Teammate RememberS ‘I Used To Beat Your Granddad’

BALDING “PA PAW” KEEPS TEAM LAUGHING

By Amanda Tobin, Gina Marano and Jennifer Pollack/USTA Southern

Mickey Thornton, top, with bald spot showing, played against
teammate Ryan Lewis' grandfather. Ron Cioffi/USTA Southern

It was about 12 years ago when Ryan Lewis decided “my life’s one goal was to beat Mickey Thornton.”

Lewis was only about 12 years old then and Thornton was 47.

Lewis remembered, “He used to hit me drop shots that I couldn’t get to. He’d say, ‘If that was a cheeseburger, you would have gotten it.’ ”

Times change and now these guys are teammates and friends.

Oddly enough the original connection between their families was the tennis rivalry Thornton had with Lewis’ grandfather, Ed. “I used to beat Ed more than he beat me,” Thornton recounted. “But I didn’t tell Ryan that. I told him we were about even.”

But the younger Lewis remembers better, not only the two elders’ on-court battles but playing against his future teammate. He also remembers how Thornton would needle him at the Parham Bridges Club in Jackson, MS.

Thornton, nicknamed “Pa Paw” is the team’s old man at 59 but his penchant for needling hasn’t abated.

Not only did he “remind” Lewis of unforced errors he made in the doubles match tiebreak that he eventually won, but he also bantered with Lee Young about his tennis skills or lack thereof in the middle of the match. Thornton’s negative comments were  repeated and incessant.

“I swear he pulls for the other team,” Lewis said while shaking his head.

This team of laid-back players have a few traditions. Their favorite drink is named “Hop, Skip and Go Naked” and consists of equal parts limeade, beer and vodka, according to “Pa Paw.”

Another tradition that sometimes gets used, sometimes forgotten, is rubbing the bald spot on Thornton’s head for good luck before a match. “Sometimes they just rub my stomach,” he said.