Ray Benton – Mr. Tennis – CEO of JTCC

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Ray Benton on the current state of Tennis~

“A lot more to be done. We’ve gotta rebuild the base of our sport. I mean, tennis participation’s been going down in the United States for 40 years. It’s ridiculous.”

Andy Ockershausen: This is Andy Ockershausen, and this is Our Town. I’m welcoming an old friend who’s not old. He’s a young man. He’s the CEO of the Junior Tennis Championship Center in College Park, Maryland, but before that, he was Ray Benton and will always be Ray Benton, Mr. Tennis, to me. Ray, welcome to Our Town.
Ray Benton: Thank you Andy. Great to see you.
Andy Ockershausen: Well, you know, you’ve done so much, Ray, in your career and realized that you’re from Iowa. I keep wondering, how did you get connected with all the people you got connected with in Washington? You went to school there. You were born there in Iowa?
Ray Benton: No, but I lived there since I was eight years old.
Andy Ockershausen: Is that it?
Ray Benton: I wish you’d say Iowa with a bit of respect. You’re very degrading.

Iowa Undergrad and Law School | Vietnam | Wharton Business School

Andy Ockershausen: I remember State Fair was a great movie about Iowa. Now how did you get to Pennsylvania, to Wharton?
Ray Benton: Well, I grew up in Iowa City, where the University is, of course. My parents were actually professors there.
Andy Ockershausen: Wow.
Ray Benton: And so I went to undergraduate and law school there, and then I decided that I’d rather not go to a place called Vietnam. So I went to business school at Wharton and got drafted right out of there.
Andy Ockershausen: Did your time anyway.
Ray Benton: I did my two years.
Andy Ockershausen: But the war was winding down, I’m sure.
Ray Benton: No, no, no, no.
Andy Ockershausen: It was still hot when you-

Ray Benton on serving in Army as Legal Clerk in Alabama during Vietnam War

Ray Benton: I was on orders for Vietnam as an infantry rifleman in 1967, which is like a death sentence, but I was very fortunate I had been working as a legal clerk in the legal office at Fort McClellan in Anniston, Alabama.
Andy Ockershausen: Alabama, yeah.
Ray Benton: And I was waiting for my commission in the JAG, and all of a sudden, pending my security clearance, so all of a sudden I was on orders as an infantry rifleman, which I had just taken advanced infantry training. And my commission to JAG came through, which had been four years, and I said, “I really don’t wanna spend four years, and I really don’t wanna go to Vietnam as an infantry rifleman.” And my boss, who was the judge advocate said, “God, I’d like to keep you.” I said, “Why don’t you make me a legal clerk?” ’cause I was an infantry rifleman just-
Andy Ockershausen: That was your MOS, right?
Ray Benton: My MOS, and 11B10. And I was just waiting for my order to become an officer.
Andy Ockershausen: Right.
Ray Benton: And so he looked in the Regs, and he found 90 days on the job training, I can make you a legal clerk. And I had been there four months. So he made me a legal clerk, which got me off the orders, and I dropped my commission.
Andy Ockershausen: Did you ever get the commission?
Ray Benton: No, no. I dropped it because I didn’t wanna spend four years. So by then, I’d been in for, what? Four, eight months, so I can get it out as a enlisted man for another 16 months.
Andy Ockershausen: And you did?
Ray Benton: I had a great time.
Andy Ockershausen: In Alabama, or they move you around?
Ray Benton: No, no. I was in Alabama the whole time. I’d go to work at five in the morning, be done at one in the afternoon.
Andy Ockershausen: And play golf.

Side jobs while in Army in Alabama – Tennis Pro and Subsitute Business Law Professor

Ray Benton: And after one o’clock, I was the varsity tennis coach at Jacksonville State University. I was the head Tennis Pro at the Anniston, Gadsden Country Clubs and a substitute Business Law Professor.
Andy Ockershausen: Jacksonville State-
Ray Benton: Jacksonville State in Alabama.
Andy Ockershausen: Well, isn’t there a Jacksonville in-
Ray Benton: There’s a Jacksonville State in Florida too.
Andy Ockershausen: In Florida, yeah.
Ray Benton: Yeah, yeah.
Andy Ockershausen: A great basketball program at one time.
Ray Benton: Remember Artis Gilmore.
Andy Ockershausen: Absolutely, seven feet tall.
Ray Benton: Yeah.
Andy Ockershausen: So how did you get involved with union tennis. In Iowa?

On Getting Involved on the Business Side of Tennis

Ray Benton: Oh yeah, I worked my way through college as a teaching pro in Dubuque, Iowa.
Andy Ockershausen: Right.
Ray Benton: At the country club where I started the program, and I met a guy named Bob Lang. And I taught him to play tennis, and so as I was getting out of business school, he asked me to go to work for him. And he invented the plastic ski boot. Ski boots were all leather before Bob Lang. He came up with the plastic ski boot.
Andy Ockershausen: Is that right?
Ray Benton: Yeah, and he’s from the mid west, Dubuque, Iowa.
Andy Ockershausen: Wow.
Ray Benton: I want you to say that with respect.
Andy Ockershausen: I remember the leather ski boots.
Ray Benton: You’re a damn eastern snob, you know.
Andy Ockershausen: I always thought you were a snob, but I didn’t know it was eastern. You know, ivy league.
Ray Benton: Ivory league. So he asked me to go to work for him to develop the first plastic tennis racquet.
Andy Ockershausen: Wow.
Ray Benton: So I went there, and I told him, I said, “Look, we should be having a tennis tournament to tell the world we’re getting into tennis and tell the world we’re moving from Dubuque to Denver.” And then I was still in school. I asked him. He said, “Yeah, just go ahead and do it.”
Andy Ockershausen: This was after the Army, or before?
Ray Benton: This is after the Army. I’d gone back to work and to finish school.
Andy Ockershausen: Right.
Ray Benton: Finish my MBA. So I was commuting back and forth between Denver and Philadelphia, putting together this tournament. I had it all set to be the week after the US Open. This is 1969, but there was one problem. The Davis Cup Captain for the US didn’t want his players playing the week after the US Open.
Andy Ockershausen: Who was it Stan Smith?

Tennis Tournament Brings Benton and Donald Dell Together

Ray Benton: No, no, no, no. It was some guy named Dell. So Donald-
Andy Ockershausen: Was Donald, a non-playing captain?
Ray Benton: Yeah.
Andy Ockershausen: Or was he playing then?
Ray Benton: No, no. He was the captain. He had the world champion. He had a great job with it, and he said, “Look, we’re playing Cleveland the last week of September. We’re playing Romania in Cleveland.” He said, “If you’ll move your tournament to the next week, I’ll get you everybody who played in the Davis Cup.”
Andy Ockershausen: Wow.
Ray Benton: So we had Ashe, Smith, Lutz, Pasarell, Tiriac, and Nastase.
Andy Ockershausen: The hoi polloi.
Ray Benton: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it was great.
Andy Ockershausen: Was that your first interplay with Donald?
Ray Benton: Yeah, yeah.
Andy Ockershausen: That’s where you met?
Ray Benton: And then he got his players for the next year. It was called the Lang Cup.
Andy Ockershausen: ’69 was the Washington Star Tournament, the first one here in ’69 with Donald.
Ray Benton: Exactly.
Andy Ockershausen: I remember that tournament.
Ray Benton: Right.
Andy Ockershausen: And I think Cliff Richey might have won it. I don’t remember it. That was a long time ago, long time ago.
Ray Benton: Maybe Thomaz Koch, I think.
Andy Ockershausen: Was he from Brazil?
Ray Benton: Brazil. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Andy Ockershausen: Well, but that got you involved in a different world then. I mean-
Ray Benton: Well, I was doing professional tennis then.
Andy Ockershausen: Yeah, but you had finished school at Wharton, and you were ready to hang up your own shingle, huh?

Benton Comes to D.C. to Start Law Firm with Donald Dell

Ray Benton: Well, I was ready to get a job. So I got a job with Bob Lang, and after two years, then Donald said he was starting a law firm and would I like to join him? And I said it’d be great. So I came here in ’71.
Andy Ockershausen: Well, right after that he had just worked for the guy running for governor of Virginia, and Donald did some work with the Peace Corp too. I remember that.

Donald Dell, Sargent Shriver and Peace Corps.

Ray Benton: He was very close to Sargent Shriver.
Andy Ockershausen: Yeah, he was close to Sarge.
Ray Benton: At the Peace Corps.
Andy Ockershausen: Right, I knew that, and he was also backing a political figure at the time, as I recall.
Ray Benton: Well, he was working close with Bob Kennedy.
Andy Ockershausen: One of the Reynolds, I think.
Ray Benton: Bobby Kennedy.
Andy Ockershausen: Well, that was something. Yeah, he was deep into that. He traveled for Kennedy, I think.
Ray Benton: Well, Billy Reynolds was a good friend of his and Lee Fentress, but I don’t remember him being involved in politics. He was involved with, I think, it was Reynold’s Aluminum.
Andy Ockershausen: Oh, well that’s family.
Ray Benton: In Richmond.
Andy Ockershausen: And Reynold’s tobacco. That’s all the same family.
Ray Benton: Is it?
Andy Ockershausen: Yes sir, with different branches of the same family.
Ray Benton: ‘Cause tobacco’s in North Carolina.
Andy Ockershausen: Yeah.
Ray Benton: Yeah.
Andy Ockershausen: But I was talking about money too on both things.
Ray Benton: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Andy Ockershausen: I’m talking to Ray Benton, and we’ve gotten away from tennis. But he’s talking about people, and people are more important than tennis, Ray. But you knew so many, many people, and we’re gonna talk about that. And this is Our Town, and this Andy Ockershausen talking to Ray Benton.
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Announcer: You’re listening to Our Town with Andy Ockershausen, brought to you by Best Bark Communications.
Andy Ockershausen: This is Andy Ockershausen. This is Our Town with our very, very special friend and special guest, Ray Benton who, the man has been a huge influence on tennis, and not only locally, but I would say around the world. And actually, you’ve been to tournaments and provided people to play in these tournaments everywhere. When did you give up your career playing?
Ray Benton: I never really had one.
Andy Ockershausen: Well, you did something, Ray. You were teaching. You must have had a lot of people . . .

Tennis Background

Ray Benton: Well, no. I mean, I started late, but I did play for the University of Iowa.
Andy Ockershausen: Yeah. Tennis . . .
Ray Benton: Actually, we were third in the Big Ten.
Andy Ockershausen: Is that right?
Ray Benton: We had a pretty good team, but I was number six. Let’s get that straight. I was a pretty darn good teacher. I was a very mediocre player.
Andy Ockershausen: Well you’re career shows that. You brought a lot of people along.
Ray Benton: You know, then I played in the Army. I played for the third Army team, but I was always kind of mediocre.
Andy Ockershausen: . . . in Alabama?
Ray Benton: Yeah.
Andy Ockershausen: Good for you.
Ray Benton: And it was a real. . . it was a tennis hot bed, but anyway. So then I joined Donald, who had been number one in the Country in Junior Tennis, and played Davis Cup. And Lee Fentress was top 20 in the country, and we’re representing Arthur Ashe and Stan Smith. And they said, “Are you a good tennis player?” I said, “Hell no.” Because I mean, I could win my tennis club championship, but in that crowd.
Andy Ockershausen: No, that’s right. But you were with … Right when Donald came back from his soldiering with the Peace Corps and the people, and I know his story because he came to WMAL to his tournament.
Ray Benton: Sure.
Andy Ockershausen: Which the Star got the name, but we paid the money ’cause the Star didn’t have and money.
Ray Benton: Oh, interesting.
Andy Ockershausen: But Donald’s been a friend for a 100 years, as he is to you, but you had a lot of characters in that law firm, did you not? I mean, I think of someone like, you said Solomon was not a partner, but Davis was.

Law Firm and Marketing Affiliate, ProServ

Ray Benton: He became president after I left. See, we were a law firm, and it was called Dell, Craighill, Fentress and Benton.
Andy Ockershausen: Right.
Ray Benton: And then we started a marketing company called ProServ.
Andy Ockershausen: Pro Serv.
Ray Benton: Okay.
Andy Ockershausen: Was there a name before ProServ?
Ray Benton: Well actually, it was Professional Services Inc.
Andy Ockershausen: Something like that.
Ray Benton: And we used to . . . as slang, we’d say ProServ, but then we found out there was a company in town that cleaned carpets and drapes called Professional Services Inc. So we were getting their calls.
Andy Ockershausen: You were getting their clients.
Ray Benton: We had some expertise, but that was not one of them. Anyway, after our law firm split up in ’83, we … Our principal business was ProServ. In other words, we used to be a law firm that had a marketing affiliate. We became a marketing company that had a small law firm, and then, so we-
Andy Ockershausen: You reversed it.

Benton Works the Marketing Side – ProServ

Ray Benton: So we became Dell, Benton and Falk was our law firm, but it basically, we went from . . . I went from carrying a law firm card to a ProServ card as a basic identity.
Andy Ockershausen: Always here in Washington, it was always your headquarters here.
Ray Benton: Yes.
Andy Ockershausen: The tournaments you were running.
Ray Benton: Yeah, we had offices all around the world, but-
Andy Ockershausen: Yeah, well worldwide of course. So where does this leave you though? You’re with a great bunch of people, but they all left.
Ray Benton: Well, not all of them.
Andy Ockershausen: Well, you know, Donald stayed.

Law Firm Split | Octagon, formerly Advantage International, Created, ProServ Continues under Dell and Benton

Ray Benton: But 40% of them left.
Andy Ockershausen: Yeah.
Ray Benton: Even when we split in ’83.
Andy Ockershausen: I remember that.
Ray Benton: Frank and Lee started a company called Advantage International.
Andy Ockershausen: Right.
Ray Benton: And I think they took 40, 45% of the people. It was almost-
Andy Ockershausen: What was that name? What do they call it? Advantage?
Ray Benton: Yeah. That’s now called Octagon.
Andy Ockershausen: Octagon. Octagon’s pretty big, right? In the business?
Ray Benton: Yeah, yeah. They’re quite big, and then we stayed ProServ.
Andy Ockershausen: Right.
Ray Benton: And we became ProServ as our major identity, and then I stayed for another three and a half years. And I left at the end of ’86.
Andy Ockershausen: Well, then you still, this is your big tournament was here in Washington with Donald’s big tournament, correct?
Ray Benton: Right.

Dell and Benton Split – Benton Helps Ken Brody Start JTCC in 1999

Andy Ockershausen: And then he went around the world, of course, doing tournaments and becoming a commentator and a talent. Why didn’t you follow that and put you on television?
Ray Benton: ‘Cause I have face made for radio.
Andy Ockershausen: I wouldn’t have said that, but you’re right. So Ray Benton, so you’re in Washington. You’re still here, and where’s the idea to come to establish this huge tennis center that you put together in College Park?
Ray Benton: Well, I like to say it was my idea, but it wasn’t. It was Ken Brody’s idea. Ken Brody was originally from this area, went to Maryland, was a great student, then went to Harvard Business School, and then went to Goldman Sachs and went to the management committee.
Andy Ockershausen: Wow. Big time.
Ray Benton: He was a big guy there.
Andy Ockershausen: Was he a big tennis player at the time?
Ray Benton: He came late to the game, but he was a real fanatic. He then came down here. He was a big fundraiser for Bill Clinton in ’92, and he was made CEO of the Export-Import Bank.
Andy Ockershausen: Wow.
Ray Benton: And he always wanted to-
Andy Ockershausen: Pay back, huh?
Ray Benton: Yeah. He always wanted to do something in tennis, and I was his neighbor. And so we went around and looked at a lot of different places. He wanted to help hard working kids get college scholarships. So he started JTCC in 1999. We’ll have our 20th anniversary next year.
Andy Ockershausen: Wow. Can’t believe that.
Ray Benton: And then-
Andy Ockershausen: That was so fast.
Ray Benton: So for the first nine years, I often kid him and said I was his very badly paid tennis consultant.
Andy Ockershausen: Well, you were gone from the law firm. Had you set up your own law firm then? Or are you just practicing?
Ray Benton: Oh, no, no, no. I’ve never practiced law. I mean, I went to law school to avoid the draft.
Andy Ockershausen: Right.
Ray Benton: I was a great patriot, right?
Andy Ockershausen: You had your chance, Ray.
Ray Benton: Well, I went.
Andy Ockershausen: That’s a great story. I lived through it from the outside looking in seeing all these things going on in your life and your wife’s life and your great Thanksgiving party you used to have. Do you still have the party?
Ray Benton: You got your invitation, I hope.
Andy Ockershausen: You gonna have it this year?
Ray Benton: Yeah, yeah. We . . . Did you not get-
Andy Ockershausen: Remember we always got invited to his Thanksgiving party, Janice and I.
Ray Benton: You’re still invited. You’re still invited.
Andy Ockershausen: You still live in the same house?
Ray Benton: We can’t talk about it. You’ll have 10 thousand people come off the podcast.
Andy Ockershausen: I believe that.This is Our Town, and this is Andy Ockershausen. I’m talking to Ray Benton, and we’ll be back to talk about his tennis center.
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Announcer: You are listening to Our Town with Andy Ockershausen.
Andy Ockershausen: This is Andy Ockershausen talking to Ray Benton and realizing he promoted one of the great tennis tours of all time called the Nuveen Tour. I recall in 19, I don’t know, I guess ’93, something, ’94. You were promoting a tournament in Florida and gave Janice and I ticket with Sonny and Margo Jurgensen. It was a night match we went to.

Before JTCC – Benton Partnered with Jimmy Connors to Create The Nuveen Tour

Ray Benton: In Naples?
Andy Ockershausen: Yeah, Naples.
Ray Benton: Yeah, yeah.
Andy Ockershausen: That was at the Ritz Carlton or someplace.
Ray Benton: That’s right. It was the finals of our Tour.
Andy Ockershausen: Right. It was a big, big event.
Ray Benton: It was a 35 and over tour.
Andy Ockershausen: Wow.
Ray Benton: And Jimmy Connors and I were partners. We started it, and then our first players were, of course, Jimmy played, but Borg, Vilas, Clerc-
Andy Ockershausen: Great names.
Ray Benton: Tanner, Gerulaitis. We had a lot of fun.
Andy Ockershausen: Is Clerc the one from South Africa?
Ray Benton: No, no. Argentina.
Andy Ockershausen: What’s the-
Ray Benton: Kriek, you’re thinking of Kriek. Johan Kriek was also was one them.
Andy Ockershausen: From South Africa?
Ray Benton: Yes. Yeah.
Andy Ockershausen: We met his wife. She ran the store or something down in Naples.
Ray Benton: Tish.
Andy Ockershausen: But I recall the Nuveen Tour was a huge success. How many years did that live?
Ray Benton: We went … Well, I sold out in 1999. We started in ’93.
Andy Ockershausen: Yeah, I remember in ’93.
Ray Benton: Actually, the first two years we were the Champions Tour, and then we brought Nuveen as the title. And then McEnroe joined and Noah and Wilander and-
Andy Ockershausen: Almost like playing round-robins, weren’t they?
Ray Benton: Yeah, well, we had 23 events a year around the world.
Andy Ockershausen: Wow. 23.
Ray Benton: And then we owned 11 of them here in the states and operated them. And then we licensed out the others.
Andy Ockershausen: And the players went overseas with the-
Ray Benton: Oh yeah. Oh, as a rebirth they made a lot of money.
Andy Ockershausen: Champions, my God. You put them on the map.
Ray Benton: Well, I didn’t put them on the map. Maybe extended their careers.

On Promoting Women’s Tennis

Andy Ockershausen: But as old dogs you put them on the map. Now what have you done for women’s tennis?
Ray Benton: Well, we were … I mean, at ProServ, our law firm, we were one of the first Virginia Slims promoters. Yeah. Professional tennis started in 1973, and there were seven events. And we had two of the seven. We had one in Washington, remember out at Pooks Hill.
Andy Ockershausen: I remember the one at the Pooks Hill.
Ray Benton: And then I had one in Denver.
Andy Ockershausen: And what you had some really famous women playing in that.
Ray Benton: Well, Billie Jean played. Nancy Richey played, and it was gonna be a great risk. Women’s professional tennis, we had to put up 25,000 in prize money. And then hire a staff and rent a facility and so forth. And Virginia Slims was giving us 18 of the 25 and plus a lot of promotion. But still, it was new, and you never knew.
Andy Ockershausen: That’s when the rest became unpopular.
Ray Benton: Well, that was later, but … So we announced the tournament, and we were doing okay. We had Billie Jean and Nancy Richey and Rosie Casals. Good names, right?
Andy Ockershausen: Absolutely.
Ray Benton: But then there was this little girl in our draw that nobody had heard of who beat Margaret Court a month before the event, and her name was Chris Evert.
Andy Ockershausen: The kid from Fort Lauderdale.
Ray Benton: Yeah. So we sold out every session. It was a great success.
Andy Ockershausen: I’ll bet.
Ray Benton: And then we went the next year there. Then we went to a bigger facility. We went to the old George Mason field house with about 4,000 seats.
Andy Ockershausen: It’s not the Patriot Center, much smaller than that.
Ray Benton: Yeah. It’s much smaller, and then we went down to GW.
Andy Ockershausen: I remember the Smith Center.
Ray Benton: We opened the Smith Center.
Andy Ockershausen: Yeah.
Ray Benton: Yeah, put them on national television, and it was great.
Andy Ockershausen: You did a lot Ray, my God.
Ray Benton: I’m 103 years old.
Andy Ockershausen: Well, you don’t look it Ray. You look only 100.
Ray Benton: Thank you. Now show some respect for Iowa.
Andy Ockershausen: UI. Ray, but how did you get into the Junior Tennis? All this time you were running tours, you’re traveling and so forth.
Ray Benton: Right.
Andy Ockershausen: And running the country and the world in tennis.

On Selling the Senior Tour

Ray Benton: Well, no, but I sold the Senior Tour in 2000.
Andy Ockershausen: Who would buy the tour? Some operators?
Ray Benton: Well, Connor sold his 50% interest to IMG in about 1997, and I sold my interests to a promoter in London who had done a lot of events. And then actually, IMG ended up buying him. Anyway, so for seven years, I was a consultant to various non-profit organizations and sports organizations.
Andy Ockershausen: Right.

Running the JTCC

Ray Benton: And then I was explaining, Ken Brody asked me in 2008 if I would take over this wonderful place that he had built. And so I’ve been doing that-
Andy Ockershausen: You’re running the show.
Ray Benton: For 10 years.
Andy Ockershausen: I thought those courts were owned by the county or the university.
Ray Benton: No, no. We lease the land from the parks department.
Andy Ockershausen: Who owns the land?
Ray Benton: National Capital Parks.
Andy Ockershausen: Oh, is that right?
Ray Benton: Maryland National Capital Parks, which is Prince George’s and Montgomery, although Prince George’s is pretty independent. And that’s who we lease it from.
Andy Ockershausen: And Montgomery County and Prince Georges are both involved in that, correct?
Ray Benton: Well, we only deal with Prince George’s County, ’cause we’re in Prince George’s County.
Andy Ockershausen: Well, your kids come from all over though.
Ray Benton: Of course. Yeah.
Andy Ockershausen: Do you recruit them, or do their parents send them?
Ray Benton: Well, we have coaches out at tournaments all the time, and we don’t believe in aggressive recruiting. We believe in getting our story out. We’re pretty well known. I mean-
Andy Ockershausen: I would say.
Ray Benton: Our kids probably win 70% of all the sectional championships, and last year we had 60 kids go to the National Super Tournaments.
Andy Ockershausen: 60?
Ray Benton: 60. Yeah.
Andy Ockershausen: In the various age groups?
Ray Benton: Over eight age groups.
Andy Ockershausen: Well, who supports them on travel? The center?
Ray Benton: We’re a non-profit.
Andy Ockershausen: Yeah.

Raising Money for JTCC

Ray Benton: So we’re always out raising money, but 70% of our revenues come from operating revenues, from people. If you can afford to pay, you do.
Andy Ockershausen: I got you.
Ray Benton: We’re just like a private school.
Andy Ockershausen: I see.
Ray Benton: You know, it’s expensive, and you say I can’t afford it. You say, “Well, apply for financial aid.”
Andy Ockershausen: Got it. And then you go though that.
Ray Benton: The parents send in their tax returns and obligations, so forth, but we gave out over 800 thousand in financial aid last year.
Andy Ockershausen: Wow. Well, that never bothered you because you had rich parents when you were in Iowa.
Ray Benton: Yeah, college professors. They were really wealthy.
Andy Ockershausen: They were knocking down on you, on the university, but Ray, what is the bottom line on this school? The kids get good and graduate, don’t they? Then they go on to another life?

Kids Have Ability to Earn Tennis Scholarships at JTCC

Ray Benton: The bottom line is, we provide the training and the opportunity for any of a hard working kid of any demographic to earn a college scholarship. Our kids have earned eight million dollars worth of tennis scholarships in the last six years, and that doesn’t include the ones that go to division three schools or Ivy League schools and get financial aid or-
Andy Ockershausen: That’s an enormous number.

Francis Tiafoe, Dennis Kudla and Freddie McNair – JTCC Alumni

Ray Benton: And then we’ve had two kids turn pro, and we get a lot of publicity for that. Francis Tiafoe, of course, is now 20 years old and 40 in the world.
Andy Ockershausen: Right.
Ray Benton: Dennis Kudla is 60 in the world.
Andy Ockershausen: Can they move up? They’re on the tour now though, right? They’re out playing.
Ray Benton: He’s 40 in the world in men’s tennis.
Andy Ockershausen: Yeah.
Ray Benton: Dennis is 25 years old. He’s 60 in the world. I think he’ll get to the top 40.
Andy Ockershausen: Even at 40 and 60, they get money when they play in these tournaments, do they not?
Ray Benton: Oh, yeah. They’ll blow through in over a million dollars in prize money.
Andy Ockershausen: Is that right?
Ray Benton: Francis is still young. He will definitely be top 10 in the world. He was the best junior in the world three years ago.
Andy Ockershausen: Well, they used to have a Junior Junior Tournament and then a Junior Tournament, didn’t they? I guess they have them in three age groups.
Ray Benton: At the grand slams you mean?
Andy Ockershausen: Yeah.
Ray Benton: Well, the grand slams they have an 18 and under junior championship, and we have kids playing in it every year in different tournaments.
Andy Ockershausen: What have happened to all of the great doubles players from Washington? I don’t hear about it anymore. You know, the family. Where are the-
Ray Benton: McNair?
Andy Ockershausen: Yeah. Freddie.
Ray Benton: Yeah, Freddie’s still around.
Andy Ockershausen: One of the kids got into a Davis Cup didn’t he?
Ray Benton: Freddie was number one in the world in doubles.
Andy Ockershausen: In doubles, right. The son.
Ray Benton: Yeah.
Andy Ockershausen: Not the old man. The old man went to-
Ray Benton: Oh, the old man-
Andy Ockershausen: Went to North Carolina, didn’t he?
Ray Benton: Freddie Jr. did, yeah, but the father had lots of gold balls in senior tennis and also father/son tennis.
Andy Ockershausen: They won the father/son with a different son all the time.
Ray Benton: I think he won it with three different sons.
Andy Ockershausen: It’s amazing.
Ray Benton: He’s a genius.
Andy Ockershausen: They’re local people.
Ray Benton: Yeah.
Andy Ockershausen: I miss Fred. He’s not around anymore, but he was a local character of some sort.
Ray Benton: He’s fun. Great fun.
Andy Ockershausen: And you had a lot of local characters in your business too with Donald Dell. I mean-
Ray Benton: No, we had a good-
Andy Ockershausen: Austin. Austin was one of your clients, wasn’t it?
Ray Benton: No.
Andy Ockershausen: Patty Austin?

Tracy Austin and Jeff Austin

Ray Benton: No, no. Tracy Austin.
Andy Ockershausen: Tracy Austin.
Ray Benton: And her brother Jeff.
Andy Ockershausen: He played here in Washington.
Ray Benton: No, he’s moved back to California.
Andy Ockershausen: Oh, he did?
Ray Benton: He worked with us, but then when our law firm split, he went with the other guys.
Andy Ockershausen: Oh, he did? Yeah, ’cause I used to see him at Army/Navy. He played over there all the time.
Ray Benton: Well he played on the tour.

Consultant Sara Fornaciari

Andy Ockershausen: How ’bout, what’s her name, Sara Fornaciari.
Ray Benton: She still is a consultant with me.
Andy Ockershausen: Is she working with you?
Ray Benton: Yeah. We’re starting to get used to each other.
Andy Ockershausen: She’s a great gal.
Ray Benton: Yeah, we’ve only worked together for 44 years. We’re starting to get used to each other.
Andy Ockershausen: I recall her Madame costume. She hated being an agent she told me. She said, “I don’t mind selling equipment, but I don’t wanna fool with these prima donnas.”
Ray Benton: That’s baloney.
Andy Ockershausen: After management, right?
Ray Benton: She had Tracy. She Pam Shriver. She had Zina Garrison.
Andy Ockershausen: She had to babysit them all is what she told me.
Ray Benton: Of course, that’s just part of the deal, but she had great clients.
Andy Ockershausen: Good clients, oh yeah.
Ray Benton: Yeah.
Andy Ockershausen: And she loved the work.
Ray Benton: She was just complaining to be heard.
Andy Ockershausen: Sarah was a good gal.
Ray Benton: She still is. She works with us. She’s a consultant to us. She puts on our gala. In fact, she’s out at JTCC right now. The only reason I came to see you, I was trying to get away from her.
Andy Ockershausen: She’s not that bad. So what’s in the future for Ray Benton? You’ve conquered now with this club that you’ve established, and you’ve established a great program in College Park. Is that gonna continue?

Rebuilding and Reenergizing Tennis’ Base

Ray Benton: A lot more to be done. We’ve gotta rebuild the base of our sport. I mean, tennis participation’s been going down in the United States for 40 years. It’s ridiculous.
Andy Ockershausen: And golf’s been going up.
Ray Benton: Well, golf was going up. It’s suffered pretty badly in the last six or seven years, but it has a much bigger financial base.
Andy Ockershausen: Oh, of course. Of course. But what do you think about this thing that the team tennis, the WTT?

Great Potential in WTT

Ray Benton: It’s a great format. It really is entertaining, and for two guys and two girls to get together and be able to play is wonderful. I think the great potential in it is at the grass roots level because in clubs and recreation, and I think once that happened and people became used to the grass roots format, then they would be much more supportive of the professional format. Professional format is terrific, but a lot of tennis traditionalists say, “Oh, that’s not really tennis.” And they won’t support it.
Andy Ockershausen: Well, that’s true. That was a statement from Donald way back when he was worried about the tournament starting. We were doing publicity because we like the idea of it, and Comcast Sports Net carried the events and worked the deal out with the promoter. And Janice and I attended several of them. I thought it was a terrific show.
Ray Benton: It’s good fun.
Andy Ockershausen: It was a show. It was entertaining, and people that were in the stands were in it. They were talking to each other. I thought it had a great chance, but the venue, we lost that venue in Washington. I don’t like it in the Smith Center.
Ray Benton: You don’t?
Andy Ockershausen: The thing when we were down on the wharf and sitting there-
Ray Benton: No, that was terrific, but you know, to me, it’s just too risky. I mean, you only have seven games.
Andy Ockershausen: I understand that.
Ray Benton: And if it rains, you’re really in trouble.
Andy Ockershausen: You’re absolutely right.

The Smith Center

Ray Benton: I happen to like the Smith Center because, as I say, we put it on the map.
Andy Ockershausen: Sure you did.
Ray Benton: With the Virginia Slims.
Andy Ockershausen: I remember. Cliff Richey playing there in cold weather, Pat Summerall played an exhibition match there. Did you know that? Sonny and Pat.
Ray Benton: At the Smith Center?
Andy Ockershausen: Yes, in one of these events that’s going on. I’m serious.
Ray Benton: I don’t remember that.
Andy Ockershausen: I’m sure it was something that Donald promoted, or whoever promoted it to Smith Center. Summerall was a pretty good player.
Ray Benton: I was the tournament director for every tournament there.
Andy Ockershausen: Were you?
Ray Benton: But they did do some exhibition events there that I wasn’t involved in.

Staying Involved in JTCC

Andy Ockershausen: It was exhibition there, but Ray, what is your future with the club? Are you gonna stay involved in that, of course.
Ray Benton: I mean, I love it.
Andy Ockershausen: All this traveling you’re doing. You travel with the kids?
Ray Benton: Not much.
Andy Ockershausen: On the last tour, you went with them when you went to the Orient?
Ray Benton: Oh yeah, yeah. We went with four of the kids to Japan.
Andy Ockershausen: As babysitters?
Ray Benton: No, no, no. I just went to support them, and we wanted to do a bike trip in Vietnam anyway. So we decided . . .
Andy Ockershausen: You probably been on a French vineyard. You’ve probably done that for the wine country on your bike, haven’t you?
Ray Benton: Oh my God. I was in that business.
Andy Ockershausen: I remember your biking.
Ray Benton: And failed miserably at it, but I’ve probably done 40 bike trips in my life.
Andy Ockershausen: Maybe you’re ahead of your time, Ray, with that bike touring that you had. You never can tell.
Ray Benton: That’s a nice interpretation. Thank you.
Andy Ockershausen: You get your money back. Well, Ray Benton, there’s not many things in this world you haven’t conquered, but what you’ve done for tennis is legendary ’cause the kids are our future. Too bad you didn’t have Arthur Ashe when he was a kid, and John Lucas, all the great players that have been through here.

More on Francis Tiafoe

Ray Benton: We’ve had Francis Tiafoe. He’s gonna be a . . .
Andy Ockershausen: He’s gonna be there. He’s 40th in the world now, huh?
Ray Benton: And he’s 20 years old.
Andy Ockershausen: Wow. Where’s he from? Is he inner city kid?
Ray Benton: He’s from College Park.
Andy Ockershausen: A local boy, really?
Ray Benton: Oh, yeah. No, his father used to be in charge of the maintenance at our places. His father was an immigrant from Sierra Leone. It’s a wonderful story.
Andy Ockershausen: And he brought the kid to the tournament, I mean, to the place while he worked, huh?
Ray Benton: Exactly. That’s how-
Andy Ockershausen: Introduced him to tennis.
Ray Benton: Yeah, look, there’s a major … I’ll send you a copy of the article.
Andy Ockershausen: Love to see it. Love to read it.
Ray Benton: Washington Post front page.
Andy Ockershausen: This kid really made it.
Ray Benton: Yeah, no. He has a big upside from here.
Andy Ockershausen: And you fired the dad?
Ray Benton: No, no, no, no.
Andy Ockershausen: The kid’s got money. You didn’t need it anymore. Ray Benton, you’ve done so much for tennis. I mean, it’s incredible. So glad that we can talk. I’ve known you for 50, 60 years. I’ve never known everything, and that’s one of the reasons we’re doing Our Town. We’re talking to people.
Ray Benton: Old people.
Andy Ockershausen: Their background. Old people, young people, you know. The guy that was before you brought us this thing about-
Ray Benton: I’m gonna go on Amazon and buy that book right now.
Andy Ockershausen: 50 years. He was a grunt at 20 years old, and he didn’t wanna go. But they yanked his ass out of school, and sent him over there. But he’s had a wonderful career, but-
Ray Benton: How long was he-
Andy Ockershausen: Same as everybody at your age. I was too old to be involved in that. Thank God I missed it, but everybody that was involved in that is so glad it got over with ’cause they knew they were losing right off the bat. We couldn’t win that war.
Ray Benton: No.
Andy Ockershausen: No way. Politicians.

Benton’s Recent Trip to Vietnam

Ray Benton: I gotta tell you something though. We just went on our own terms on vacation. It’s a beautiful country.
Andy Ockershausen: Everybody says that.
Ray Benton: And the people are so nice and so hard working and personal service oriented. They’re terrific.
Andy Ockershausen: Did you go to the beach at all, beachy area?
Ray Benton: Yeah.
Andy Ockershausen: People had-
Ray Benton: We had a hardship duty. We were at a Four Seasons on the beach, you know.
Andy Ockershausen: Did you get to Hanoi?
Ray Benton: Yes.
Andy Ockershausen: And you took your bike trip all over. Did you get up in the highlands? You can’t go up in a bike.
Ray Benton: No, no. We were four days there. Then we went two days at Cambodia, and Angkor Wat is one of the great wonders of the world.
Andy Ockershausen: I’ll bet it is. I’ve heard about it.
Ray Benton: Yeah.
Andy Ockershausen: We’d like to see that someday, wouldn’t we Janice?
Ray Benton: Do it.
Andy Ockershausen: Do it. Ray Benton, it’s been a great pleasure to have you, and God bless you and what you’ve done for tennis and what you’ve done for the young people of greater Washington. This is Andy Ockershausen. This has been Our Town.
Announcer: You’ve been listening to Our Town, Season 4, presented by GEICO our home town favorite with you host Andy Ockershausen. New Our Town episodes are released each Tuesday and Thursday. Drop us a line with your comments or suggestions. See us on Facebook, or visit our website at ourtowndc.com. Our special thanks to Ken Hunter, our technical director, and WMAL radio in Washington, D.C., and thanks to GEICO. Fifteen minutes can save you 15 percent or more on care insurance.