Rick LaFountain hits 500 wins in his 53rd season

Oak Harbor senior Brenen Ish and junior Kyle Glaser are the Rockets’ only returning letter winners from the 2019 tennis season.

“We have a bunch of athletic kids. I am hoping for continued improvement throughout the season,” Oak Harbor coach Rick LaFountain said.

Two years ago, Ish was 22-8 at second singles and Glaser was 14-13 at doubles, and they lead a cast of 14 players. 

Ish has gotten off to a good start, defeating Fostoria’s Dom Settles 6-0, 6-0, Perkins’ Ian Hemphill 6-4, 6-0 and Rossford’s Ethan Bihn 6-0, 6-0 at first singles. Glaser defeated Fostoria’s Wyatt Cobb 6-0, 6-0 and Rossford’s Ethan Wiseman 6-0, 6-0 at second singles, but teamed up with junior Spencer Goldstein, only to lose to Perkins’ doubles team Timothy Gray and Jason Ninke, 6-0, 6-0.

The Rockets defeated Fostoria, 4-1, but lost to Perkins, 3-2. Oak Harbor’s only other win on the court was its second doubles team of junior Dominic Martinez and sophomore Josh Johnson, which defeated the Perkins team of Seth Jollift and Timmy Wensink, 6-4, 1-6, 12-10. Martinez also defeated Rossford’s John Klocko, 6-1, 6-1 in third singles.

However, there is another celebration going on within the Oak Harbor tennis program — this is LaFountain’s 53rd season coaching tennis over 29 years and has a career record of 501-416.

That includes two stints at Oak Harbor (35 seasons), one stint at Fremont Ross (17 seasons) and one season at Fremont St. Joseph coaching boys and girls tennis each fall and spring. In that time, he has gotten to know Clay coach Walt Ralph well as they have coached against each other for at least 25 years, says LaFountain.

“I like it. I coached at Fremont for a while, and then when my kids came through school they were going to open enroll at Fremont, but they decided to stay at Oak Harbor,” LaFountain said. “(Former Oak Harbor athletic director) Drew Grahl was nice enough to have me come to Oak Harbor and coach and I have been coaching here again for a second stint since 2008. It’s fun.”

His coaching start had unusual beginnings — like many coaches he was asked to fill a vacancy.

“I like to play on my own. We did not have a tennis team (in high school) and it’s kind of an interesting story. I was out at the courts playing with a couple of my friends out there and our (former Benton-Carroll-Salem Schools) superintendent at the time came out and asked me in about 1992.

“He said, ‘Hey, would you be interested in coaching. We are starting a team.’ I said, ‘I don’t really know anything about (coaching) tennis.’ He said, ‘Well, come out and we’ll help you along.’ I went out there and I said, ‘If you can’t find anyone else to do it, let me know’ and he could not find anybody else, so I tried it the first year,” LaFountain said.

“When I first started coaching, I had an old guy take me under his wings — Gil Ravas, who retired from Brush. He coached the team for maybe about 10 years and passed away in ’03. But he taught me a lot about the game.”

LaFountain has been playing tennis most of his life.

“I started playing with my mother up at the courts at the playground at Veterans Park. She got me out there playing when I was in elementary school, but I never really competed,” LaFountain said.

He has passed the game onto his children Ashley Russell and Greg LaFountain. Ashley qualified for the state tournament all four years of high school. Greg and Ashley were first singles players all four years of high school and Greg came within one match of qualifying for state his senior year.

Now, Ashley, Greg, and Greg’s wife Jacqueline (McClune) LaFountain, who was a standout player at Norwalk, continue to be a part of his coaching staff, even though Ashley will be graduating from medical school at Wright State University this April.

LaFountain says he gets all kinds of players, including those who have never played the game before.

“You know you have to have numbers because every year you have kids graduating,” LaFountain said. “If you can get one or two kids who have played tennis before they come out there their freshman year and you get a few athletes, you can make a pretty good team out of that. 

“The basketball players and the wrestlers have the quick feet. Quickness is important — using your feet and taking little steps. The kids who are pretty athletic — baseball and softball kids, they usually do pretty well as they get grow up because they have the hand-eye coordination. If they are athletic and competitive, they will pick it up because they will want to win.”

LaFountain, a 1983 Oak Harbor graduate who earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Toledo, teaches world history and government at Ross High School. He cleared his 400th team victory in 2016, but says the rewards go beyond what happens on the court each fall and spring.

“I have enjoyed it. I have met a lot of really good families and a lot of really good players,” LaFountain said. “It always feels great when you see someone 20 years afterwards and they say, ‘Hey coach, how are you doing? We really enjoyed playing tennis.’ That is always the best feeling you can get.” 

Some of them go on and play at the open courts at Oak Harbor, and others that I’ve coached, I’ve coached their sons and daughters, too, and it has been fun.”

“I’ve been so blessed to have some great kids and there have been some great parents who have been so supportive of the team. It’s been so fun, especially at Oak Harbor. I had some great teams at Ross, and the kids at Oak Harbor are year after year, super kids,” he said. “It was great coaching both of my kids, and the athletic department and the administration has treated me so well here. I’ve had some really good ADs at Oak Harbor — Bill Hubans hired me, Drew Grahl re-hired me and I’m very pleased to be here.” (— includes file copy from a story Press contributing writer Yaneek Smith)