THE THOUGHT of a tennis tournament geared to Charleston's public-courts players seemed like an out-there idea. It was 1959, and other than the four courts down the street from Watt Powell Park in Kanawha City, public courts scarcely existed in Kanawha County. Charleston tennis a half-century ago was largely an elitist sport confined to the country clubs.  

But Hugh Thompson, who had been a four-sport athlete at Charleston High School, had taken up tennis as a college student in Oxford, Ohio, and saw it as an exhilarating activity that could be played for a lifetime. He wanted to spread the gospel, as it were.

In what was a seminal moment in the city's tennis history, Thompson approached the late Ned Chilton, the Gazette publisher and a tennis player himself, and proposed a tournament that would promote the sport among players unable to afford access to the country clubs. Chilton, who had the resources to handle such an undertaking, agreed. Indeed, Chilton initially suggested that country-club players be banned.

"When I approached Ned Chilton,'' Thompson recalled recently from his summer home in Linville, N.C., "my thought was, 'Those of us who play a lot of tennis get all the recognition. Let's have a tournament for other players.' ''

The creation of the Charleston Public Courts Tournament, which marked its 50th anniversary this month, is just one part of Thompson's tennis legacy in an era filled with seminal Charleston moments.

"He was responsible for expansion of tennis from country clubs to the public courts,'' said Tom Hanna, a Charleston lawyer who learned tennis in what might be remembered as the Hugh Thompson years. "He was a primary person who started Tennis Inc., and there were different aspects of that. The creation of the Public Courts Tournament was just one thing. There was the construction of courts all over the valley, the hiring of instructors, adding tennis to the junior highs throughout the valley, bringing in a teaching pro initially for the summer and ultimately year-round, the construction of the Tennis Indoor Center. He was involved in getting Charleston involved in national city team competition.''

In those early years of the Public Courts, incidentally, players often entered with an uncertain, look-see attitude, possessing little skill and sometimes not even knowing how to keep score. But they were eager to learn. It was the sort of adventuresome spirit that Thompson appreciated.

Thompson, who grew up on Newton Road in South Hills, played football, basketball, baseball and track at Charleston High and, after his 1946 graduation, played two years of basketball at Duke. From there, he transferred to Miami (Ohio) University where he played basketball, despite receiving an invitation to play football from the school's coach, Woody Hayes.

Upon returning to his hometown after graduation, Thompson took a job as an insurance salesman for Northwest Mutual. In 1973, he moved to Vero Beach, Fla., and has lived and worked there ever since. Knee-replacement surgery 20 years ago ended his tennis-playing career. 

More than anything else, Tennis Inc. set the city's tennis growth in motion. Begun in 1956, it was a nonprofit organization that made inexpensive lessons available to youngsters throughout Kanawha County, attracting about 700 students and employing 10 instructors in its peak years of the 1960s and '70s. And if a youngster couldn't afford it or if he didn't have a racket, Tennis Inc. usually found a way to work things out.

Moreover, Thompson's connections and the city's growing reputation as a tennis town opened the door for the national girls 16s tournament - the Sweet 16s - to move here from Chicago in 1970 and continue annually through 1989. In its 20-year run, the tournament attracted such future stars as Chris Evert, Tracy Austin, Pam Shriver, Mary Carillo, Zina Garrison and Mary Joe Fernandez, as well as nationally ranked Charleston players.

Thompson still remembers receiving a phone call from a Chicago tennis club informing him that the club would no longer serve as the national girls 16 tournament host and asking him if Charleston wanted to take on the responsibility.

"I said, 'Let me talk to some people, and I'll call you back within 48 hours,' '' Thompson recalled.

And in typical Thompson fashion, he quickly called a meeting of about 25 Charleston tennis advocates and outlined the possibilities and challenges, emphasizing that, if the city wanted to play host to such a prestigious national event, it needed to do things right. He told them that an umpire and three ballboys/ballgirls would be needed for every match and that housing would be needed for visiting players. 

Several years earlier, Thompson had played a part in Charleston's participation in the National City Team Tournament in which area players competed against out-of-state teams. Like the Sweets 16s tourney, it attracted future stars; Jimmy Connors of the St. Louis team and Evert of Fort Lauderdale played here.

THE THOUGHT of a tennis tournament geared to Charleston's public-courts players seemed like an out-there idea. It was 1959, and other than the four courts down the street from Watt Powell Park in Kanawha City, public courts scarcely existed in Kanawha County. Charleston tennis a half-century ago was largely an elitist sport confined to the country clubs.  

But Hugh Thompson, who had been a four-sport athlete at Charleston High School, had taken up tennis as a college student in Oxford, Ohio, and saw it as an exhilarating activity that could be played for a lifetime. He wanted to spread the gospel, as it were.

In what was a seminal moment in the city's tennis history, Thompson approached the late Ned Chilton, the Gazette publisher and a tennis player himself, and proposed a tournament that would promote the sport among players unable to afford access to the country clubs. Chilton, who had the resources to handle such an undertaking, agreed. Indeed, Chilton initially suggested that country-club players be banned.

"When I approached Ned Chilton,'' Thompson recalled recently from his summer home in Linville, N.C., "my thought was, 'Those of us who play a lot of tennis get all the recognition. Let's have a tournament for other players.' ''

The creation of the Charleston Public Courts Tournament, which marked its 50th anniversary this month, is just one part of Thompson's tennis legacy in an era filled with seminal Charleston moments.

"He was responsible for expansion of tennis from country clubs to the public courts,'' said Tom Hanna, a Charleston lawyer who learned tennis in what might be remembered as the Hugh Thompson years. "He was a primary person who started Tennis Inc., and there were different aspects of that. The creation of the Public Courts Tournament was just one thing. There was the construction of courts all over the valley, the hiring of instructors, adding tennis to the junior highs throughout the valley, bringing in a teaching pro initially for the summer and ultimately year-round, the construction of the Tennis Indoor Center. He was involved in getting Charleston involved in national city team competition.''

In those early years of the Public Courts, incidentally, players often entered with an uncertain, look-see attitude, possessing little skill and sometimes not even knowing how to keep score. But they were eager to learn. It was the sort of adventuresome spirit that Thompson appreciated.

Thompson, who grew up on Newton Road in South Hills, played football, basketball, baseball and track at Charleston High and, after his 1946 graduation, played two years of basketball at Duke. From there, he transferred to Miami (Ohio) University where he played basketball, despite receiving an invitation to play football from the school's coach, Woody Hayes.

Upon returning to his hometown after graduation, Thompson took a job as an insurance salesman for Northwest Mutual. In 1973, he moved to Vero Beach, Fla., and has lived and worked there ever since. Knee-replacement surgery 20 years ago ended his tennis-playing career. 

More than anything else, Tennis Inc. set the city's tennis growth in motion. Begun in 1956, it was a nonprofit organization that made inexpensive lessons available to youngsters throughout Kanawha County, attracting about 700 students and employing 10 instructors in its peak years of the 1960s and '70s. And if a youngster couldn't afford it or if he didn't have a racket, Tennis Inc. usually found a way to work things out.

Moreover, Thompson's connections and the city's growing reputation as a tennis town opened the door for the national girls 16s tournament - the Sweet 16s - to move here from Chicago in 1970 and continue annually through 1989. In its 20-year run, the tournament attracted such future stars as Chris Evert, Tracy Austin, Pam Shriver, Mary Carillo, Zina Garrison and Mary Joe Fernandez, as well as nationally ranked Charleston players.

Thompson still remembers receiving a phone call from a Chicago tennis club informing him that the club would no longer serve as the national girls 16 tournament host and asking him if Charleston wanted to take on the responsibility.

"I said, 'Let me talk to some people, and I'll call you back within 48 hours,' '' Thompson recalled.

And in typical Thompson fashion, he quickly called a meeting of about 25 Charleston tennis advocates and outlined the possibilities and challenges, emphasizing that, if the city wanted to play host to such a prestigious national event, it needed to do things right. He told them that an umpire and three ballboys/ballgirls would be needed for every match and that housing would be needed for visiting players. 

Several years earlier, Thompson had played a part in Charleston's participation in the National City Team Tournament in which area players competed against out-of-state teams. Like the Sweets 16s tourney, it attracted future stars; Jimmy Connors of the St. Louis team and Evert of Fort Lauderdale played here.

The formation of Tennis Inc. was probably Thompson's most challenging undertaking. Harry Moore of Charleston, a Thompson friend since their kindergarten days, helped out in the early years. 

"There was the matter of getting the courts at Watt Powell, getting rackets and balls and getting people to contribute these things and finding instructors,'' Moore recalled.

Money was needed, of course, and once Tennis Inc. got off the ground, Thompson began soliciting donations. He sent out letters and was pleased with the response. 

"We got contributions from hundreds of people,'' he said. "And so we could afford to pay expenses for kids who couldn't afford to go to a tournament. And we could pay for instructors during the summer. It had a community effect.''

Not long after Tennis Inc.'s formation, Charleston Mayor John Copenhaver helped out by finding funds for the construction of more tennis courts.

Thompson also wanted to institute tennis as a junior high sport.

"I went around to all the junior highs,'' he said, "and met with the principals and said, 'Would you pick out the four or five of your best girls and boys athletically?' I said I would write a letter to all their parents and invite them to come for a tennis session with the possibility that it could lead to a college scholarship.' Well, the parents loved that.''

He saw the need for an advanced instruction program and in 1970 hired Skip Pilsbury, a Florida native who had competed here in the National City Team Tournament. Shortly thereafter, Thompson spearheaded the construction of the Tennis Indoor Center, making year-round play and instruction possible.

Thompson is filled with fond memories of his Charleston tennis years. Once, in the 1960s, he decided to take 16 of the city's best young players - boys and girls - on a 13-day tournament swing to such places as Springfield, Ohio, Indianapolis, Detroit and Cleveland.

He enlisted Moore and Charlie Entsminger to help with the coaching and the driving, and he convinced local car dealer Bert Wolfe to make three new cars available for the trip. In each city, the players competed in tournaments and stayed in private homes.  

"It was a wonderful, wonderful experience for them,'' he recalled.

After the trip, he instructed each player to write thank-you letters to all the people who had opened their homes to them during the 13 days. He wanted the kids to be more than just good tennis players.

Reach Mike Whiteford at 304-348-7948 or mikewhitef...@wvgazette.com.