Excerpts:
Unflappable: Life and Times
of Whitney Reed
by C.F. Stewart
Excerpt 1
World-class tennis players aren’t supposed to play cards all night. World-class tennis players aren’t supposed to have hangovers. World-class tennis players aren’t supposed to consider beer, bourbon, and a pack of Marlboro’s as integral parts of pre-match preparations. Whitney Reed, the Number 1 ranked player in the country in 1961, considered all the above as life’s essentials. Whitney could party all night and compete with the best tennis players in the world all day. His closest friends maintained that he was at his best when he was playing in that gray area between inebriation and a world-class hangover. He won the State Fair tournament in Sacramento in 1962. According to Whitney, he discovered the results of the match when he called a friend to ask about a trophy he found in the front seat of his car.
Excerpt 2
Tennis players have an affinity for drama; maybe that’s why so many sorted stories revolve around tennis pros. The lonely homemaker has an affair with the club pro who happened to be an ex tour player. Rich socialite travels with ex touring pro. Prominent investment banker names tennis pro as co-respondent in sleazy divorce action. There is a myriad of story lines where the tennis pro is either murdered or a murderer, a drug dealer, or, my personal favorite, a secret agent for the CIA. Except for the secret agent, the tennis pro is always cast as a double-dealing, opportunistic, two-bit operator. You never hear of a TV or movie drama where the golf pro is the villain. Perry Mason never reveals the golf pro as the culprit. It is always the tennis pro.
Excerpt 3
When Whitney befriended Charlotte Ford and Mimi Cushing,
the circumstance should have had the potential
for some real drama. Charlotte Ford was Ford Motor Company heir and
Mimi Cushing was the daughter of Alex Cushing, the founder of Squaw
Valley. This budding friendship had all the makings of great theater.
In reality, poor Whitney was just a little comic relief for a couple
of debutants. Mimi and Charlotte may have been genuine to some extent,
but at that age they were in it for the fun.
I am c.f. stewart and I love to write biographies
of interesting off-beat characters who are irreverent, iconoclastic,
and a bit on the shady side.
For example:
The touring tennis player who could have been one of the best, but preferred to drink beer and gamble with Wimbledon pub dwellers -- instead of performing on center court for the Duchess of York. The same touring tennis player who boarded a plane for Australia to play in the Australian Championships -- and forgot his racket and tennis shoes. And when all his contemporaries' retired to the TV booth or had knee replacement surgery, he continued to play at a high level well into his 60's.
The avuncular lovable, sometime con-man who had an audience with the Pope, made millions in a fairly legitimate pyramid scheme, and won the largest exacta ever paid at Hollywood Park in Southern California. When the exacta money ran out, he turned to acting and finished his theatrical career playing Earl Warren in the made for TV movie "Nixon."
The handsomest, dapperest, and almost best golfer on the planet, but if you mentioned him to a thousand scratch golfers only a select few would remember his name. And only a select few would remember that he won the first Tournament of Champions in Las Vegas, cavorted with Hollywood stars, and called Joey Bishop, Bob Hope, and Dwight David Eisenhower by their first names.
For my money, any fellow with a word processor and an internet connection can put together a fairly legitimate biography of Michael Jordan, but try the same trick with a Mike McLaney, an Ash Resnick, a Cary Middlecoff, or a Welby Van Horn. For anyone hooked on researching knows that the fun in writing an original biography is having a unique subject and discovering information never before published in a public form.
Reader comments:
Congratulations on being such a fine writer. Couldn’t put it down, and read it in one sitting. Charlotte sounds like a great gal…..Five Kids for One Penny.
- Genevieve Womack, brentwood, ca
Thank you for the good read. Your book went by much too fast…Unflappable.
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Dick Keiser Alameda, Ca
Thank you for the memories…Unflappable.
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Kim Hunington Los Gatos, Ca
I enjoyed your book very much….Unflappable.
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William F. Law Jr. Atlanta, Ga
I really enjoyed “Unflappable” Thanks for the fun read,
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Thomas Lopez New York, NY Unflappable
An everyday description of our culture before WWII. The book shows the strength and savvy of one woman and her family as they thrive and prosper in entrepreneurial America. The authors use simple and direct language to convey wit and humor in this charming book….Five Kids for One Penny.
- Col. & Mrs. A. Clark, Fallbrook, Ca
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