon.