2002 Men's Round Robin Tournament
August 17, 2002 - Tournament Director: Tom DeLong
<The 2002 Men's Round Robin Finalists. Pictured left to right: Al Clark - 2nd Place, Rodger Hollenbeck- 4th Place, Carter Cunningham - 1st Place, and Curt Juergens - 3rd Place.
Tournament Director and Sponsor, Tom DeLong, president of Advanced Concrete Technology (ACT) developed an enjoyable new format for the 2002 Men's Doubles Round Robin Tournament held Saturday, August 17, 2002 from 8:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. 12 top doubles players participated in this annual event.
Play consisted of five rounds, with six games in each round, 30 games total. The top four players then competed in a playoff round to determine the event Champion. 12 participants were randomly paired throughout the morning's five rounds of doubles play.
When Tom began to realize the unusual possibility that Curt Juergens actually had a chance to win the main draw of a Lake St. Louis Tennis event, he quickly created a finals playoff round to decrease Curt's odds of winning the event. Tom's strategy proved successful, using Carter Cunningham, Al Clark and Rodger Hollenbeck to wear him down. There was random speculation that if Curt had also won the playoff round, Tom would have created another, more difficult, "champions" finals playoff involving shovels and concrete.
The two youngsters of the group, Carter Cunningham and Curt Juergens, waived their amateur standing and moved into professional tennis status by accepting the cash prizes for finishing first ($50.00) and third ($10.00), respectively. Both are contemplating joining the professional tour. Veteran professional, Al Clark, gladly accepted a $15.00 gift certificate to Patrina's restaurant and free racquet stringing by Mary Lee Singer for his second place finish. To quote Al, "I have all the money I need, but I can always use more food and strings". Rodger Hollenbeck placed fourth and got a can of beer. Heard afterwards, "That's the most money that anyone has ever seen Tom pull OUT of his wallet!"
