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OM News
Ron died on 1st July 2008, aged 86. He was Rackets Professional at
Malvern College from 1956 to 1986, and reproduced here below is the
"valete" written by Norman Rosser which was published in the Malvernian
in July 1986.
After the war, the rackets courts were almost the last of the College
buildings to be derequisitioned by the Telecommunications Research
Establishment, and they needed extensive repairs, so it was not until
1954 that play was resumed and a professional appointed.
Inevitably there was little knowledge of the game at Malvern after a
gap of fifteen years (although there had been some play at Harrow) so
we were extremely fortunate when Ron Hughes was persuaded to leave his
beloved Manchester and become our professional. Ron had been assistant
professional at the Manchester Tennis and Rackets Club since 1935, with
a break for War Service, and he brought with him a wealth of experience
in coaching and playing both games. Such was his modesty that few of
us realised that Malvern's gain in rackets was a national loss in real
tennis, and it was undoubtedly the difficulty of practising tennis
whilst he was at Malvern that lead to his defeat in New York in 1966
when he was the British challenger for the world title.
Right from the start Ron endeared himself to all Malvernians fortunate
enough to play rackets. He insisted on the highest standards of stroke
production, with his own immaculate style and economy of mobvement
always there on court as an example to be imitated. Equally important
he made it clear that enjoyment and good manners were essential
features of the game, so that Malvernians have always had reputations
second to none in both respects. Nor did this end when a match was
over. Much education, in the real sense, has taken place in Ron's
"little room" or when travelling to away matches, and more than on
housemaster, faced with a particularly intractable boy, has been heard
to say "I must try and persuade him to play rackets. Ron is the only
one who can sort him out!"
When rackets resumed in 1954, Stew Green, the pre-war professional,
made an interesting prophecy: "Malvern won't win a school match for
four years, and won't win at Queen's for ten years". Ron quickly
disproved the first part of the prophecy but it was not until 1966 that
Malvern won the Public Schools doubles championship. Thereafter,
Malvern has invariably been there or thereabouts, and it has long been
recognised that Ron has a particular flair for training doubles pairs.
One purple patch was between 1973 and 1977 when Malvern was in five
consecutive finals, winning three of them.
However, it should not be thought that Ron had little time for the
less-gifted player. Rackets is a particularly difficult game for the
beginner and Ron had an outstanding knack of making a game enjoyable
even for those who made contact only a handful of times in half an
hour. Sometimes his endless patience was fully rewarded. I remember
saying of one struggling beginner "I'll eat my hat if you turn him into
a player". Not many years later that same young man was winning the
army doubles championship. Nor was Ron ever one for taking the easy
way out and coaching from the gallery. Anyone who has coached the game
all afternoon will know how mentally and physically exhausting it can
be, yet he was always fresh and ready to take on the first pair at 5 pm
on a half holiday, despite having already been on court for three hours
or more.
If Ron had a fault it was rooted in his single-minded dedication to
rackets. Many of us have experienced his indignation, at some time or
other, when he felt that rackets was not getting a fair share of a
boy's time, or that some discourtesy had been paid to the game; but all
was forgotten on court, and one could be sure that the next game would
be close and enjoyable, at whatever standard it was played and whatever
had transpired beforehand. Just occasionally, if he detected signs of
complacency or self-satisfaction in a pair he would say "Shall we show
them a thing or two?" Then the crouching walk would become more
pronounced, the keys would jangle in the cardigan pocket, outright
winners would flow from a variety of situations, and the underhand
twist serve would become unplayable, so that two rather chastened and
thoughtful boys would leave the court, aware that they still had much
to learn.
Donald Lindsay, always a shrewd judge of character, was heard to say
after interviewing Ron in 1956: "He is the sort of man I would like to
have about the place". Generations of Malvernians have realised the
truth of that observation and we wish Ron many happy years of
retirement, together with his wife Vera, who has always given him so
much support, and has entered into the life of the school in such a
variety of ways.
Ron and Vera celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary in December 2007.
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