Rusty Racquets are Here to Stay

THESE RACQUETS ONLY GET BETTER WITH AGE

By Emma Knight

The Senior Women’s 3.0 South Carolina team from Lexington may be called the “Rusty Racquets,” but their game is definitely not rusty. The Rusty Racquet tennis team was formed with seven members in 1991 and was the first senior team in the Columbia area.

“Not only could the founding members play tennis, they were also artistic when it came to making their shirts for the season,” said co-captain Maggie MacDougall.

The first season the team played with a large rusty racquet with tennis balls on their shirt. The second season they changed their shirts to women in long dresses and, of course holding their rusty racquets. In 1993, one of the team member’s husbands designed a new logo with the rusty racquet leaning up against a rocking chair.

“The members of the Rusty Racquet tennis team have totaled well over 160 players including Senior, Super Senior, and Senior Combo,” said MacDougall. She went on to say “lasting friendships have not only been formed on the courts but off the courts as well.”

The 2008 Rusty Racquet tennis team still has two of its original members, co-captain Sylvia Deloach, 68, and Betty Wiggins, 76. Look out for this team in their lime green shirts with, of course, the Rusty Racquet logo.