In Remembrance
In Loving Memory of Shelby Torrance
Shelby Torrance
A Tribute to Shelby Torrance
Nancy Lucas and I met each other in July, 2017 at the Germantown grass tennis tournament. We became fast friends and we also made friends with lots of other ladies at that tournament. They told us that we HAD to go to Houston in March, 2018 to the clay courts. So, of course we did.
I didn’t miss a tournament there until they discontinued it … sob … and my daughter, Diana Lesher, started to play there too.
Nancy Lucas met Shelby Torrance first – in 2018. Shelby was just recovering from a hip replacement (I think it was her second one) and had survived a bout with cancer. Nancy was playing singles and got Shelby in the draw. Shelby introduced herself and told Nancy – “My goal is to not fall down during this match.” It was my first introduction to having a goal in tennis that was not related to winning. Shelby achieved her goal.
We all became friends and met up with Shelby each time we attended the tournament. She used to brag about her mother Dr. Shelby Frizzell Torrance, who was also a tennis player and her inspiration. Although Shelby’s name was actually Susan, she preferred to go by her middle name because that was her mother’s name.
A couple of years, she accompanied Burnette Herrick and made sure she had a place to stay with her. At the beautiful Houston Racket club, we would sit at the table eating our meal with Burnette saying hilarious, off-color comments and Shelby’s sarcasm dripping all over. What wonderful times we had!
Several months after my shoulder replacement, in 2024, I brought a new friend to be my partner – Nancy Gilbert. She agreed to play with a much weaker partner and we had a great time regardless. Nancy G. also got the chance to meet Shelby, Burnette, and all of the other Houston Racket Club regulars. We had a great time and it has become part of our many tennis memories.
I didn’t know 2024 was going to be the last year of the tournament, but I am so glad that I got to see Shelby again there. In 2019, Shelby had written a book called “Love All First Set” – the poetry of Susan Shelby Torrance – later she gave me a copy and autographed it for me. She asked me to look through the book and see which poem spoke to me the most.
I apologize if I’m breaking a copyright law here, but this was her first poem in her book:
Love All
It is perhaps not by accident,
but rather by divine design;
that before striking a ball
to being the game of tennis,
a player must call out …
“Love All!”
Love doesn’t mean nothing in tennis, it means everything; and we get to say it when we start. How beautiful is that?