Stanford University is one of the nation’s great collegiate tennis powers, so when a group of their players came to San Quentin for a match, they can’t have expected much of a challenge. The Stanford team even included sophomore Ryan Thacher, recent nationwide doubles champion at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s National Indoor Competition in New Haven, Connecticut.
So imagine their surprise when S.Q.’s top doubles team of Rafael Calix and James “Mac” MacCartney more than held their own on a typical balmy, Bay Area morning on Saturday, Nov. 14. “I was surprised at the very good quality of players,” said Thacher, as his gaze swept the activity on the courts and lower yard. “It seems as though there is a lot more going on here than I would have thought, more vibrant and interactive.”
Thacher and his teammates were taken on a tour of the prison following the match by the same two men they had previously bested on the courts, Calix and McCartney.
The idea for this entertaining morning of tennis took shape through a series of phone calls over the past several years made by S.Q.’s Coach DeNevi to several Bay Area universities. DeNevi proposed to each of the schools he called the chance for both a competitive and cultural exchange, offering school officials a chance for their players “to have a chance to explode a lot of the myths about a penitentiary.” He made the point that some of the school’s athletes are foreign-born scholarship players with no practical concept of the inner workings of an American penal institution.
Stanford Coach John Whitlinger accepted the challenge and a match was made, though it would take almost two years for the two to find the right scheduling opportunity.
“I wouldn’t mind trying this again,” Whitlinger said, expressing his appreciation of the unique opportunity. “There are certainly some pretty good tennis players here. We have enjoyed ourselves today.”
As for the score of the matches? That depended on which side you talked to. Some said the final score was 3-2, others had it at 3-1. It’s not clear how much the score really mattered — both sides were smiling as they left the court.