Growing up in East Oakland, far from any tennis courts, Orlando Harris never thought he would enjoy playing the game.
“Tennis is for sissies,” Harris once thought.
He was an all-around athlete.
“I played Pee Wee League baseball, Pop Warner League football and basketball for Oakland Technical High School,” he said. “I also boxed in the Boys Club.”
Athleticism ran in his family. His sister, Frieda Cobbs, made the Olympic team in 1980, the year the United States boycotted the event. At 23, she set a 200-meter record in Sweden. However, Harris didn’t know anybody who played tennis.
“Tennis definitely wasn’t a sport people in my neighborhood recognized,” said Harris. “We grew up playing baseball, basketball, football, boxing and running track.”
His bad decisions landed him in prison, where he continued to play basketball, football and baseball.
His view of tennis changed at California State Prison-Solano when a friend, Ronald Parsons, convinced him to try hitting the ball around.
Harris describes Parsons as an athlete who played college football and was good at basketball and baseball. Harris’ respect for Parsons’ sports acumen influenced Harris to try tennis.
“I liked hitting the ball, especially when I started learning how,” said Harris.
As an all-around athlete, Harris felt mastering tennis wouldn’t be hard. In a Solano tennis league, he faced a 70-year-old man and thought: “This will be easy because that dude can’t move.” Parsons warned Harris not to take the elder lightly.
The elder made Harris scramble around the court to return his lobs and won the match.
“He taught me that tennis is actually a hard game,” said Harris. “It wasn’t something you can just go and excel at. It gave me a greater respect for people who played tennis. They are athletes. Tennis is a difficult game to conquer.”
When he arrived at San Quentin, basketball remained the main sport Harris played until a torn meniscus in his knee never healed right after surgery. He retired from playing point guard for the San Quentin Kings and started coaching the team in 2013. He also started playing more tennis.
Since then the sport he never thought he’d play has opened up many incredible opportunities.
Harris got to meet and play against the Bryan Brothers, double-tennis champions.
“Seeing the Bryan Brothers sparked my interest in tennis further,” said Harris. “It gave me the opportunity to interact with guys I wouldn’t normally get to meet.”
He also developed a relationship with San Quentin’s former coach, Don Devi.
“Being able to interact with a person who knows the history of tennis and knows the game has affected how I view tennis as a whole,” said Harris.
Fox Sports Net featured Harris in a five-minute clip about the tennis program in San Quentin, which his family saw.
“They were more impressed with my growth and with the way that I told my story,” said Harris. “My mom was proud.”
A life lesson Harris says he learned from tennis is to “judge people on their merit, not how they look.”
Since being beaten by a 70-year-old, Harris, now 53, has improved his game. He says he won the New Year’s doubles tournament with partner Paul Alleyne. Harris says he ranks about seventh on the yard.
“I’ll play tennis when I go home,” said Harris. “That will be my form of exercise and I want to teach my nieces and nephews and get them all interested in the game. They should build tennis courts in Oakland.”
