Alex J. Kuhn Memorial Invitational returns to All Iowa Lawn Tennis Club

By John Burbridge

sports@charlescitypress.com

CHARLES CITY — Brian Parrott has a sense of sportsmanship that is not shared by everyone.

Parrott found that out the hard way when he served as the staging director for the Davis Cup in 1985.

Parrott was tasked with presenting a “Code of Conduct” contract to two of the U.S. Davis Cup team’s more mercurial members — Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe.

Needless to note, Connors and McEnroe didn’t respond kindly. And when they removed themselves from the U.S. Davis Cup team because of the contract, Parrott and those who helped draft the code took a lot of heat.

But Parrott, who is the girls tennis coach at Charles City High School, still believes that sportsmanship is integral to the game. Thus, he felt an example of it should be honored during the closing ceremonies of the Alex J. Kuhn Memorial Tennis Invitational held Friday at the All Iowa Lawn Tennis Club.

During a pivotal singles match, Rylan Kuhn — caught close to the net — reached up to take a swipe at Bryce Ripley’s lob, which landed a couple of inches beyond the baseline on the club’s famous homemade grass court. Parrott, who had a perched vantage as the chair umpire, initially ruled the shot was long, but reversed his call when Kuhn revealed that his racquet made grazing ball contact.

Even at the pro ranks, an umpire will ask a player for honest help on a call. Sometimes, such requests blow up in the officials’ faces with players claiming they’re set up to look bad if they rule in their own favor.

Even though Kuhn didn’t rule in his favor, he managed to defeat Ripley to clinch Team Iowa’s dual-match team victory over Team Nebraska.

The invitational consisted of nine matches — six singles and three doubles — scored in pro-set game-win races to 8 (singles) and 6 (doubles). Kuhn’s singles victory gave Team Iowa a 5-1 lead ahead of the doubles matches.

Kuhn later teamed up with Lane Kruger to defeat the Team Nebraska doubles team of Tanner Adams and Ripley in the final match capping the final score 7-2 Team Iowa.

Kuhn will be a sophomore at Mason City where Kruger will be a senior. The majority of Team Iowa consisted of Mohawk tennis players that also included James Matthews, Reed Kruger, Justin Yarahmadi and Zach Mulholland. Decorah sophomore Caden Branum was also part of Team Iowa.

Other members of Team Nebraska included Jeremiah Witkop, CJ Towne, Peyton Lemon and Tanner Hosick — all are members of the Bellevue West boys tennis team in Bellevue, Nebraska.

Kuhn and Lemon were named co-recipients of the invite’s “Sportsmanship Award”. Lemon was initially the lone honoree before Parrott petitioned to have Kuhn also honored.

“This is the first time I’ve ever played on a grass court,” Lemon said. “The ball bounces off the grass a lot differently than on a hard court. It takes a while to get used to it.”

The invitational is in memory of Rylan’s father, Alex Kuhn, who helped his father — Mark Kuhn — construct the grass court as well as the bright-white and spring-green picket fence that surrounds it on the family’s property just south of Charles City in 2003.

The grass court and its handsome amenities make up the renowned All Iowa Lawn Tennis Club. The family’s love of the game has undoubtedly helped with the club/court’s continued preservation and maintenance.

Mark and Alex’s love of the game was also illustrated by their pilgrimages to Wimbledon — both had published news articles and books about their experiences.

Due in part to celebrated features on the AILTC, Mark Kuhn served as an honorable court attendant on Centre Court for the 2016 Wimbledon Championships.

“It’s all because of this place,” Kuhn had said about the family homestead project that allowed him to become the first non-Brit to earn Centre Court-attendant distinction.

Shortly after Kuhn returned home from the 2016 Championships, his son Alex committed suicide.

The summer after Alex’s death, surviving parents Mark and Denise Kuhn decided to hold the Alex J. Kuhn Memorial Tennis Invitational in his honor. The tournament annually pits a youth team representing Iowa against another youth team representing a neighboring state.

This would have been the fifth annual tournament if not for the invitational being put on hold last year due to the pandemic.

In addition to serving on the Mason City Council, Alex was actively involved with youths as he coached a variety of sports and was a volunteer in youth reading programs.

Before this year’s tournament, the All Iowa Lawn Tennis Club Foundation presented a $2,000 check to the Charles City School District for the purchase of books.