‘It gets in your blood, I loved it’

On a recent stunning sunny August day, Charles “Chick” Hodge leans forward in his chair while sitting on the deck of his Mercer Island home that overlooks majestic Lake Washington.

The 84-year-old longtime Island resident turns to his right, grins and soaks up the view. However, the lake — which is extremely inviting on this scorching day — is a secondary feature that grabs his attention at this moment. He’s instead laser focused on the sterling full-size tennis court that has been sprawled out adjacent to his abode on a small, winding street off West Mercer Way for the last 50 years.

It’s still standing — and still thriving.

“We had some real battles,” Hodge said of facing off back in the day with his friend Larry Mounger, a fierce player who passed away in 2022.

Hodge still hits balls once a week on his court, often plays with his daughter, Kim Sahlin, and rounds up his grandsons for some action.

“When our grandsons are involved, there can be battles — they’re competitive. No bloodbaths or anything like that,” Hodge said with a laugh.

Hodge and his pals Tom Gorman and Mounger chipped in $10,000 apiece in 1973 to have the court built on Hodge’s land by Fryer-Knowles, Inc. of Seattle, whose representative EW Beddall jointly submitted the design to the city of Mercer Island on Jan. 29 of that year. It was approved and soon the area would become a tennis haven for friends, families and netters who asked permission to wield their racquets on the trio’s green asphalt court.

“At that time, there were very few public courts on Mercer Island and the country club had not yet built its indoor courts,” said Hodge, who designed the court. “We were frustrated because we wanted to play tennis after work and we couldn’t get on a court, so we said, ‘OK, let’s see what we can do.’ Then this opportunity came up and it all just kind of went together where we could build our home, we could have a tennis court.”

They dedicated the court on Christmas day of 1973 as the trio hit some balls when Gorman — a worldwide top 10 professional player at the time — was in town while taking a respite from his tennis commitments. In the vast space of land that Chick and his wife Linda purchased from Eleanor Wolf, Gorman’s home was situated on the west side of the court while the Hodges set up their home — where they still remain — on the east side of the court.

While the Hodges’ home was in the building stages and Gorman had not yet moved to the Island, the couple lived in the tennis pro’s future residence. The court was completed before the finishing touches were applied to the Hodges’ home.

“First things first — a tennis player,” Chick said with a smile. Previously, the Hodges lived on the Island’s First Hill for about seven years.

The Hodges presently own the court outright following Gorman’s departure from the area in the mid-’80s and after Mounger sold his third in about 2000. A parking lot abuts the court and was city-required to be included in the court plat since it is a non-commercial recreational tract, meaning that people using the court must park there and any lessons given there are unpaid, according to Chick.

Chick’s foray into the tennis realm occurred when he was a 13-year-old in the Philadelphia area. He soon got his game on at The Cynwyd Club, played at Haverford High School, qualified for national juniors and hit the college scene at Lehigh University. While studying engineering at Stanford University’s graduate school, Chick continued honing his tennis skills with a group of players. After moving to the Island, he competed in some amateur tournaments and landed a job as an engineer and engineering manager at Boeing, where he worked for 35 years.

Linda and Chick, who have been married for 60 years, are thrilled that copious tennis players have graced their court for half a century. The balls are still thumping on the court and the voices of players continue to fill the air.

It keeps them feeling younger, said Linda, who wasn’t as involved with tennis as Chick.

“Wonderful memories. Our kids growing up and playing and now neighborhood kids playing — full circle,” she said.

“We love tennis,” said Chick, who was formerly a president and board member of the nonprofit Tennis Outreach Programs. Chick and a friend used to run a summer camp at the Rainier Valley Atlantic Street Center that supports families and communities and advocates for social justice and equity. A host of Mercer Island kids volunteered at the camp to accumulate community service hours.

Their son Rick played heaps of tennis on the home court — which receives a cleaning once a year. He triumphed at Pacific Northwest Sectionals three times as a youth and won three 3A state doubles titles while playing for Mercer Island High School (MIHS). Rick also participated in some tennis battles with Mounger on the Hodges’ court, Chick said.

Speaking of Mounger, his daughter, Mindy Blakeslee, got in some court time and won a trio of 3A state doubles titles at MIHS, played for the University of Washington and then coached the MIHS girls to six state championships. She recently won a 55-and-over women’s doubles title at the Washington State Open.

During COVID-19, Islanders flocked to the court when the city closed all the public courts and removed the nets, said Chick, adding that their net remained in place and the court was used from dawn to dusk.

One day during the pandemic, an old friend arrived at the court with one of Rick’s tennis friends. On another occasion, one tennis enthusiast gave free lessons to eight girls on the court.

“We got reacquainted with a whole bunch of people we hadn’t seen for 20 years,” Chick said.

The sport has massively stuck with Chick over the years.

“It gets in your blood, I loved it,” he reiterated. “I considered being a teaching pro as a career at one time, and then I got really excited about airplanes and stayed at Boeing.”