The line formed outside the doors of the Cintas Center early Monday evening. A big crowd was expected. Jim Brockhoff always knew how to entertain his friends and for one more time last night he was going to do so simply by bringing them together to say good-bye.
Jim Brockhoff passed away last Friday, May 30, at the age of 78 following a battle with cancer. He was able to do it on his own terms, at home with his family by his side. Brockhoff had time to plan his sendoff so he made sure there would be a hall large enough for the gathering. The arrangements were set in place, the music picked out and the tribute photos put out for display.
All that was missing was a video of Jim telling stories. The visitation at the James and Caroline Duff Banquet Center inside the Cintas Center was scheduled for three hours. That might have been time enough for a couple of tales from Brockhoff’s well-lived life.
Jim Brockhoff was synonymous with tennis in Cincinnati. When he and a friend were first introduced to the game as teenagers, they scoffed at the notion.
“Tennis is for sissies. We play football, basketball and baseball,” Brockhoff told me a couple of years back about how he remembered responding to his first invitation to play. The reward for helping George Menefee roll the courts following a heavy rain at the Tri-State Tennis Tournament, the then-name of the tournament that is now the prestigious Western & Southern Open, was that Brockhoff and his friend would be allowed to play tennis for free that summer at the Hyde Park Country Club.
That initial skepticism turned into a love affair with the game.
Brockhoff would go on to play tennis and football at Xavier University and then coach the men’s tennis program there for 45 years and the women’s team for 34 years. When he retired after the 2007 season he was one of just two collegiate coaches to guide their teams to more than 1,000 match victories. He won Cincinnati city titles as a junior, in the open division and at the senior level.
He refereed USTA events for more than 50 years, including the Tri-State and when the tournament switched its name to the ATP and moved out to its current location in Mason.
He most infamously was involved in one of the multitudes of on-court rants and tantrums thrown by John McEnroe, this one at the ATP championship in 1981 when, according to Brockhoff, McEnroe missed a volley and slammed the ball back into the net in disgust. Brockhoff, sitting in the umpire’s chair, gave McEnroe a code violation warning. Let’s just say it didn’t sit well with McEnroe.
Brockhoff would let McEnroe say his peace and then the match moved on.
Brockhoff also officiated at the U.S. Open, at international events, and for 51 years at the U.S. National Father/Son Clay Court Championships which are hosted annually at the Cincinnati Tennis Club. This year’s tournament is scheduled for July 19-21.
One familiar face and voice will be missing. Jim Brockhoff won’t be forgotten.
