J.D. Burton

More than once I had been told that my 13-year-old son Jake was brilliant, but lacking in common sense. At least twice Jake proved his doubters wrong.

On February 10, 1983, I took Jake to the Yale Hall of Graduate Studies to hear Arthur Ashe lecture on intercollegiate athletics.  Next to the lecture hall was a barber shop with a poster. The owner responded positively to Jake’s request for the poster five minutes before the lecture.  Ashe signed the poster, impressing my fiancee. She had told me twice that Jake lacked common sense.

On November 20, 1983, I took Jake to see Guillermo Vilas play an exhibition match with John McEnroe at the New Haven Coliseum.  All the young tennis players were given posters. Jake went to the tunnel to get McEnroe’s autograph.  The lights were darkened and a spotlight focused on Vilas, introducing him as the number four player in the world.  Vilas ignored the fifty kids waving posters at him.

“And now,” said the announcer, “let me introduce the number one player in the world, John McEnroe.”

Suddenly the spotlight switched to the opposite tunnel, and there was John McEnroe signing Jake’s poster.   Jake returned and told me and his new stepmother that he figured McEnroe would use a different entrance.

Last week I heard my wife of 37 years tell a new friend, “My stepson is brilliant, and he has lots of common sense.” Jake is also a kind guy, leaving the posters for his father- who often thinks about how Jake got them and how my wife viewed him more positively when he showed ingenuity.  The poster of Ashe, my all-time favorite player, is the centerpiece of a guest room wall with 25 Grand Slam champions.  The McEnroe poster hangs near the floor next to a bookcase.  McEnroe made life very difficult for high school tennis coaches during the 1980s. But I loved the way he hit the ball.