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© St. Petersburg Times, published December 11, 2002
Bob McKenzie and Jerry McDowell didn't know one another while they were serving in the Air Force. And they didn't bump into each other later while working in Virginia.
But when the two met on the tennis courts in Pasco County in 1990, they formed a dynamic doubles team. For the last dozen years, they've won countless matches and made two trips to national team championships.
McKenzie, 76, played tennis as a teenager but the service restricted his playing beginning in 1941. Not until he retired from the Air Force in the 1960s and began working for an electronic company in Virginia did his tennis playing resume.
McDowell, 74, was 26 and in the Air Force before he began playing. When his outfit offered Wednesday afternoons off if you participated in physical activity, McDowell and a buddy tried tennis.
The McDowells moved to Florida in 1983 and McKenzie and his wife Jean arrived three years later.
McDowell was first at the Ridge Garden courts in New Port Richey and then at River Crossing in 1987. While playing in the club's league events, the two discovered they played well together.
Despite playing the least popular one-up, one-back doubles strategy for court coverage, the format works successfully for them.
"We seem to know what each of us is going to do and it works for us," McKenzie said.
The two reached their heyday in 1994 as a formidable team on the 3.5 senior men's team from River Crossing that finished third in the USTA national championships and on the 3.5 adult team that also advanced to the national tournament.
McKenzie didn't play last year while dealing with two heart operations and is now experiencing some breathing difficulty. McDowell is rebounding from blood poisoning and planned to get on the courts this week. Both hope to be back in full swing after the holidays to play for Innisbrook's 3.5 senior team.
ORANGE BOWL PLAYERS: Among competitors in this month's Burger King Orange Bowl International Tennis Championships in Key Biscayne are area players Stacia Fonseca, Malko Enomoto, Yumi Hasegawa and Elizabeth Lippincott in the girls 18-and-under; Yui Shimizu (girls 16); Marc Spicijaric, Guillermina Torre, Lukas Koncila, Bryon Jowers and Evan Dufaux (boys 16); and Sukhwa Young and Konstantin Lazarov (boys 18).
SENIOR DOUBLES LEAGUE: Joe Bailey and Bob Barry scored Innisbrook's only point against Countryside Country Club last weekend in the Senior Men's 3.5 Doubles North. In an earlier match against Dunedin, Don Bergner and Dick Willets scored a three-set win in No. 1 for Innisbrook, as did McDowell and McKenzie in No. 3.
The Phil Green Tennis Academy handed Innisbrook with wins by Dick Lashley and David Parris in No. 1, Dick Hough and Carlo Mugavero No. 2 and Ed McGinley and Ken Hogle No. 3.
Winning one of three three-set matches, Innisbrook's 3.5 senior women's team fell 2-1 to Paradise Island. Anne Hammond and Josie Doucette survived their three-setter in the No. 3 spot for Innisbrook's only point.
JUNIORS AT MCMULLEN: Nathan Graddy of Lutz won the boys 10-and-under singles in the Pre-Holiday Classic at the McMullen Tennis Center in Clearwater with a 6-0, 6-3 win over Timothy Berg. Wesley Chapel's Alexis Dorr rebounded from a second-set tiebreak loss to defeat Saddlebrook's Machiko Shigejuji in three sets in the girls 16.
COMING UP: Today is the deadline for juniors to enter the Christmas Classic at Seminole Lakes Racquet Club. Call Krishnan Anandan, (727) 394-1733. ... The Holiday Classic for men is this weekend at the Phil Green Tennis Academy. Call Alan Virgus, (727) 724-7729, today.