Many experts would plump for Ken Hiskins as arguably Wangaratta’s finest home-grown tennis product……….
It’s purely academic when you’re comparing players of different eras, but his ascent from single-minded teen-age fanatic, to contesting Wimbledon’s first-ever Open was just one of many memorable career achievements………..
Hiskins features strongly, of course, as we take a stab at ranking the top 10 Men and Women players who have graced Merriwa Park over the century……..
Ken Hiskins
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No.10 (Men) Patrick McInerney: He was introduced to the game as a little tacker and, from that point on, has been deeply involved in tennis – both playing and coaching.
When the McInerney’s moved to town Patrick became a regular at the lawn courts, and joined in the strong Saturday afternoon competition at the age of 15.
He combined with Ben Scott to take out successive Club Doubles titles, then confirmed his obvious talent by clinching Singles Championships in 2002 and 2003.
McInerney played Pennant Tennis in Melbourne whilst completing his university studies and had made a career out of coaching, both in Australia and overseas.
(Women) Mae Osmotherley: She was a typically sports-mad teen-ager when the country was experiencing the ravages of the Depression.
Mae happened to come in possession of a tennis racquet…..and always maintained that it changed her life.
One of her first teaching appointments was to Carboor Primary School…..She had never played tennis on grass, until she competed in the first post-war Australia Day tournament at Merriwa Park.
She took an immediate liking to the courts and their surrounds…..and, perchance, began a romance with the WLTC secretary Alan Osmotherley.
Not long after marrying, she lost a closely-fought Club Championship Final to Mae Buchanan – the first of her 10 successive appearances in the Final.
The following season -1950/51 – she won the first of four Singles titles. It would have been more, only that her time at the top coincided with the arrival of Nora Bennett.
Mae Osmotherley remained one of Wangaratta’s leading players until faltering eyesight halted her in the mid-seventies.
Rae Osmotherly
Ben Scott
No.9 (Men) Ben Scott: He began playing tennis at the age of 10, establishing his reputation as a top-liner when he won successive Club Singles Championships in 2000 and 2001.
He also combined with Patrick McInerney to take out the Doubles title in both years.
Ben picked up his third Singles crown in 2011, when he defeated Matt Allen, a re-match of the decider they had contested ten years earlier.
Scott and his old Wangaratta mate McInerney shared the coaching at several Melbourne clubs, before Ben moved on to compete and coach in America. He later coached in the Middle East for several years.
(Women) Jenny Wheeler: Slightly-built but ultra-determined, Jenny Wheeler was a shining light during the seventies and early-eighties.
She took out a hat-trick of Club Singles titles in 1979, ‘80 and ‘81, and also shared in three Doubles championships.
An outstanding junior player, Wheeler was successful in several district tournaments, and represented Wangaratta at Regional and Country Championships.
A wrist injury forced her retirement from tennis at a relatively young age.
No.8 (Men) Murray Gallagher: He became a dominant player soon after his arrival in Wangaratta in late 1949.
Gallagher won five successive Club Singles Championships – from 1950-‘54 – and his stranglehold on the title was released when Keith Lipshut defeated him in 1955 and ‘57.
He was rated one of the outstanding players in country Victoria, and featured in a memorable Country Championship Doubles Final in 1956, when he and Warrnambool’s Barry Barton triumphed over the formidable Pat O’Kane-Bert Kearney combination.
Gallagher also reached a Singles Country Championship Final against Kearney in 1954, but the more robust tactics of the Murchison star saw him prevail 6/2, 6/4.
(Women) Aileen O’Kane: A member of a family which had a huge influence on Wangaratta tennis in its early days, O’Kane was the outstanding female player in the town prior to World War II.
She was always a first-choice selection in Country Week and inter-town matches and took out the Victorian Country Singles Championship in 1936 and 1938.
“She is a good stylist, but uncertain in her stroke-making……It is likely that she will come to the city shortly to play Pennant, which is sure to result in vast improvement” ‘The Argus’ critic commented after her 1938 win…….
Murray Gallagher
Aileen O’Kane
No.7 (Men) Cliff Flanigan:: Flanigan was a highly-rated player during a fruitful era in local tennis.
He hailed from a sports-mad family…… Parents ‘Tiny’ and Phyllis were the four kids’ greatest fans, and they had plenty to cheer about, as Cliff, Laurie, Patricia and Des stood out in several sports.
Cliff, though, was the tennis star. He was a brilliant youngster, and after considerable success in regional ranks, took out the Victorian Country Junior Singles championship in 1958.
He was just a ‘baby’, at 18 that year, when he also helped Wangaratta to one of its greatest triumphs, winning the A-Grade Final at Country Week.
He was one of the ‘faces’ of regional tennis throughout the sixties, and chalked up four Club Singles titles in all, the last of them in 1967, when he was also selected in a Vic Country team which clashed with NSW.
Cliff represented the region on many occasions, and had great success at district tournaments, such as Whorouly (3 wins), Beechworth (2), Cohuna (2), Myrtleford (3) and Benalla (1).
He was also a prominent coach in the district for several years.
(Women) Lisa Beck:An outstanding sports person, who was equally adaptable on the Netball or Tennis court.
She won her first Club Singles championship in 1999, and her second 14 years later, when she defeated Maree Sullivan in the Final.
Some of her strongest performances came at Country Week, and her four Victorian Country Singles crowns were testament to her ability.
Beck remained among the top bracket of players for more than two decades. She competed with some success, at the Australia Day Tournament, sharing in four Doubles titles over two decades.
From a renowned Eldorado tennis family, her determination on the court was her greatest asset.
Matthew Allen
Lisa Beck (Allen)
No.6 (Men) Matthew Allen: Lisa Beck’s brother, Allen has been at the forefront of local tennis for almost three decades.
He won the first of his 10 Club Singles Championships in 1998, when he broke John McVean’s stranglehold on the event.
He has been there, or thereabouts ever since, and has reached the last three Finals, only to be overpowered by his son Sam.
The pair combined to win the club Doubles event in 2024, the most recent of the 13 times that Matt has shared that title.
(Women) Kate McDonald: She had been hailed as a rising champ in local tennis, but McDonald’s star was in the ascendency when, at age 14, she combined with Michelle Hill to win the Club Double championship.
The following year, Hill convincingly defeated her to win her third Australia Day singles crown……. But it was generally agreed that Kate McDonald was a player of the future.
At 18, she partnered Rennae Stubbs to reach the Australian Open Doubles Final, and also competed in the main draw at Wimbledon, and the Australian and French Opens.
At her top McDonald was ranked 103 in World Doubles. She is still heavily involved in the game, as a Coach.
No.5 (Men) Terry Longton : He was born and bred in Warrnambool, and shone at all sports. But tennis was his first love…..
At 17, Longton was part of Warrnambool’s victorious A-Grade Country Week team, and when he moved to Melbourne to further his studies, played Pennant tennis.
Along the way he teamed up with a fellow Monash University student Paul McNamee – later to become the world’s No.1-ranked doubles player. Naturally, they proved a lethal combination.
Upon his transfer to Wangaratta Longton soon made his presence felt. He won the WLTC singles championship eight times in succession – and finished runner-up to John McVean in the following two years.
He was also Wangaratta’s Squash champion six times.
Longton returned to Warrnambool, whilst operating a private practice as a Medical Scientist in Melbourne.
Terry Longton
(Women) Noreen O’Connor: She immediately established herself as a top-line player when she – and husband Tom – arrived in Wangaratta in the early seventies.
O’Connor was the WLTC Singles champion in 1971 and ‘72, won Inter-Regional Doubles with Albury’s Joan Barker, and represented Victorian Country against South Australia.
Upon their transfer from Wangaratta she continued to enjoy success in several country towns, and was an outstanding player in representative Veterans tennis.
No.4 (Men) John McVean: The early part of his career was played in the shadow of Terry Longton, who outpointed him in six successive Singles Championships.
He finally eclipsed the veteran in the 1986 Final, and went on to win 12 on end, as well as picking up 15 Doubles and 4 Mixed Doubles titles.
McVean first honed his tennis skills with Alan Jarrott, a good mate who lived in a neighbouring farm at Thistlebrook.
He moved in to play on Wangaratta’s grass courts at the age of 15, mainly because of a desire to compete in the inter-town competition. His presence at Merriwa Park was combined with playing 14 years of Pennant tennis in Albury.
John McVean
(Women) Sandra Pearce: She made her name as a talented teen-ager, honing her skills against such experienced players as Nora Johnstone, Doreen Stone and Noreen O’Connor.
Pearce had received her early coaching from Tony Caplice and Rex Hartwig, and when she broke through to win her first Singles title in 1967, followed it up by taking the next three.
An outstanding career followed…..She was a familiar sight at regional tournaments around Victoria……and later won several championships at Maryborough, where she was a secondary-school teacher.
No.3 (Men) Keith Lipshut: He was a quietly-spoken, grey-haired medico, who made a huge impression when he arrived to take over a practice in Ovens Street in 1955.
Lipshut had received no formal tennis coaching, but possessed immense natural ability. He played Pennant tennis whilst studying in Melbourne and, during the War years, was a member of an Army team which included Davis Cup players Colin Long and Don Turnbull.
Pin-point accuracy, an ice-cold temperament and intense powers of concentration enabled him to get the better of more stylish opponents.
He won the first of his eight Club Singles Championships in 1955, and the last in 1968, at the age of 47.
Keith Lipshut
Susan Batey
(Women) Susan Batey: Adept at several sports, she developed a passion for tennis, aged 13, when her family moved to Ararat for a brief period.
She was a natural and, upon returning to Wangaratta, established herself as one of the town’s outstanding players.
Batey represented Country Victoria on several occasions, competed in the Australian Open, and was once named No.1 in the All-Australian University tennis team.
An attractive scholarship offer was even dangled in front of her by the University of Alabama, but she preferred to stay home……..
Batey won two Club Singles Championships, in 1986 and ‘88, and took out one Singles (1989) and nine Doubles titles at the Australia Day tournament.
No.2 (Men) Ken Hiskins: His fascination for tennis was piqued when his dad Dick, the WLTC curator, handed him a brand-new racquet.
From that point on, his passion for the game knew no bounds, and he was to strut his stuff on courts around the world, rubbing shoulders with the greats of tennis.
One of them, Rex Hartwig, had a profound influence on him……..”He’s a genius. what he doesn’t know about tennis isn’t worth knowing,” Ken once said.
Whilst still a teen-ager, Hiskins won a Club – and a Regional – singles championship, and twice took out the ANA Singles crown.
When his Dad handed him 100 pounds that he had scrounged together, Ken headed overseas to test himself on the European circuit in 1966.
One of his singles victories – at Bordeaux – earned him a couple of bottles of wine and $100……It now boasts prize-money of half a million dollars.
Hiskins decided to pursue coaching after completing his Army conscription, and it led to him travelling he world for more than a decade, before settling down to a long coaching career in Australia.
(Women) Nora Johnstone (Bennett): She was a towering presence in local tennis for more than twenty years and counted 11 Club singles titles among her vast array of honours.
The Bennett’s were a rabid sporting family…..Her parents, Stan and Kath – who had both been both fine players – were Nora’s keenest fans, and drove her to tournaments throughout the state.
She won two Regional Singles Championships, represented Vic Country several times, and for many seasons was a key player in Wangaratta’s L.H.Ledger Cup-winning teams.
With her brother Rex, and champion Katamatite player Pat O’Kane, Nora helped the North-East to a couple of Victorian Country District titles.
Nora Johnstone (Bennett)
Rex Hartwig
No.1 (Men) Rex Hartwig: His eligibility could be disputed because of the brief period that he spent at the WLTC, but his influence was so profound that ‘On Reflection’ believes Hartwig warrants the top gong.
The Culcairn-born Hartwig first broached Merriwa Park in 1949, defeating his doubles partner, Alan Kendall in the Australia Day final, aged 19.
In successive years an old foe, Albury’s Jimmy Matthews, proved too strong in the event, but Rex exacted revenge in 1952 in what was an epic battle.
World tennis – and Davis Cup glory – followed, before he turned professional in 1955. His lifetime dream of owning a farm came three years later, when he, Madge and, eventually, their six kids, moved onto a Poll Dorset stud property at Greta.
Hartwig eventually sought re-instatement as an amateur and was able to play with his kids at Markwood in the OKTA competition.
He was a brilliant coach, and guided countless local youngsters in the initial stages of their careers, spent three years on the WLTC committee, and provided many players with a highlight when they attempted to match wits with him on the court.
(Women) Michelle Hill ( Berrigan): The Berrigan clan lived around the corner from the Tennyson Park tennis courts in Wagga, and had a key to the clubhouse.
“We used to practice all the time,” she once recalled.
Michelle won her first Tennyson Park A-Grade title at 12, and, the next year, clinched the first of five straight City of Wagga championships……
Little wonder that, when she arrived in Wangaratta in early 1982, she would take local tennis by storm.
She has re-written the record books in the ensuing 40-odd years, winning 17 Club Singles and 17 Doubles crowns (sharing two of those with her husband Peter), and being successful nine times in the Australia Day Singles event.
It has made her performances all the more remarkable, considering that she had a 23-year break from the game.
Hill’s subsequent record in World Masters tennis earned her the ‘Involve Masters Athlete of the Year’ honour at the 2023 Victorian Sport Awards.
Wangaratta tennis may never see the like of her again…..
Michelle Hill (Kerrigan)
This story appeared first on KB Hill’s website On Reflection and is used here with permission.
All photos sourced from KB Hill’s resources unless otherwise acknowledged.
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