You don’t often see spectators cry at tennis tournaments. But it’s not often that a doubles team the likes of Stan Ford and Reese Patterson are on the court. Testimony to the human will to survive as well as the glorious role sports can play in that endeavor, the two senior tennis stars both overcame life-threatening conditions to miraculously win national tournaments and a number-one ranking in the 65-and-over men’s division during 1991. Patterson, of Knoxville, rallied from a four-year battle with stomach cancer. Ford, of Gatlinburg, prevailed in a three and a half year ordeal with Wegener’s Syndrome, a rare autoimmune disorder, before ultimately succumbing to ALCS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) in 1998. Ford and Patterson had been doubles partners for twenty-two years and had won the National 60-and-Over Clay Court Championship in 1986, as well as the National 55 and-Over Grass Court and Clay Court Championships in 1985. Topping it off, they won the USTA National Men’s Senior Grass Court Championships in New York in 1991. “A lot of spectators began crying when the match was over,” said Patterson. Amazingly, as recently as 1996, the partners still were able to post a victory, winning the Southern Indoor Open. Shortly thereafter, Stanley Ford was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease. Only two days before passing away, he told his dear friend and partner Reese Patterson, “It was great fun and I must say goodbye.” His courage and love of the game was an inspiration to us all.
