Dave & Karen LaForme have retired from maintaining our website. They have done a great job keeping us informed about tennis club activities. We will miss their work.
JOHN CHRINKA
John never really played tennis until he was in flight school. They would hit a ball back and forth; no contests, etc. just for something to do at night, and didn't know anything about the game.
His first racquet was a Dunlap (no relation to Dee Dee) about a 90 cm. with lousy strings.
John’s favorite tennis pros are Federer, Djokovic, and Nadal, presently. Before that, they were McElroy, Jimmy Conners, Ile Nastasie, and those types who played quite differently than today's manner of playing, probably due to the equipment.
John really liked playing at T. P. due to the really nice people that he got to know and play with since he retired from the airlines in 2008; especially the great parties that were had.
As far as his personal interests, he still love music (he said he thinks that he is a frustrated musician at heart, because his Mom was a professional singer in her day; was billed with Nat King Cole & Ella Fitzgerald in Philadelphia.) John enjoys snow skiing, golf, played baseball, soccer, and all other sports at that time, radio controlled airplanes, and other sports.
John was born and raised outside of Philadelphia, won many snow ski racing trophies as a kid (was Pa. state slalom champ) and in College as captain of the ski team; after that he turned pro and was assistant director of Bolton Valley Ski Area in Vermont, then taught & raced for Stratton Mt. in Vermont where he lives currently in the Summer.
John’s real career was flying for the airlines where he met his wife (a flight attendant for US Air (44 yrs.). He also flew corporate Lear-jets, but returned to the airlines where he instructed and flew over 28,500 hours in DC-9's, Airbuses, B-757's, B-767's, and B-747's for Northwest Airlines where he retired in 2008. (keeps him from having to sell hotdogs at tennis functions).
His Final comment is “(All of that and 10 cents will get you a cup of coffee).
As Bug's Bunny would say "tha,... that's all folks! ”.
As the reporter I would like comment that John is an excellent cook since I have enjoyed a lot of his yummy cooking! Keep on feeding me John !
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By Ace Reporter Josephine
