Bob Ogle, Millennium Hall of Fame

Bob Ogle enjoyed an outstanding amateur tennis career and has been

established for a quarter of a century at the Balboa Bay Club Racquet

Club.

But Ogle’s most memorable match was more like a covert operation.

Playing in front of only guys wearing dark suits, sunglasses and

earpieces, while a certain black box was strategically placed on the

adjacent court, Ogle once played doubles on a different sort of center

court.

Former U.S. President George Bush, not long after leading a successful

Gulf War campaign, dropped by for some tennis.

“It was April 5, 1991,” said Ogle, who played about two hours with

Bush, a three-set match that came down to a tiebreaker.

Bush was staying at the Four Seasons Hotel in Newport Beach and was

scheduled to meet the Japanese Prime Minister, but had also indicated a

desire to swing the racket to his Secret Service detail.

Three days earlier, Secret Service agents had come by the club to

check around. But nothing more was discussed. On Thursday night, they

popped up again and told Ogle that certain members of the “White House

staff” might want to play tennis the next morning.

On that Friday morning, with about 10 minutes notice, the 41st

president arrived with the pilot of the press corps airplane, a guy named

Ben. Paul Jenkins, another teaching pro at the BBC Racquet Club, played

to make it a foursome.

“We had just an incredibly enjoyable time with probably the most

powerful man in the world,” said Ogle, who teamed with the president to

win. “(Bush) had an interesting way of making you feel at home.”

Rumors were flying that Bush was prepared to play golf at Big Canyon

Country Club that morning, or go deep sea fishing. “People were lining up

at Big Canyon, but they couldn’t get in if they wanted to,” said Ogle,

who was surprised when Bush showed up at his club.

Ogle, a former CIF Southern Section singles champion for Newport

Harbor High and NCAA All-American for the University of Houston, said

Bush asked him if he knew fellow Texan Jim Rombeau. “Sure, I know him,”

Ogle responded.

Two weeks later, Ogle received a handwritten letter from Bush with Air

Force One letterhead, thanking him for the tennis and adding, “Oh, by the

way, I said hi to Jim for you.”

Ogle was amazed. How could someone as busy as the President of the

United States remember (or care about) such specifics?

“It was a kick in the seat,” Ogle said of his presidential match. “By

the time word got out that (Bush) was coming to play, the Secret Service

wouldn’t let anybody in. Even the president of the Balboa Bay Club (at

the time, Tom Deemer) tried to come down here, but he couldn’t get near

this place.”

Ogle, general manager of the BBC Racquet Club since his appointment on

June 17, 1996, will probably never have a more famous student on the

court.

But if anybody has seen the serves come and go at BBC Racquet Club,

it’s Ogle, who grew up on the courts, won his CIF singles championship

there in 1971 and left college a year early to accept a position as

assistant pro in October 1974. In 1980, Ogle became head pro.

“It’s been a great job,” Ogle said. “It’s really tough to say I go to

work when I go to play tennis every day. My neighbors (in Irvine) look at

me and ask when I’m going to get a job.”

Ogle earned a tennis scholarship to the University of Houston after

four varsity seasons at Newport Harbor, in which the Sailors advanced to

the CIF finals every year as a team, finishing as runners-up in 1968 and

‘69 and winning titles in 1970 and ’71 -- Ogle’s junior and senior years

under Coach Pat Wilson.

In the CIF individual championships, Ogle defeated Randy Evett of

Miraleste, 6-4, 6-3, to become Newport Harbor’s first CIF singles winner.

Almost 20 years later, Brett Hansen-Dent would win the school’s second

CIF singles title.

Following one of the most prolific prep tennis careers in Newport-Mesa

District history, Ogle became an All-American his sophomore year at

Houston (1973). He played one more season in college, then decided to

return to his roots when an opening came up at the BBC Racquet Club.

At that time, there were no Association of Tennis Professionals’ Tour

rankings, and traveling the globe didn’t exactly appeal to Ogle. “I’m too

much of a homebody,” he said. “And this was perfect -- it’s right where I

grew up and I was born at Hoag Hospital.”

Ogle’s parents, Bob, Sr. and Peggy Van Horn, also attended Newport

Harbor.

Ogle, 46, has been involved in the teaching programs for juniors and

adults at the BBC Racquet Club, while assisting with tournaments, social

activities and league play for members.

Ogle, the latest honoree in the Daily Pilot Sports Hall of Fame,

celebrating the millennium, has been married 21 years to his wife, Donna.

They have two children: Daughter Shelby, 19, and son Hadley, 17.