106-year-old Freeport City tennis tourney continues to build camaraderie
FREEPORT — Ed Schradermeier runs the Freeport City Tennis Tournament.
He also wins it.
And plays matchmaker for it.
This weekend saw another successful running of one of the longest continuing tennis tournaments in the nation. Schradermeier began both days using squeegees and leaf blowers to dry the courts at Read Park but after a short delay, men’s and women’s singles matches all got in on Saturday as did the men’s and women’s and mixed doubles matches on Sunday as a tournament, which began in the 1890s but took at least one year off in 1916, was held for the 106th consecutive year.
The next longest-running adult tennis tournament in the area is the three-year-old Rochelle tournament, which will be held this coming Saturday.
“I was surprised when we got the second rain (Sunday morning),“ Schradermeier said. “It wasn’t raining at my house, but it was raining pretty hard at the tennis courts. We were fortunate to get it in.”
Hazem Isawi, 38, just felt fortunate to be part of the tournament. He went to state in singles as a senior at Freeport in 2001, but had moved to Chicago and away from tennis for a couple of decades before picking up the sport again a year ago. He called Schradermeier looking for suggestions of people to play. This summer, Schradermeier texted him back and invited Hazem to the tournament.
“I hadn’t had any plans before to do so and didn’t even know what the date was, but it took me all of about a minute to figure out I better come back and do this. This will be fun,” Isawi said.
Schradermeier found partners for Isawi to play with in men’s doubles and mixed doubles on Sunday. Isawi finished second in singles on Saturday, losing 10-4 to Preston Engel, who has advanced to NJCAA nationals the last two years playing for Sauk Valley Community College.
“Preston’s on another level," Isawi said. "It was so good for my game to play him. I was pleased with myself to scratch out a few games against him. And it was even more special for me because his father, Cory, was my first tennis teacher back in 1997 when I first took up a racquet at age 14.
"I had read about Preston but I had never met him before. To be able to play him in the final in front of his dad and all the familiar faces here — Bob and Ed and Cory are legends here in Freeport — it was fun. It was a lot of fun.”
Bob was Bob Luedeke, who ran the tournament before Schradermeier and put in two stints as Freeport’s boys coach before Schradermeier took over. Luedeke teamed with Schradermeier to win the men’s doubles title, beating Sauk Valley teammates Jared Mitchell and Jon Rhodes in the finals.
“It was fantastic,” Rhodes said. “That’s the most fun I’ve had in awhile. They hit drop shots and put all kinds of spin on the ball. It just kept bouncing back. It was a blast.
“I loved it. Every town has their tennis legend, and that is Ed, for sure.”
Well, Ed and Bob. The two old coaches remain two tough men to beat. Seventeen years ago, Luedeke beat Isawi in the finals to become the oldest singles champ at age 61. Sunday he teamed with Schradermeier to become the oldest doubles champ at age 78.
“Most of the time Bob jumps in and plays with someone else, but I think we have only lost one match together over the years,” Schradermeier said. “At 78, you don’t know how many years he will continue to play at this level, but he is a tremendous player for any age.”
Luedeke now lives half the year in Florida, but organizes a men’s group to play twice a week when he is in Freeport and always loves to play in the City tournament.
“It’s nice to keep it going,” Luedeke said. “You get a mixture of the younger kids coming up as well as the older guys who still like to play and everybody plays at least a couple of matches and has fun. A lot of my former players are involved. A lot of Ed’s former players are involved.”
Schradermeier said six former No. 1 players for the Freeport Pretzels played in the tourney over the weekend. That includes the best example of the tourney’s “mixture.” Bruce Helm played in the men’s doubles with his grandson, Colin. His son and two other grandkids also played, including Freeport’s current No. 1 player, Owen Helm.
“It’s fun,” said Colin Helm, who will be a freshman in the fall. “Grandpa is better than me, so he’s been carrying the team.”
“It’s just good,” Bruce Helm said, “to get them out and good to get the tournament experience for young kids and older guys like me.”
Schradermeier encourages as many future Pretzels as possible to play every year. But he likes it even more when past Pretzels come back to the fold. Like Isawi.
“It was wonderful,” Isawi said. “This tournament has such a long tradition. It’s always an honor to play here.”
“Tennis tournaments,” Schradermeier said, “are about going to see people. “You build up camaraderies. It’s always fun seeing people who used to play for us. That’s more important than all the wins and losses we have as a team. If that excitement about tennis continues on so they want to play later on, that’s a win.”
Freeport City tennis results
Men’s A singles: Preston Engel def. Hazem Isawi, 10-4
Men’s A singles consolation: Jared Mitchell def. John Helms, 10-1
Men’s B singles: Christian Grissom def. Alp Solace, 10-3
Men’s B singles consolation: Andrew Brown def. Austin Solace, 10-6
Women’s singles: April Weisheit def. Liz Luan, 10-0
Women’s singles consolation: Angelina Solace def. Nicole Ocon, 10-2
Women’s doubles: Jeanne and Margaret Trowbridge def. Stephanie Dinderman and Uli Dornhagen, 10-9 (7-5)
Women’s doubles consolation: Angelina Solace and Eden Helm consolation
Men’s doubles: Bob Luedeke and Ed Schradermeier def. Jared Mitchell and Jon Rhodes, 10-7
Men’s doubles consolation: Mark and Owen Helm def. Brett Wilson and Tim Wentzel, 10-6
Mixed doubles: Preston Engel and Stephanie Dinderman def. Ed Schradermeier and Uli Dornhagen, 10-4
Mixed doubles consolation: Jared Mitchell and Ella Wei def. Brett Wilson and Macy Olson by default
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: 106-year-old Freeport City tennis tourney mixes generations
