- $10,000 in 510,000 in a yoong Canadian’s grab for the brass “Hing in international tennis?” | | Anyone in'the house.able and willing to invest ~ ; : If so; get in touch with Bob “__ j-An tennis it is ranked 10th tion. | wl: driving down into Washing- * ; ton and Oregon for competi- ° —“miss—in-the NCAA and plays all _vhim. « He’ “be*-the © husky. young. guy .with: the . long) “blond: hair and the blond. ~- Mustache at the head table ~"March 18, when the -Last - _Hufrah banquet kicks off at. - the-Plaza International. . ' You may have read about. the Last Hurrah in a previous’ piece in this prose corner. North Vancovuer High is closing: down in June after a zillion or so years up there on 23rd;; just off Lonsdale. . . Several functions are plan- ned to mark the occasion, but none will be bigger than the - Last Hurrah, the jock set's contibution. It’s a gathering - of the. famous, the near- . famous and the non-famous athletes who, at some time in their lives, attended the school. _ THE LAST ONE. A few days.ago your agent went back into other gener- ations and dwelt on such well known alumni as Hagpry— Jerome, Bill Parnell, Jimmy Spencer and Dunc McNaughton. Today’s piece is about Bettauer because, when the. doors do close, he figures to be North’ Van Hight’s final top grade athlete. He beat the door closing by five years, actually, graduating in 1974, then moving on to Pan-American University in Edinburg (that’s right, no h), which is about as far south as you can get in Texas without falling into the Rio Grande... He graduated last ‘December with the highest honors, within the honors program, in psychology; and he won the school’s annual award as the top student- athlete for 1978-79. In that school year he broke the record for singles wins (48) by running his career total there to 60. And he wasn’t playing a fot of bums. Pan-American is the fastest growing university in Texas and in sport competes at the NCAA level. the big schools, from South-: ern Cal and UCLA in the far west, to such schools ‘as Ohio. State and Michigan State in the midwest, and Alabama, Georgia and Miami in the south. . NEAR THE TOP | So, at 22, his tennis education has been a solid one. An now, just 10 years after he first hefted a racquet at the Capilano Tennis Club, he is the second best player in Canada. ° In reality, he is the best native son player, for the only one ahead of him — the guy who beat him in last_ summer’s .Canadian cham- pionship — is a transplanted American. Harry Fritz of. Toronto is a Californian who learned his tennis in San Diego, married a Canadian . girl and moved north. For years it has been fashionable to equate being the best in Canadian tennis with being the best in Nigerian ice hockey or Fijian cross-country skiing. Bettauer insists this no longer applies. He’s confident, that given the opportunity, he can lay this canard to rest. ‘ He’s an engaging, articulate young man; loaded with confidence, but not boastful, and convinced that if just one Canadian can make the breakthrough and compete successfully against the big names on the pro circuit,’ the competitive quality of Canadian tennis will really take off. AIMING HIGH He believes he can be that man. His immediate problem of course, is money. Less than three months out of university and back home with his family, who moved to White Rock three years ago, he spends three hours a day practicing and working out;; and his weekends trans troub wow rd Mat domestic and enport cars. ‘and effort. for the next two he picks up experience on the iSssion | . aoe adeeb meinea oman abtatie mainte cheer daa ea mites dean imam mmemnnaemaeiiiail Ss 4A5 (7D Piansed tens CFCren Vi oe: Mor M Visertw ove: Daa 1) AL tet Dntets: teri tage one meses ¢ } VAAL ETL Skt ron} CRegrlng a gaat cgessmort A Here t Cottmpn. meee ‘here appiconia | TRANSERSSION | re nn Caet cofhy srmmsnenel & bprere eee try vine Cont eo WA ose 726 W. 14TH ST., ai MARINE DRIVE NORTH VANCOUVER 986-5355 Locations throughout Canede ent United States circuit his total concentration years.If he can’t_make. it, — he’ll go back to school and build. on that: psychology: degree. . If he does make it. . well. . the way they’re throwing prize money around § at tournaments all over the world these days, he can go in for freestyle bank account building. . Right now, then,.he is seeking what is known as a sponsor: a person or a firm with the -money (he_figures he needs $10,00) to keep him eating and travelling while tour; and, eventually, the improved skills that will permit him to start earning and paying his own way. It’s a common procedure, especially in golf, where the rookies would starve to death if they didn’t have angels picking up the tabs until they acquired the éxperience and confidence needed to get into the prize money. NO CONTRACTS Betaeur says his problem is a lack of contacts. He’s been away at college for four years and .doesn’t really know where to start looking. Quite aside from wanting to crack the top 100 in world ratings, which officially would make him an elite player in the eyes of the Association of Tennis Pro- fessionals, his goals are to play in the Davis Cup for Canada and to win the Candian championship for the next 10 years. A most positive outlook. Did North Van High help cutlitvate it? He allows that it certainly did. Man @r Beane bar Ow t give the game and the pro We . “Fri.Sat.-Sun.. co-ed re .