No
matter what our age or station in life, everyone needs a hero.
Someone to look up to. Someone who inspires us. Someone whose
qualities we wish to emulate. Seventy-five-year-old Hattie Somerville
is such a person for me.
I
met Hattie, along with her husband, John, about 10 years ago in
Kauai. John and Hattie organized informal tennis events and paired up
vacationers with residents for hours of social but competitive play
at the Poipu Kai Tennis Club. Hattie also taught clinics that I
faithfully attended, and she occasionally filled in if we were
missing a fourth player.
Over
time, I learned that Hattie was a native of Hawaii. Born in a sugar
mill dispensary in Paia, Maui, she was the daughter of Prescott
Metcalf and Harriet Collins and was named after the famous
entertainer Hilo Hattie, a family friend. Hattie recalls that her
father, a real estate businessman, also wrote and performed music.
In
the ’40s, Hawaii was the destination resort for many rich, famous
and beautiful people. Arriving on the well-appointed Matson ocean
liners the Lurline
and Matsonia
were stars such as Hedy Lamarr, Betty Grable, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope,
Gary Cooper and Jimmy Stewart as well as famously wealthy families,
like the Vanderbilts. Guests typically stayed at the beautiful Royal
Hawaiian or Moana Hotel in Honolulu.
Life
was not entirely idyllic. Along with Sandra, her younger sister,
Hattie watched the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor while
sitting on the roof of her home on the outskirts of Honolulu.
Unfamiliar with airplanes or the sights and sounds of bombs, Hattie
thought she was watching fireworks. Her mother quickly brought the
two girls into the house for safety before leaving to work as a Red
Cross volunteer amidst the carnage wreaked by the bombing.
Hattie
learned the game of tennis as a child. Her parents, along with the
parents of the other children in the neighborhood shared one court.
To reserve the court for themselves, the parents tried to persuade
the children that tennis was an adult game and that the children
should spent their time swimming, playing cards and drinking orange
soda. But the parental attempt to make tennis off-limits made the
game even more appealing.
The
children figured out that once cocktail hour began, the court was
theirs. They organized themselves into two teams of seven and played
until the sun went down. Once Hattie started playing, she never
stopped. By the time she was in high school, she was playing
competitively.
Hattie
and five of her classmates attended Briarcliffe College in
Westchester County, New York, because her parents and her friends’
parents thought that the East Coast was the only place one could
obtain a worthwhile education. Airline travel was new, and the
arduous trip to begin her freshman year took 17 hours to complete.
Hattie
returned to Hawaii after college and began working as a receptionist
for a home insurance company. As a young, single woman, she was
invited to be the date of the visiting Jordanian King Hussein.
The party was hosted by then Governor Bill Quinn, a friend of
Hattie’s family. While riding to the event in the limousine, King
Hussein showed Hattie photographs of his world in Jordan, including
his favorite horses. When they arrived and the limousine door opened,
the pictures went flying. When the governor good-naturedly greeted
the king and Hattie, he found the two of them crawling around on the
floor of the limousine. They quickly explained that they were
gathering photographs.
A
few years later, at age 28, Hattie, needing a fourth for tennis,
approached a player on a nearby court. The player, John Somerville,
would later become her husband. Together they would have four
children—daughters Hannah and Betsy and twin boys Henry and Jim.
While raising their family, Hattie and John would spend their careers
on various islands as tennis club managers and instructors.
After
a lifetime of competing in over 500 tournaments, Hattie has dozens of
trophies, and she continues to compete. Because of the demanding
competition, Hattie considers the bronze ball (third place) she won
in the women’s national hard-court competition (age category 65) in
Newport Beach, California the toughest award to win. Her personal
favorites are winning three gold balls (first place) in 2001, 2003
and 2006 in the national mother-daughter grass-court competitions
played at the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode
Island.
This
fall, Hattie will compete in the Olympic
Games for seniors held at Stanford University in both singles and
doubles’ tennis. The event will draw 15,000 competitors and over
35,000 spectators.
Hattie’s
ongoing training and preparation for competitive play consists of
swimming (one hour) and tennis (one to two hours) each day combined
with weight training and running on alternate days. Hattie continues
to attend tennis clinics to improve her game.
What
inspires me about Hattie is her constancy. After six decades, she’s
still learning, growing and competing in the demanding sport of
tennis. She’s witnessed enormous changes—from the first airplanes
to jet aircraft, from a few radio stations to dozens of television
channels, from phonographs to iPods and from typewriters to e-mails
and computers. Yet one element remains from her childhood to the
present: her love of staying fit and playing tennis.
Hattie
recently celebrated her 75th birthday with a heart-healthy
Valentine’s party. Dressed in pink or red, a few dozen of her
friends, including me streamed to the courts at 8:30 a.m. on Friday,
February 13, for an informal tennis round robin, followed by a
potluck lunch. After playing all morning, we gathered in a circle and
held hands. Standing together, we heard a blessing in Hawaiian before
enjoying our meal, complete with Valentine’s Day chocolate cookies,
candies and cakes. We each left with a red rose pen and a memory of
the special day.
Hattie
has one of the most beautiful tennis styles I’ve ever witnessed.
She floats like a butterfly on the court and moves like a dancer,
transforming her opponent into her dance partner. According to
Hattie, “Part of the challenge of the game is to make sure your
opponent has a good time. Hitting the ball back and forth is like a
good conversation,” she says. “It’s the exchange that is most
satisfying.”
Her
disciplined fitness program, calm spirits, graceful tennis game and
enthusiasm for learning and growing make Hattie my hero. I want to be
like her when I grow up.
Dubbed
“An Apostle for Fitness” by the Wall
Street Journal, Carole
Carson is the author of From
Fat to Fit: Turn Yourself into a Weapon of Mass Reduction,
which chronicles her own 62-pound weight loss and the inspirational
Nevada County Meltdown. Visit www.fromfat2fit.com
for more information.
Recent Comments