Let’s give credit where credit is due: When it comes to the selection of the Distinguished Service Award and its connection to folks from Sudbury, the Ontario Tennis Association (OTA) absolutely aced it.
What started out as an individual honour morphed into a tribute to an impressive family legacy in the sport, and deservedly so.
There is no denying the critical involvement of Cliff Richardson with the Sudbury Indoor Tennis Centre (SITC), specifically over the period of the past decade or so, a time when the very future of the entity hung in the balance.
But as he well noted on multiple occasions during a recent chat, none of his efforts, or those of dedicated and current Sudbury tennis players who joined him in the fight to save the SITC, would have even been possible were it not for the efforts of his father (Jim) and his contemporaries.
A Sudbury Sports Hall of Fame inductee (2019) who sadly passed in 2010, the elder Richardson was quite involved in what would be the opening of the Sudbury Squash and Racquet Club in the late 1970s and, some 15 years later, the construction of what has become known as either the “Igloo” or “Tennis Bubble”.
“If it wasn’t for my dad and the decades of hard work he would put into the club, this would not exist at all,” said Cliff, a relatively casual tennis player by comparison to his father. “Dad’s blood, sweat and tears, along with those of many other volunteers, was needed to get the club to exist in the first place.
“I didn’t want to see his legacy, all that hard work, go to waste.”
A couple of months ago, Cliff was informed of the honour that would be bestowed upon him, the highest of volunteer recognitions at the disposal of the OTA. As the ceremony date of Oct. 25 drew nearer, he would be in contact with event organizers, detailing not only his involvement with tennis in Sudbury, but often how it simply flowed from the work of his father.
On the special night in question, the OTA opted to make it a dual ceremony, effectively recognizing the Richardson family’s impact on tennis in Northern Ontario. To the gentleman who enjoyed an incredible evening with family and friends, it was all too fitting.
“The fact that they were willing to recognize that, to me, is touching,” said Cliff. “This could have been his (Jim’s) award and I would have been perfectly fine with that. The fact that I was able to share it makes it a little bit more special.”
All of which is not to demean the important strategic decisions that this most recent generation of tennis aficionados undertook, most notably demonstrating the “foresight, vision and determination needed in securing a certified and dedicated tennis coordinator to come to Sudbury and help save tennis” (as nominator and local mainstay Neil Lind noted in his submission).
“Dad came at it from the standpoint of a player and a coach, with a desire to get a club up and running in the first place, somewhere for year-round tennis,” said Richardson. “I came at it less as a coach, a little bit as a player, but more as a business person in the community, with business acumen to help steer the ship.
“The club was in dire straits.”
These days, thanks to those efforts and the wonderful hiring of Richard Bulbring, who made the move to the Nickel City from his home in South Africa, the Sudbury Indoor Tennis Centre is very much trending in the right direction.
“Cliff realized that convincing an individual to come to a small four-court dome next to Queen’s Athletic Field would be difficult,” said Lind. “Now it’s turned into a vibrant organization, one that offers a junior program, a coaching program, and an excellent overall tennis facility and tennis experience.”
It is very much the vision that Jim Richardson likely dreamed of for the club that he helped launch, a club that might not still be here today if not for the passing of the baton to his son.
Randy Pascal is a sportswriter in Greater Sudbury. Pursuit is made possible by our Community Leaders Program.