Marty Kirkland: Fred Chen was a good man to know
Welcome to our online comments feature. To join the discussion, you must first register with Disqus and verify your email address. Once you do, your comments will post automatically. We welcome your thoughts and your opinions, including unpopular ones. We ask only that you keep the conversation civil and clean. We reserve the right to remove comments that are obscene, racist or abusive and statements that are false or unverifiable. Repeat offenders will be blocked. You may flag objectionable comments for review by a moderator.Who was Fred Chen? Ask his friends, and the word character will come up a lot — both as in “Fred was a character” and “Fred had a lot of character” — in memories of the local tennis standout, who died of a heart attack at age 63 on Aug. 27, 1997. Chen, who was born in China but had lived in Dalton for nearly 30 years at the time of his death, left a legacy and a life story that would be interesting, even if you left out the bits about his athletic talents — but a story about Chen without tennis would certainly be incomplete. Players like Philip Johnson were among those who benefited from time on the court with Chen, who sometimes teamed up with him for doubles despite their age gap — Chen at middle age and Johnson still just a kid — and gave him pointers on the side. Johnson no doubt had some natural talent about him as he built a court career that included a 1982 individual state title at Northwest Whitfield, two NCAA team titles with the University of Georgia and a top-150 world ranking during a five-year stint on the ATP tour. But he was probably a better player in the long run from having taken some tips from Chen, who certainly had some to give as one of Georgia’s top-ranked players for many years. Gary Valleriano, the head pro at Dalton Golf and Country Club for 33 years before retiring early this year, got to know club member Chen, sometimes teaming up with him for doubles. He found common ground with Chen, who like himself might not have been an overwhelming physical presence on the court — “He was a very kind of small and wiry type of guy,” Valleriano said. “He probably never weighed more than 140 pounds his whole life and was sort of my size, about 5-7 or 5-8.” — but could still befuddle opponents. All the time is a good way of putting it. When Chen’s widow, Ruth, made a list of the trophies he acquired over the years, it covered most of the front and back of two pages. According to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution story the day after his death, shoulder surgery had kept him from competing for two years at the end of his life, but the writer noted his frequent No. 1 rankings in the Georgia Tennis Association. And as the years went on, Chen was rarely content to maintain a ranking in one age group. He often entered two or three brackets at a single tournament, testing himself against younger players, often with success. Because he wasn’t reliant on a deadly serve or powerful strokes, he didn’t have to worry about trying to outmuscle opponents. As for mobility, Valleriano attested to that skill already — but it sounds like the other guy was the one who really did most of the running. Chen had a talent for making those around him feel better off the court as well. Those jokes he would sometimes tell with a handshake at the net found their way into his daily life. His daughter, Carol Burns, recalled that her gregarious dad was “sort of on stage” anytime he was in public, and that it didn’t matter if a joke was corny or the punchline was flat — Chen would laugh so hard at the end of it, everyone else couldn’t help but do the same. The sneakiness that made him dangerous on the court could make Chen delightful off of it. When Phil Johnson was named the Whitfield County Teacher of the Year in 1994, Chen found out and casually asked how he might be spending that Friday night. Thinking nothing of it, Johnson told his friend he would probably take his wife to dinner at O’Charley’s. The couple arrived at the restaurant to find out their bill, whatever it might end up being, had already been taken care of by one Fred Chen. Despite his fondness for being on the court so often, Chen found time for a lot of life off it as well. In a eulogy written by Burns, she recalled a daily hide-and-seek ritual for her and her sister, Gloria — and a dad kind enough to overlook the fact that the little girls hid in the same closet every afternoon when they heard his car pull into the driveway. Perhaps it’s not surprising that Chen valued family and the freedom to enjoy it. He was born in Fuzhou, China, and in 1947, when Chen was 13, his family fled the country after communism took hold. His parents had studied at American colleges, and that helped provide an inroad to employment and immigration to the United States, with the family settling in Kansas, as Chen’s father took a position as a sociology professor at Southwestern College. His mother also joined the staff; Chen’s American first name came from a professor at the school. The family later moved south because of work, and Chen went on to graduate with a chemistry degree from Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Ala., then added a master’s degree in science from Auburn. He served in the Army, found work as a colorist in the carpet industry — hello, Northwest Georgia — and later owned Parafar, a small business in Calhoun that sold products to carpet and yarn mills. Tennis was good to Chen, and Chen was good to tennis. In talking with his friends, it’s clear there was a period of time in Dalton when you didn’t spend long on the court before at least hearing of Chen, who did his part to spread the gospel of the game as often as he could. It’s also clear he mastered the art of success without arrogance. No wonder so many people liked having him around. Part of his legacy is the memorial tournament Valleriano helped start, and some of Chen’s friends still enter. No doubt there are those who might not have heard of Chen, but learn about him because of the tournament. (This year’s event starts Thursday at Dalton Golf and Country Club, but today is your last chance to register by calling (706) 259-9524 or writing to bwaldrop@daltongcc.org.
Kirklands Outlet Il - News
He had been a table tennis player in China (when his shoulder problems crept up late in his life, he returned to it for a competitive outlet), and the tennis coach at Kansas' Winfield High saw the opportunity for a transition to the big court.
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