by Jeff Sikes

In the Hilary and Charles Marold partnership, the end result of the near three decades of mixed doubles tennis matches they’ve played has always been, well…. love and love.

No, the Marolds haven’t swept through every match they’ve played with that much ease while sharing a court for much of the last 30 years. Nor have they been double bageled with any kind of regularity (usually, it’s them doing that to their opponents). You’ve heard of connected at the hip? The Marolds …they are connected at the grip…of a tennis racket.

Love flashed before their eyes

Meeting with racquets in hand at the National Public Parks Championships in 1976 in Chicago, love literally flashed before them. To be more precise, it flashed before Charles that day. After winning a championship match in women’s doubles, Hilary snapped a picture of her partner to commemorate their victory. After taking the picture, she panned the camera over with a big grin at this guy sitting nearby. The guy was Charles. He smiled back and they clicked right away.

“That was all it took, it was just one of those fun things you do when you’re happy,” said Hilary. “But it ended up breaking the ice. After that, he was by my side the whole rest of the tournament.”

And has been ever since. The Marolds have been flashing before their opponents’ eyes for much of the ensuing time since that fateful day, exhibiting on-court chemistry that would make Einstein proud. The love birds won the 2006 Texas Senior Sectional Mixed 55 Championships and are usually ranked pretty high both individually and together in mixed. Combined, the age of both couples the Marolds beat most days at mixed events, barely adds up to their total age.

“The span of ages between us and the couples we have to beat these days is getting bigger and bigger,” said Charles, a retired optometrist who kayaks five to six miles a day, fishes twice a day, and, oh yes, trades volleys with his wife.

Poster Couple

If there’s ever a poster couple for active senior lifestyles, the Marolds would have to be the ones on it. And still the ever-busy

Charles looks almost sedentary in comparison with Hilary. Fit as a fiddle at 61, he has to chase after his wife if he’s going to catch up with her, on the court or anywhere else. A go-getter from the time she first took up the sport in the 10-and-unders back in her native southern California, Hilary is 57 going on 25, and a jock without a doubt. Her quick hands and sharp reflexes made her a natural for tennis, and she has six USTA National Championship gold balls (all in women’s doubles) to prove it.

She’s also in the Platform Tennis Hall of Fame, a hybrid tennis game played on a court 1/4 the size of a regulation tennis court. She once beat Tracy Austin in doubles (when Austin was 13). She’s beaten Bobby Riggs at paddle tennis. She’s been a broadcaster for NBC television’s Wimbledon coverage, appearing in 1978 with Bud Collins.

She was a competitor in the “Superstars” competition, an all-around sports contest show that was a hit back in the 1970’s, pitting elite athletes against each other in a decathlon-like melange of sports activities that included 100-meter sprints, an obstacle course, bowling, football, rowing and other sports, including tennis. She was on the cover of Women’s Sports magazine in 1972, a publication started up by Billie Jean King. She once played the legendary Dodo Cheney for the Riviera Country Club (Calif.) club championships as a 16-year-old. She won the first three games, then went down in a hurry, losing to a woman at the time nearly 30 years her senior.

“I guess that’s why I don’t underestimate people on a tennis court,” said Hilary. “You never know what someone might be able to do.”

In it for life

Tennis has served the Marolds, and they’ve returned it back, passing their love of the game down to their family. All three of their children play and play well. Daughter Morgan was a part of the University of Texas’ runner-up finish at the Tennis on Campus Championships in 2006, and son Burke played No. 1 for Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California. Hilary has won Mother-Daughter tournaments with Morgan, and plans to play in Mother-Son with Burke soon. She’s played in countless tournaments with hubby Charles, including two National Public Parks mixed doubles championships victories 10 years apart, 1979 and 1989.

“The game was passed on to me by my mother, she was the one who got me into the sport, and made a lot of sacrifices,” said Hilary, speaking through tears. “I drove my son across the country trying to get him a top national ranking, and Charles and I have been playing together for a long time.”