For Whitman student athletes, as well as for the campus community as a whole,
Dr. George Ball has been a source of support, strength and inspiration for five decades.
Tennis and basketball player Steve Ronfeldt ’64 remembers that Dr. Ball was at “every match offering positive support. He was like a second coach, the coach of the spirit. He brought affirmation in the face of defeat, a calm, focused mind in the heat of battle, and joy to our love of the game.”
Jeff Northam '88, a varsity tennis player who now ranks as one of Whitman’s most successful coaches, notes that "George is more than a sports fan. He is a spiritual mentor to athletes. It's not about their winning or losing, but how they compete. He takes the time to get to know the athletes on and off the court."
Dr. Ball’s “open letter” on sportsmanship, written to the Whitman tennis teams in 1998, includes this passage:
“To me, the tennis court is not simply a place for an athletic event. It is a stage on which a large part of what is to be the theme of one's life is acted out. It is almost certain that what you are on the tennis court is what you will be as a friend, as a husband or wife, and in your professional life.
“It is on the tennis court that one creates or exhibits a response to danger and defeat, to tiredness, to surprise or bad luck, and also to bad behavior as one confronts it in a cantankerous opponent. All of these experiences have their precise parallels in ordinary life . . . Your life will largely be defined by the nature and quality of the relationships you are part of and to which you contribute.”
