HighFIVE: Jim O'Connor

Jim O’Connor has been through some interesting things in his life. True for anyone, he has had his share of joy and pain in his 98 years. But for the majority of his life he’s had the great sport of tennis to bring him health and joy.

Receiving his first racquet from a priest who had come down with tuberculosis in the 1930s, he said he wasn’t initially sure about playing.

“It was a wooden racquet, the kind you had to put a press on it, just to keep the shape,” he said. “I would go to the local school and hit against the wall when no one was around. The more I hit, the more I liked it.”

In an era where every young boy wanted to play baseball, Jim knew it was tennis that was his passion. He would dedicate himself to becoming a great player, competing successfully in many tournaments.

It was his first posting in Denver as an FBI agent that brought him to Colorado where he would meet his wife, Lois, at a youth church group. Being bi-lingual, Jim and his family would then move to Mexico City and several other places where Jim would work and play tennis tournaments as much as possible.

“Because of the heavy workload, I couldn’t really get into tennis until I retired from the FBI,” he explained, although he has his share of trophies from playing tournaments in Florida in the 1960s. After retiring in 1977 he had the opportunity to travel more, allowing him to compete on the East and West Coasts, and compete in the US Senior Games in St. George, UT.

Winning several Colorado Tournaments including the Denver City and Colorado State Opens, he also captured national titles on clay and grass. One of the most memorable of those was becoming the National Grass Court Singles Champion in 1997 at the age of 75.

Another memorable moment was at the National Clay Court Championships in September 2001 at the Navy/Army Club when a passenger plane buzzed dangerously low overhead while he was playing. A short time after, that plane crashed into the Pentagon.

“We knew something was terribly wrong,” he said of the trajectory of the plane.

Off the courts Jim has experienced his share of tragedy. He lost his son, Matthew, a CU graduate waiting to begin law school, in a mountain climbing accident right after college. That pain of that loss never eased and was recently increased by recently losing Lois, as well. He is grateful for his daughter, Rosemary, and the way they have supported one another.

Not surprisingly, Jim says that he is upset with everything going on the world right now. But he says he’s recently reflected on how thankful he is that he can still watch tennis on television as he had to give up playing in the last couple of years.

“Tennis has given me good health. It’s given me consistent physical exercise and mental conditioning,” he said. “Now I can still watch my favorite tournament and players and stay involved.”