BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider

MADISON, Wis. — Jack Waite remembers his recruitment to the Wisconsin men's tennis team in strong, somewhat humbling detail.

He was good enough coming out of Waukesha South High School (Wis.) to receive multiple Division I scholarship offers, including Purdue, but his preferred destination wasn't so generous.

Waite, the WIAA state singles runner-up as a senior, visited the UW campus and had dinner with then-coach Pat Klingelhoets. Waite was told he would be competing for the No. 6 singles spot. He was offered a walk-on spot.

"I didn't expect that," Waite said.

According to Waite, the two sides went back and forth before the offer was bumped to $500. At one point Waite said his grandfather, a UW grad, got involved and the offer soon included meals.

"I just wanted a little commitment," Waite said. "I woke up one morning and decided that's where I need to go."

In short, Waite bet on himself and won big.

From 1987 to '91, Waite became the winningest singles player in Wisconsin history. He won the Big Ten Conference singles title as a senior and was named Big Ten Athlete of the Year in 1991. He also received the prestigious Big Ten Medal of Honor, which goes to a senior who "attained the greatest proficiency in athletics and scholastic work."

Waite was just getting started.

From 1992 to 2002 he played on the ATP Pro Tour, competing in 35 Grand Slam events (Australian Open, French Open, U.S. Open, Wimbledon) and winning three doubles titles. He also won 15 ATP Tour challenger championships and once found himself situated among the top 50 doubles players in the world rankings.

"If people looked at me in high school or college or early on, they never would have dreamed that I would have made it that far," Waite said. "I certainly didn't think it would have gone as far as it did, but I think other people would have been more surprised.

"Expectations were not very high. I don't think from there that you think that person's going to play in 35 Grand Slams."

Klingelhoets said Waite was a good athlete and had good foot speed, but didn't do anything on the junior circuit that would have set off recruiting alarms.

"He wasn't one of these guys who were highly ranked or anything like that," Klingelhoets said. "He just worked his tail off and kept getting better and better. An amazing story really for a guy that came out of nowhere.

"He was such a competitor. It didn't matter who you sent him out there against. He felt like he could win the match."

Waite said his game stayed on a consistent flight path.

"It was a gradual improvement every year," he said. "My first year in college, I played number 5 singles. My second year, number four then number 2 and then number 1.

"It was kind of the same thing on the Tour. I gradually got a little better, little better, little better and went up the rankings.

"It was a great way to do it. It's fun to do things when you think you're getting better."

It was a journey that landed Waite in the latest class of inductees into the UW Athletic Hall of Fame.

 

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High Five

One: Waite's pro career took him to 44 countries and 28 states. He played against the likes of Roger Federer, Boris Becker, Pat Cash, Patrick McEnroe and Goran Ivanisevic.

"It was a lot of fun doing something athletic for your job," Waite said. "All the travel and all the venues and cities that I was fortunate to play in. Those were amazing experiences.

Challenging ones, too.

"I wasn't a star, so I lost a lot and had a lot of periods where I might not have won a match for two, three months in a row, so I had to push through that," he said.

Two: Waite said his parents, Robin and Susan, were huge supporters. One of his fondest memories from his UW career came during a tournament at Ball State. The team was headed to a 6 a.m. breakfast at Bob Evans, walking across a Red Roof Inn parking lot, when he noticed a familiar car with the Wisconsin license plate UW10S. Inside was his father, fast asleep after driving overnight to see his son compete.

Three: Waite is now married with two children, working as a teaching pro at the Burning Tree Country Club in Greenwich, Connecticut.

"I used to have a pretty exciting life," he said. "Now it's much more normal.

"I'll admit it was much more fun being pampered than pampering people like you do at a country club. I enjoy making people happy. You have a chance to make peoples' days a little better, and I like that."

Four: Waite is the third men's tennis product to be added to the UW Hall of Fame, joining Arthur Nielsen Sr. (1992) and John Powless (2002).

"It's exciting for sure," Waite said. "Very special."

Five: Waite was asked if he maximized his tennis career.

"I don't think I got every drop, but I got pretty close," he said.