Thursday, January 16, 2025
Mason County has more tennis courts per capita than any county in the state. Residents have played the sport since the 1920s. It was rather primitive back then.
“Draw a line in the dirt, put two sticks up, and string barbed wire between them and play with tennis racquets that cost a quarter. It was an easy sport that didn’t require a lot of money,” says Amelia Zesch, Mason’s tennis historian. She says an early concession stand was a man’s pickup.
“He sold Dr Pepper and goat sandwiches from the bed of his vehicle.”
Generations of players and coaches have been involved in Mason High School’s tennis program.
“We have 114 individual state championships,” says tennis coach Cade Smith. “That’s many more than the next school in the state of Texas. We also have 28 state team championships. We have two courts here at the high school and countless courts around the county that we use quite a bit.”
Zesch says two courts were built on the east side of the courthouse. “A couple of guys built the fence around them out of chicken wire.”
Mason County’s association with tennis has attracted national publicity. “Sports Illustrated did an article on Mason tennis,” says Zesch. “It was 11 pages long and had lots of pictures in the small towns of Art and Peter’s Prairie, both early communities that had tennis courts and players.”
She says other publications had long articles and lots of photos. “Tennis on the Range” was the title of one article. “One magazine ran a photo of a young girl playing tennis. The caption read “Tennis in the country where the hogs are.” Another one printed stories about these old timers driving around in their pickups with tennis racquets in the gun racks.”
Before there were UIL divisions, Mason played against tennis teams in major cities and won. Mason won over Highland Park High School tournament after tournament.
In the 1950s, Mason started its own tennis tournament. Within 20 years, it attracted a thousand teams from Texas and nearby states. Participants stayed in the school gyms and in residents’ homes. Once, Mason was known as the tennis capital of Texas. Now, city residents call it the winningest tennis team in Texas. The Mason Tennis Association has hundreds of members.
“I feel like half the town contributes to the upkeep of these courts in some form or fashion,” says Cade. Some tennis players in Mason started playing tennis when they were barely out of diapers. In 1935, a Mason tennis player hitchhiked to the state tournament and won. He brought his trophy home on the bus.
