View and download the entire issue of ATR 66 – January 2019 Vol 20 No 2A
Photo courtesy of Larry Belinsky
Last year, when his wife accepted a job offer and they moved to San Diego, Steve Bartlett, a 1970s UC Berkeley tennis player, started showing up at the Aztec Tennis Center to hit practice serves.
He lives nearby. His wife, Adela de la Torre, is President of San Diego State University.
Bartlett soon tracked down Aztec tennis star Larry Belinsky, who played a year with Bartlett at Cal before transferring to SDSU in 1973.
The teammates had lost touch with each other.
Bartlett stayed at Berkeley, graduated, pursued a career in public health, married an educator, raised two daughters, and remains a recreational player.
Belinsky helped lead the Aztec men’s team to its first national notice, married a lawyer who helped him run two family businesses, raised a son and daughter, co-founded the San Diego Tennis Hall of Fame (to date it honors 56 inductees), and he has competed at USTA’s highest senior levels.
Looking back to the 1970s and the early Open era, Bartlett recalled that college tennis teams regularly produced players who ranked in the top 10 to 20 in the world. (California teams were often the most successful).
“At Cal we did not have those great players but we had a lot of depth in good players,” he said, “and Larry made the starting six as a freshman!
“I think at his position he had the best win-loss ratio of anyone on the team that year.
“I enjoyed watching him play as he played with great touch and feel and fought for every point.”
Bartlett’s arrival has rekindled a relationship rooted in tennis. He has visited Belinsky’s home and played on his court, discovering the Belinsky family coat of arms carries a pair of crossed tennis rackets.
“I had him over to my house for some fun hitting and catch-up,” Belinsky said. “I look forward to spending more time with both he and his wife in the near future.”
In an email, Bartlett said “Now that my wife is here and totally committed to San Diego State University, I feel like I am now an honorary ‘Aztec for life,’ and look forward to supporting everything about San Diego State including the men’s and women’s tennis teams.”
He added, “Go Aztecs!”