Tiger on the Court

As a four-year-old, Eric Quigley would often accompany his mother, Cathy, to work at the Louisville Indoor Racquet Club. At first he just watched, but before long that got boring, so Quigley picked up a tennis racket. And the rest is history. Or at least it could be. This tennis season Quigley, a South Oldham High School senior, is gunning for his fourth straight state singles title. Only three players in the history of Kentucky high school tennis have accomplished the four-peat feat--all three were from the Louisville area, and they did it consecutively. Tim Cooper of St. Xavier won the boys' state titles from 1967-70, then Ballard's Gary Plock followed suit from 1971-74 before Beverly Ramser of Presentation won four straight girls' crowns from 1975-78. "Eric's arguably the best high school tennis player ever in the state of Kentucky," says South Oldham coach Wood McGraw, who has been coaching tennis for five years and around it for much longer. "I've been playing tennis for 50 years and I've seen a lot of tennis...someone would have to make a hard argument to say he's not the best ever." When making a case for Quigley you must start with those early days at LIRC. "I would always hit with him and his sister (Stephanie) and Eric just really stuck with it. He couldn't get enough of it," Cathy Quigley recalled. "He would hit with anybody that would hit with him. He just loved being there. People would come in and be waiting for somebody to show up and I would ask if they would mind hitting with Eric, and the people were always really nice." Quigley began taking private lessons at age 8. When he was 11, he gave up his other favorite sport, soccer, to concentrate on tennis. "He played baseball and soccer, but he's such a quiet, kind of shy kid, I think an individual sport was more his cup of tea," Cathy Quigley said. Quigley began playing high school tennis in the fourth grade (yes, the fourth grade!) and as an eighth grader he lost in the quarterfinals of the state tournament. It was around that time that Quigley's game got stronger, and he did too. He credits much of that to working with a personal trainer, which began when he was 14. "It helped me a ton," said the 6-foot, 185-pound Quigley, who has added around 30 pounds to his frame since then. "It helps me with my competitiveness, my facial expressions, not showing weakness and the confidence that when I step on the court I can outlast anyone I play." Quigley hasn't lost a match since he's been in high school, and in the last three state tournaments he hasn't lost a set (the closest he came was three tiebreakers) while winning 219 of a possible 275 games (79.6 percent). All the while he's kept his head as steady as his game. "He never tries to embarrass a kid; he's always conscientious and has sportsmanship and he's always willing to help kids that ask him questions," McGraw said. "Last year he was at the State Tournament getting ready to play for his third straight state title and a couple of 9 or 10-year-old kids who wanted his autograph came up to him, and he stopped and talked to them just like it was a normal day. He's the most amazingly humble teenager you'd ever want to meet...but he's a tiger on the court." And when that tiger gets out of its cage, it roars. "When I walk on the tennis court my mindset always changes," said Quigley as he sipped an iced coffee drink on a recent afternoon. The University of Kentucky-bound Quigley knows, though, that capping off his career with another state title won't be easy. "I'm getting nervous for it," he said before leaving to attend a Nick Bollettieri camp in Florida over South Oldham's spring break. "Hopefully this academy will get me prepared for the season and keep my nerves to a minimum. My freshman year I wasn't nervous, my sophomore year I wasn't nervous, last year I wasn't nervous, but I'm kind of feeling it (this year)." Cathy Quigley had a feeling, too, about her son when he first picked up a tennis racket. "I think when Eric gets into something he wants to be the best at it," she said. "He just found something he was good at and just really gave it his all." The rest is history...almost.