Meet the Member: Ken Mela
Where are you from and what brought you to the Reno/Tahoe area?
My Mom moved here when I was 4 to get a divorce and liked the area so we stayed. I am a Wooster HS grad and UNR grad (Mackay School of Mines – Geophysics BS ’74 and MS – Hydrogeology ’97 and a BS in education in between). After earning that first BS in geophysics I married my college sweetheart and we moved to Texas for 11 years where I worked as an exploration geophysicist in the oil industry. After the 1986 downturn in the oil industry with associated massive layoffs my wife and I, 3 kids and dog all moved back here. My mother still lived here in Reno and my wife’s family lived in the Bay Area. We do love the area here and were glad to get back to Reno’s wonderful climate and surrounding area with so much to do.
What’s your tennis story? How did you get started and what keeps you going?
I started taking tennis lessons with the Reno Rec Department when I was 6. Many wonderful memories of the summer instructors and their director Allen Shute at Wingfield Park. The flavored (cherry, lemon and chocolate) cokes at the White Spot there in the park and a couple of blocks to get a wonderful sandwich at Tony’s Deli. I played on the Wooster HS team for all 3 years (the high schools at the time had just the 3 years with freshman year at the junior highs). My senior year we tied Reno HS for State. My doubles partner (Ned Reed) and I went undefeated for the season in Northern Nevada.
Ned, his younger brother and I played the local junior tournaments (Gazette-Journal, Sparks Rec, Northern Nevada USTA Junior and the first 2 years of the Governor’s Cup). The 3 of us also went down to the Bay Area to play in 3 of the tournaments (Concord, San Jose and Burlingame) there for a couple of years.
I have been a member of the Reno/Washoe Tennis Club since 1966 with a hiatus of 11 years when we were in Texas. So yes, I’m another of those who has been a member as both a junior and a senior. I fondly remember some of the very helpful folks to us juniors way back when. Folks like Tilly Botti, Aldo Vacchina, Kerwin Foley, Hugh Johnson and Bob Fairman. Tilly was always helpful arranging matches and selling us cans of balls at cost out of the back of his station wagon.
What is another favorite hobby other than tennis? Can you give a recommendation for that activity?
My step-father taught me how to pan and sluice for gold when I was in college and I have continued with that hobby ever since. I own 9 claims with 3 partners over in Mother Lode country and it is a wonderful way to get out and relax in some gorgeous country. I have been teaching a class in gold panning with the EPIC Department of TMCC since 1992 and take the class out on a really pretty stretch of the Feather River for a day field trip. (OK – that’s a shameless plug for my class…. But I do recommend the activity)
Who is your favorite professional tennis player? Why?
Favorite(s) are Ken Rosewall for us older folks around and Roger Federer for those who don’t remember Rosewall. Both are pure class and level, calm… never saw either get upset at anything. They shook off the bad and just kept going. I still remember Rosewall’s “drat.”
Any fun plans for the winter? How do you like to spend your time during the snowy months?
Reno has such good weather that there are still some of us who play on clear days during the winter. You will find a cadre of us out on clear winter days in sweats and we find others for the continuation of our pick-up matches. Come join us, we don’t shut down for winter.
Can you tell us about your family, occupation, pets, etc.?
My wife and I are both retired. We have always had dogs, currently 1 spoiled rat terrier. Our 2 sons, daughter and 2 granddaughters all live here in the Reno area. We manage to take in our grand daughters’ activities… currently volleyball and softball games. We love getting out traveling (with family when we can). The latest was a Japan cruise with our oldest son.
I spent 11 years right out of college in oil exploration and 28 with TMCC’s Veterans Upward Bound preparing vets who are enrolling in college for better success in math and science. I still continue to teach my gold panning class in early June with TMCC every year.
My wife and I love to travel. We schedule one major (week or two) trip, a minor (week to ten day) domestic trip and several 2 or 3 day trips out in our gorgeous surrounding countryside a year. Heck – that’s what we retired for.
