North Shore Tennis League Report

The Odd Couple
– every where but on the doubles court

He’s nicknamed Martina Navratilova.

He’s made fun of Serena Williams.

And, according to Steve Calechman, he’s touched the hand of Billie Jean King, and he’s got the photo to prove it.

Calechman is a funny guy. He’s also a tennis player and a few nights throughout the year, the 42-year-old gets to be a little bit of both.

Those that have been fortunate enough to attend Boston Lobsters matches over the past two years have likely heard Calechman at work. He’s the public address announcer for the team and having fun is usually tops on his Lobster to-do list.

“It’s the closest I’m ever going to get to getting paid for tennis,” said Calechman. “I couldn’t ask for a better gig.”

Calechman has made the most of it.

When the Lobsters hosted a team that Serena Williams was playing for, he once asked Serena a question after she framed a forehand.

“Is that what won you Wimbledon?” he cracked over the loud speaker.

When Navratilova was on the Lobsters’ roster, Calechman asked the Hall of Famer if she wanted one of the nicknames Calechman assigns to each and every Lobster player.

“She told me she was fine with anything,” Calechman said.

His choice?

Appropriately enough, it was Top Cat.

“And she liked it,” said Calechman.

That seems to be the usual reaction to Calechman’s collection of funny stories and one-liners. When he isn’t making families laugh at Lobster matches, Calechman works a regular job as a standup comedian throughout New England and beyond. He works more than 100 shows annually, many of them charity events.

“I did some improv in college and then I took a [comedy] class,” he said. “I didn’t know if I could ever be funny, but then I tried it and I wasn’t horrible. I haven’t had the good sense to stop since.”

A native of Newton and a graduate of Newton North High School, Calechman went on to attend the University of Wisconsin where he majored in history. Upon his return to Mass., Calechman dove head-first into the world of comedy.

“You have to have a love of doing it,” he said. “It’s nerve-wracking and vomit-inducing, but where else can you get that kind of instant gratification?

Calechman keeps busy between shows by playing lots of tennis. The Waltham resident has slowly climbed up the USTA’s NTRP ladder, moving from one of New England’s top 3.5-level players to the 4.0 level, where he was undefeated for the team at Boston Sports Club Lexington last spring, helping the team reach the state playoffs.

This season, Calechman once again played for BSC Lexington in the North Shore Doubles League, where Calechman was often paired with Eran Orgad, who has quite an interesting story of his own.

Orgad has been a resident of Lexington, Mass. since 1996, but his trip to the hard courts of the BSC Lexington has certainly been an interesting one.

Orgad, 46, grew up in Israel and enjoyed a 10-year professional basketball career there.

“I was not considered a star,” said Orgad, who chuckled when recalling a newspaper article that he read during his playing career that referred to Orgad as a “waste of talent.”

In reality, Orgad was a good player. He was one of the top scorers in the league’s National Division, which was a step below the Premier Division.

During his time on the court, Orgad played against many well-known players in Europe and a few that went on to gain world-wide notoriety including former NBA star Detlef Schrempf.

“He was quite an interesting sight,” said Orgad, who lives in Lexington with his wife and their three children; Daniell, 11, Ori, 6, and 2-year-old Alma. “He was an extremely blonde, white, thin guy that walked around with a boom box on his shoulder. Back then, everything was an imitation of what the stars of the US did. I had curly hair and I was trying to grow an Afro, I wanted to look like Dr. J.”

Orgad earned between $20,000 and $30,000 annually during his playing career.

“During the 80s, that wasn’t that bad,” he said. “You would have had to be a full-time engineer to make that kind of money.”

After playing for four or five different teams in the European League, Orgad stopped playing in 1991 and started studying physics in college. He earned a Master’s degree in England, earned a job for an international company and was transferred to the United States. He now works for Guardian, an IBM Company, where he is the vice president of research and development.

“Someone,” Orgad says with a laugh, “should write that I am not such a waste of talent anymore.”

Of course, the sharp-tongued Calechman would likely disagree.

“As a tennis player, he’s an excellent basketball player,” Calechman quipped. “Anything that is hit directly to him, he’ll get. Everything else, I get.”

“He is so funny when we play,” said Orgad, who played tennis regularly growing up, but could never devote a lot of attention to it because of basketball. “If someone hits a passing shot past me, Steve comes up to me with a really serious voice and says, ‘Maybe you should actually try to hit the ball and show some signs of life.’ I am trying to be serious in a match, but he’s just got this expression on his face. It’s very funny.”

Whatever the chemistry was between the comedian and the basketball player, it seemed to work. The team won four of the five matches it played together with its only loss coming by a single game when time ran out.

Calechman’s tennis game is much like his road to success in comedy, consistent and persistent.

“For me, it’s an outlet,” said Calechman, who has also played for clubs in Waltham and Natick since becoming an active USTA league player in 2004. “If I play a middle-aged computer programmer and I can’t make him feel miserable about life, then the weekend is ruined for me. That’s what it’s all about.”

All kidding aside, Calechman said tennis and stand-up comedy both hold a special place in his heart, and can sometimes offer similar challenges.
“With comedy, there no winner at the end, but [in both] you’re a

l by yourself and you’re not relying on anyone else out there. You see a lot of different situations and experiences and you have to figure things out for yourself,” he said. “A lot of times it’s about sticking with the plan and trusting what you know.”

Calechman has shared the stage with some comedy legends including Bobcat Goldthwait, Sarah Silverman and Victoria Jackson. He started doing comedy around the same time as another Mass. product, Dane Cook.

“Once you get on stage, that’s the best part,” said Calechman, who admits that not many of his opponents or doubles partners know what he does for a living. “You have to put yourself out there and believe that good things will happen.”

Which is just what happened when Calechman was asked to emcee a charity event at the Waltham Athletic Club. The event attracted Lobsters CEO Bahar Uttam, who enjoyed Calechman’s antics on the microphone as the official “umpire.”

“I was at the right place at the right time,” said Calechman. “(Uttam]) thought I’d be really good at it. I think it’s probably one of the best decisions ever made in the history of professional sports.”

NSTL playoff action heating up

While the North Shore League’s women’s division playoffs were not scheduled to start until mid-May, several of the divisions started playoff action on May 1 and 2. As of press time, the 7.5 and 8.5 mixed doubles divisions had their championships. The men’s A, A1, B1 and B divisions are also in the midst of their playoffs.

In the A1 semifinals, second-seeded Newburyport pulled out an exciting 4-1 victory over Willows Green. Willows was ahead on three of the five courts after each first set was complete, but Newburyport rallied for dramatic comeback victories at positions three and five.

At No. 3, veteran Walter Long and Marc Ouellet rallied after losing the first set 6-1 and defeated Bob Erickson and Mike Schiff, 1-6, 7-5, 7-6. Eric Russell and Jeff Furman had a similar comeback at No. 5 doubles, dropping the first set quickly, but storming back to beat Dennis Daly and Dennis Fergussen, 1-6, 7-6, 7-6. Pardon Daly if he was a little leg-weary in this one. On April 19, the Billerica resident ran the Boston Marathon. Newburyport also won at first and second doubles.

At No. 1, team captain Randall Seabrook and Ray Reed cruised to a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Mark Cordes and Greg Farland. At No. 2, Scott Terry and Travis Griffin were pushed to three sets before pulling away from Stephen Wiles and Kevlin Yeow, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2. Willows won at third doubles in another tightly-contested match. Tom Fontana and Scott Sheridan edged Ken Foster and Jason White, 6-4, 7-6. Newburyport’s successful Saturday also included a 4-1 victory in the B division semifinals over Winchester Blue. The top seed with 114 points during the regular season, Newburyport won at positions one, two, four and five against fourth-seeded Winchester. Winners for Newburyport were Jim Sartori and Tim Hirsch at first doubles, Sunny Ahn and Steve Boselli at No. 2, Mike Walters and Ken Murray at fourth position and Tom Hoggard and Vinnie Buscemi at No. 5.

Winchester’s point came at three when Steve Smith and Mike Lento won in three sets, 6-1, 2-6, 7-6. It was one of two three-set battles on the day as Ahn and Boselli won a thriller over Scott Ritter and Mike Poppler, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4. Many of the Newburyport men didn’t get much of a rest, as most of them were involved in the mixed doubles championship matches the next day. In the 8.5 final, Newburyport and Woburn split the four matches, but Newburyport won by games, 37-33. The key match came at No. 3 where Long and Jane Whitney combined for a 6-0, 6-2 win against Daniel Priera and Betty Mahon.

Newburyport also won at the top spot where Seabrook combined with Susan Benoit for a 6-3, 6-3 win against Chris McCullum and Jenn Krebs. Woburn won in straight sets at the second and fourth positions, but a pair of close sets made the difference. At two, Gary Roberts and Hope Pascucci topped Terry and Kathy Poulin in two close sets, 6-3, 7-5. Fourth doubles saw Keiichi Kii and Margaret Maher hold off Russell and Pat Moriarty by a 6-1, 6-4 score. Newburyport also won the 7.5 mixed championship

Busy time at Willows

When the women’s playoffs do conclude, the tennis staff over at the Willows will have had its hands full. In both the B1 Upper and B1 Lower divisions, Willows teams will play against one another for the championship. According to Willows pro Igor Korik, who captains one of the B1 Lower finalists, everyone had a reason to play together as all of the women were keeping their thoughts with teammate Nicole Downer, who tore ligaments in her knee during the season and had to miss the playoffs.

Successful women’s season at Bass River

Bass River’s women’s teams were well represented in the North Shore League postseason after another strong regular season. The club’s A Team, captained by Debbie Kelly and Marge Rooney, won the league for the second straight year, while Bass River’s Serena League entry, captained by Sue Copelas and Freda McGuire, took second place in the league. In Venus Team action, Bass River’s squad finished second as well. That team was captained by Anne Girian and Steph Gaskins. After winning the Working Women’s League for three straight years, Bass River finished second in the league this year led by captains Erin Mahan and Ellen Cook. Bass River also captured the regular season title in the inaugural Working Women’s 2 Division. That team was captained by Judy Hoyle.

Doug Hastings, an avid 4.5 player, has covered tennis for the last decade for numerous publications including Tennis Magazine and will be covering both the North Shore Tennis League and the USTA summer leagues for North Shore Golf  & Tennis. E-mail him at dougahastings@gmail.com