1. Tell us a bit about yourself.
I grew up in a small town in Keller, Texas. It was a suburb of Dallas and Fort Worth. I tried all sports as a kid, and, being from Texas, football was KING of sports. My father was a star athlete as well in football, basketball and track. The owner of Shelingham Tennis Ranch was Feets Shelton, and he became my mentor, whether he knew it or not. I would ride my bike to and eventually work at the local club so I could meet more people to hit with.
2. How did you end up at Landisville?
I worked for a company called Washington Services when I was in college, and they would put college players into country clubs for the summer. I worked in Peoria, Illinois, for them for two summers. Then, once I graduated, they asked if I’d ever been to Pennsylvania. They had a great job available in Landisville, so I took it, and that’s how I ended up in the area. I came in as a staff pro, ended up as the head of tennis, and then eventually became the director of tennis. I also met my wife here, and she was working at the pool at the time.
3. How did the Koser Jewelers Tennis Challenge begin?
When I moved to Landisville in 1985 and worked for Four Season Sports Complex (now Hempfield Recreation Center), we ran the Red Rose Open, which was a warm-up tournament for the US Open. We had players like Hana Mandlikova, Manuela Maleeva, Kathy Rinaldi and the famous Steffi Graf. Once the complex was given to the township, that event went away. I knew we had the perfect facility for an event, and I had to be patient until the time was right for us and the USTA (United States Tennis Association).
4. How did Koser Jewelers become a part of the event?
The owners of Koser Jewelers, Randy and Betsy Wolgemuth, are longtime family racquet members at Hempfield Recreation Center. They are very community-minded and thought the tournament was a good match for them. The first year we had six weeks to pull it off with a very small budget. They have been the perfect sponsors/partners over the past 10 years.
5. Can you explain how the tournament works?
This is a 10-month process of raising money, finding volunteers and getting donations. We really work hard on making it a community event with programs like Ladies Day, the Player/Sponsor Party, Junior Color Wars, free Junior Clinics, the Pro/Am Tournament, etc. The total purse is $25,000, but we raise about $60,000 to keep this a free event for the public.
6. As the tournament director of the event, you probably have to juggle different aspects of the job. What is your favorite part?
I love to get to know the players and where they are from. They all have a story, and their personal journey is always amazing. Being in the tennis business here, I always love to see people I don’t know in the crowd. That means we are reaching further than our grounds to promote the sport of tennis.
7. How has the Koser Jewelers Tennis Challenge affected your life?
It probably widened my vision of tennis, because for 20 years I was very focused on local tennis. Running an international event compared to just a Pennsylvania event is huge because we’re getting players from 20 different countries every year. Some speak English; some don’t. It keeps my job a little bit more interesting. Now I have friends all over the world.
8. What or who are you most excited about at this year’s event?
I am most excited this year because we are reaching the 10th anniversary milestone. The tournament should get easier, but I am always looking for ways to make small changes to have a bigger impact on the fan experience or on the players.
9. What would you say to the public about people being able to attend the tournament as spectators?
It’s free, which is great. Just to show those girls support, because they are the same girls that are playing in the US Open or the French Open or the Australian Open. They’re all getting in, and it’s right here in their backyard. They don’t have to pay for parking. There are even food vendors. The players really appreciate it. The girls that won our event went down south, played the next week, and made the finals again. They called me and said, “Mr. Wilson, we made the finals again.” I was like, “Great. How’s the crowd?” They said there were like six people. If that ever happened here, I’d think, “Why am I going to go raise $60,000 to run this event?”
It has to work both ways. It has to be great for the players, but also we try to make it a community event too. It’s not just tennis. For me, I’ll look in the crowd because living in Landisville, if there’s people that I don’t know, that makes me even happier because I know we’re reaching a further crowd other than just within our own walls.
10. We know the event is free to the public, but will Hempfield Recreation Center also have live streaming for those who can’t make it?
Live streaming is a real bonus for us at the $25,000 level. We were the first USTA Pro Circuit at that level to offer the live stream. We get our funding through Sports Radar out of Germany. We have not gotten the OK for 2017, but we are anticipating that will happen. We work with LCTV 66 and White Rose Cable of York.
We also have a website for the tournament, so people can check daily for updates once the tournament starts, with the order of play or draw sheets. There will also be pictures, who won, who lost, who is moving on, where they’re from and things like that. landisvilleprocircuit.com
Hempfield Recreation Center is located at 950 Church St., Landisville. For more information, visit hempfieldrec.com.