Tennis, with the Hubbs golden touch

By Ty Reynolds treynolds@svnmail.com 800-798-4085, ext. 554

Created: Monday, June 29, 2009 12:06 p.m. CDT

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Emma Hubbs (right) gets a hug after Wednesday's dedication ceremony at the tennis courts in Dixon. (Chris Padgett/cpadgett@svnmail.com)

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DIXON – Emma Hubbs wasn’t in on the KSB Tennis Classic from Day 1. But she certainly has made this annual Petunia Festival tournament her own

Dixon’s resident tennis guru remembers a hot day back in the summer of 1987 when she asked a simple question and was given free reign to run the event however she saw fit.

“There were some guys out at the court from KSB, just dying of heat in these suits while they tried to run things,” Hubbs recalled. “I went over and asked them if they wanted something to drink, playing the nice host.

“Then I asked them something that my tennis lesson kids had been asking me: Why can’t they play in this tournament?”

Hubbs was unsure what answer she expected, but it definitely wasn’t the one she got.

“One of the guys looks at me, kind of relieved, and says, ‘What a great idea. How would you like to run this tournament next year? You can invite as many kids as you want.’ It’s been that way ever since.”

The KSB tournament started out as an adult tournament, something for the Park District to run during Petunia Fest to get some of the folks returning to the area over to the tennis courts. Pat Lee and Glenn Wallin, two longtime tennis players, agreed to run the show.

The first few years, the tournament – and easily recognizable beer-can trophies – were sponsored by Paul Berrettini. Then KSB got involved, and is still there to this day.

But it wasn’t until Hubbs got involved that the annual end-of-June tourney became what it is today.

“Emma was always at the courts, always asking if she could be of assistance,” Wallin said. “She was always Johnny-on-the-spot, with all this energy and enthusiasm. She still has that.

“It’s not a surprise how big this tournament has become. Emma has always been about the little ones, her tennis kids, and both tournaments are about her lifelong commitment to tennis and the youth of Dixon.”

The KSB Classic is celebrating its 25th anniversary next week, while the Emma Hubbs Tennis Classic, annually held at the end of July, is in its 19th year. New sponsors All-Safe Storage Center and Timber Creek Golf have taken over that tournament from longtime sponsor Dixon Pharmacy.

Originally, Hubbs wasn’t involved in the planning of the late-July tournament either. But as soon as a group of parents approached Hubbs in 1991 with a plan to give all of her summer youth tennis program participants an end-of-lessons tournament, she jumped at the idea.

“I was on vacation in Nebraska,” Hubbs said, “and when I got back this wonderful group of parents came and told me they were going to have the tournament. We didn’t have a sponsor that first year, but it went very well and it’s been going strong ever since.”

The KSB Classic is strictly a doubles tournament, with kids during the week and adults on the weekend. The Emma Hubbs Classic involves only kids, with singles and doubles and a Family Night at the end of the week to celebrate all of the kids’ accomplishments.

As always Emma is quick to point to all the people who have helped her through the years make both tournaments something special for the young tennis players around the Sauk Valley. Bud Martin helped her run the tournament for a long time, then recently it’s been her former students Kimi Wegner and Lynn Smith who have stepped in and done the dirty work. Rose Drane at the Dixon Park District takes care of the odds and ends, and Hubbs will always feel grateful to Wallin, Lee, Terry Nichols and Berrettini for being there at the ground floor.

“The tournaments have been around for basically my whole life,” said Wegner, who recently turned 21 and has been around Hubbs and tennis since she was 10. “It’s amazing to see how many people come every year, and I don’t think I can imagine what a summer would be like without tennis.”

“The tournaments are still going, which speaks for itself,” added Smith, a recent college graduate who originally got involved in the tournament because her mom, Patty, was always lending Hubbs a helping hand. “The people all get their money’s worth, so they keep coming back.”

Many times people have tried to get Hubbs to slow down, but that’s not likely. The woman who first added a 16-year-old age group to the KSB Classic in 1988, the woman who has seen those age groups grow to as many as five or six age groups ranging from 11 to 18 has no plans to get away from the sport and children she loves so dearly.