Don Dippold doesn’t get out much anymore. In fact, at age 92, due to a variety of infirmities, he hardly leaves his home in St. Louis County at all. 

His sports days are over, as his 6-foot body has given him everything it could possibly give. He couldn’t have asked for more. 

There was a time not that long ago when Don’s days started with a workout at Meramec Community College, followed by skiing at Hidden Valley after lunch, followed by a tennis game later in the afternoon. 

As he put it, “I was in hog heaven.” 

It was his wife, Mary, who introduced him to skiing when he was 56. He could hardly get enough of it and became a regular at Hidden Valley, and he and Mary took ski trips around the U.S. and overseas. Don was able to ski until he was 87. Skiing was the biggest reason why he and Mary didn’t spend winters in Arizona as Russ and Judy Dippold have for many years. 

When it came to sports, Don could do almost anything. He was all-state at Beaumont High in track, basketball and tennis, and then he was on the tennis, track (broad jump, 100-yard dash) and basketball teams at Mizzou. Years later, when he reached retirement and had more freedom to travel, he won national and world championships in senior tennis. 

Don played in some local tournaments and was so dominant, he often left his opponents searching for superlatives to describe him. 

“He’s just a cut above everybody else, or two or three cuts,” Ed Velten said. 

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” John Scowcroft said. 

But over a lifetime he paid a price physically. According to his recollection, he’s had the following medical issues: 

• The tip of his left toe was cut off in a swimming accident at Mizzou. 
• Three knee operations, a knee replacement, foot surgery, three broken ankles, a back injury that put him in a body cast for six weeks. 
• Seven stints, a triple bypass, two shoulder separations, two torn rotator cuffs, a clavicle injury, four hernia operations and a heart attack. 

And yet he’s still among the living. “Part of me, anyway,” he said. 

After college, Don served in the military and then became a teacher and coach, first at Beaumont and then in the Ferguson-Florissant district. He went on to become head tennis pro for 28 years at Westwood Country Club. 

His first foray into national senior tennis took place at the USTA 65s Indoor, and he announced himself by defeating the No. 3 seed, the No. 2 seed and the No. 1 seed for his first gold ball. He would go on to win five more gold balls, including doubles, and four silvers as runner-up. His highest national rankings were No. 2 in singles and doubles. 

The tournaments that are most memorable for Don took place overseas. In a seniors event in Turkey, he won the doubles, and in Austria he was runner-up in doubles. He played on three teams that won world championships. 

Don’s most recent gold ball was won in doubles at the national 80s, when he was 85. He finally had to give up tennis at age 87. 

“I was playing in a tennis game with several people and I felt I was detracting from the game, so I quit,” he said. “It was mentally a little bit hard to suddenly give up something you like.” 

His health now “is not the best, but it’s not terrible,” he said. 

He doesn’t drive anymore because of recent problems with vertigo. 

“I’ve been in and out of the hospital quite a bit since the first of the year,” he said. “I guess it’s typical things that happen to older people.” 

As for staying home most of the time, “I don’t have any trouble with that. We’ve fortunately got a place set up with pretty good views looking out, so I have the feeling of being out even when I’m not.” 

Don Dippold was inducted into the St. Louis Tennis Hall of Fame in 2006.