It's one thing to play tennis for eighty years. It's another to be a champion for that long. 

Don Dippold was a natural. All-state at Beaumont High in track, basketball and tennis, he went on to letter in all three sports at the University of Missouri, one of the last athletes to do it. He came home to St. Louis and spent decades coaching tennis and basketball, first at Beaumont, then in the Ferguson-Florissant district, before becoming head teaching pro at Westwood Country Club, where he stayed for 28 years. 

Then, at 65, he went back to being a student of the game. He entered the National Indoor Championships, defeated the top three seeded players, and won his first Gold Championship Ball. He would win five more. His last came in doubles at 85. He won the National Grass Court singles and doubles titles the first time he ever played on grass. He played on the USA World Championship Cup teams in 1996 and 1997, competed in the ITF World Championships in Austria and Australia, and earned a national ranking as high as No. 2 in singles and doubles and a world ranking of No. 4. 

One of Don's prouder moments came decades earlier. He and his father Ollie won the first St. Louis Father/Son tournament in 1956. He'd later win it again — with his son Robert. 

His frequent opponent Ed Velton said it best: "He's just a cut above everyone else, or two or three cuts." 

(2006)