Fifty-Five Years at The West Side: A Conversation with Bea Hunt

Bea Hunt joined The West Side Tennis Club in the summer of 1971, while she was still in high school. Her father had become a member the year before, and her sister joined soon after.

Fifty-five years later, Hunt is still a member, and her family's ties to the club run deep.

Ahead of the club's 103rd anniversary, Hunt sat down to talk about what those five and a half decades have looked like.

A Waiting List and a Friend at the Club

Hunt's family lived in Flushing, and her father played public courts at Cunningham Park. He knew a few people who belonged to The West Side, and that connection got him in the door.

"My dad joined in 1970. Then he talked to his friends and got letters for us. In those days, there was a waiting list," Hunt said.

Even when college took her to Pennsylvania, the club stayed part of her life.

"Every summer, I was back at The West Side," she said.

Inside the Ropes During the US Open Years

The West Side hosted the U.S. Open from 1915 until 1977, and Hunt arrived just in time to work it. Her first year, she landed a job through the tournament itself.

"I got a job as what they called a ‘Talbert girl’. They gave you a skirt and blouse, and you sat at a table giving people directions and information," she said.

She later worked the pro shop under the stadium, earning cash or trading her hours for equipment at cost.

“You'd see Chris Evert or Billie Jean walking through the clubhouse, and it felt normal," Hunt said. As a junior working the tournament, she even had to give up her locker to a visiting player during those two weeks.

The stadium's history predates Hunt's own tenure by a few years. In 1968, Arthur Ashe won his Grand Slam title there, becoming the first Black man to do so. By the time Hunt was walking those same grounds as a teenager, the club had already hosted some of the most consequential matches in the sport.

"When I go to the U.S. Open now, I can't believe it's the same tournament that was once at our club," she said.

Building a Home for Tennis History

In 2012, Hunt became chair of the club's archives committee. She wanted to grow what had been a modest collection into a real reference library.

That eventually led to one of the largest donations in the club's history: the personal tennis library of writer and broadcaster Bud Collins.

Collins had died without a plan for his collection, and his wife, Anita, was searching for a permanent home for it.

"One day, I had an email from Anita. She said she was trying to find a home for his collection. Would I be interested? Of course, I said yes," Hunt said.

The collection arrived in stages, moved by club members and volunteers.

"By the end, we had ninety-one boxes total," Hunt said.

Among the boxes was a bound run of American Lawn Tennis magazines dating back to 1907, a set Hunt calls one of the most complete tennis records in existence.

"Whenever anyone asks about a certain tournament or player, we can go in there and look it up," Hunt said.

The Club That Kept Making Room

Hunt has watched The West Side change shape more than once, and she points to one addition as a major turning point.

"Before the pool, kids under eight never really came into the club. Now, you can bring your kid. We have babies who are a month old; it’s wonderful," she said.

And membership opened up to households.

"When one person plays tennis, and their spouse doesn't, it makes it a lot more palatable for the whole family to join," Hunt said.

The club's concert series, which began drawing major acts in 1964 and now runs more than thirty shows a year, is part of that same routine.

Members finish a match, take a swim, and stay for the show.

Passing on The History

For Hunt, her own family provides the clearest evidence of what the club has become.

Her stepson grew up in The West Side's junior program and went on to play Division 1 college tennis. Like Hunt and her husband, he later married a woman he met at the club. Their two-year-old son already loves to play.

"It's meant everything," Hunt said.

Hunt is still finding new members who care about that same history. That's why she keeps working on the archive: so the next member who asks has somewhere to look.