The Birth of Bitsy Grant in 1953: Growing Up with Bitsy

Lots of folks at Bitsy Grant grew up playing there. Back in the early 70s, my brothers, still the plumb handsomest, sweetest guys God ever put on this earth, were playing here daily, bro Neil even won the Chollie Cup (you'll have to stay tuned til I can tell you exactly what that is, but trust me it was cool and a big deal, kinda like winning all four slams in one year).



Families like the Sheffields, Dimons, Butlers, Lobells, Schmitzes, (and feel free to add to the list, you guys) have memories of raising their children here, hitting the millions of balls it takes to make a real player, teaching and learning the lessons of "putting in your time," "a job well done," "practice makes perfect," good sportsmanship and fair play--and sometimes not so fair play, perseverance and the sheer joy and pleasure of playing with your friends, making new ones and building a history of trial and error, accomplishment, overcoming injuries, defeat and bad weather. Yes, the sun will come out again, we remind ourselves in December.

There are still a few guys playing a Bitsy who were here when the doors opened. So that means they saw Arthur Ashe and his protege (and still a massive hunk of burning love), Horace Reid, (you can see Horace play or give you a lesson today at Ansley Golf Club) break the color barrier with resounding boom; they saw Marty Riessen, Stan Smith and Tony Roche, among so many other legends crack the clay court circuit at Bitsy. I once played in a little club tournament in Ohio at Marty Riessen's beautiful, I mean most gorgeous tennis club ever, New Albany Country Club, and had lunch with Marty. He loved Bitsy Grant like we do and had good memories and STORIES to tell.


Or that means they hung out with folks like my personal hero of all time, Coach Bobby Dodd of Georgia Tech, Bitsy Grant, James Dickey, Lewis Grizzard and a host of others came to play tennis or (checkers or bridge when it rained or they got wore out from playing tennis) and they showed up for each other when they got sick or needed help or a pall bearer.


So you can imagine that the stories, tall tales and legends at Bitsy are numerous, hilarious, tragic (well, the place has been around so long, that we've lost alot of our players, but we're real good about sticking plaques on walls and by trees so that we don't forget these folks--they came to do battle and be friends day in and day out, everyone has a story and is worth remembering).

It's a place of routines and rythms--I can tell you who shows up every day at 9, which group comes at 1 and the folks that start at 4 pm--the same way for decades now. In a place like Atlanta, where everything's been Home Depot'd and Walmarted and John Wielanded to death, Bitsy Grant is an actual real place where people gather to play with and pick on each other, to share a meal, a cold libation, and, well, I just keep coming back to--those stories.


Thanks to the city, the clay courts have been restored and the Friends of Bitsy Grant put in a well to keep the precious underground watering system flowing. But the building really needs a complete renovation/restoration. Dreaming on: how about another building for the Georgia Tennis Hall of Fame or the Southern Tennis Hall of Fame or some indoor courts and conference space, tutoring space for after school programs, and well, dream on.


Richard Aeck was the architect of the original building and his son's firm Lord, Aeck and Sargeant, has made a plan to renovate/restore this precious place. If you want to
help bring Bitsy back to its glory days, click onto the USTA website in the links below and make a contribution to help restore this jewel of modern architecture and about the funnest place I know of. Mainly, come out and play.AD