Woody’s award-winning novel “The Butterfly Tree” is available at Amazon (click here), other online retailers, and orderable at all bookshops.
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This Saturday, in Newport, Rhode Island, Mike and Bob Bryan will be formally inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, so it seems fitting to share this column five summers past from my archives…
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“Don’t tell me about your dreams of a castle,” Wayne Bryan likes to say, “show me the stones you laid today.”
When Wayne and wife Kathy’s identical twin sons, Mike and Bob, were eight years old they taped an image of their dream castle on the Camarillo family’s refrigerator door: “Become the No. 1-ranked doubles team in the tennis world!”
They then laid the stones, day after week, month after year after decade, until they had erected a castle that surpassed their wildest dreams. Indeed, when Mike and Bob retired at age 42 their career looked like Camelot.
Together, Mike and Bob have singularly been Mikeandbob – a two-headed monster with four arms and four legs, standing 12 feet, 7 inches tall and weighing 370 pounds. Even Hercules could not slay Bobandmike on a tennis court.
Their final stat line as a pro tandem: 16 Grand Slam doubles championships and 119 overall titles, both all-time records by a mile, plus Olympic gold and bronze medals for good measure. As for their wild-eyed boyhood goal, they were ranked No. 1 in the world for 438 weeks during 22 years on the ATP Tour.
Mikeandbob also authored one of the greatest goodbye statements in sports history, rivaling Lou Gehrig’s famous “Luckiest Man” speech. It reads like an award-winning children’s book, yet is inspiring for adults too:
“Many years ago, two brothers left home and embarked on a journey up a tall mountain. With knowledge from their parents and fueled by boundless passion, they moved up the mountain together, their eyes fixated on a peak they could see on the distant horizon.
“They lifted each other over boulders, pulled each other up steep cliffs, and kept each other warm when storms battered the mountain. If one boy became weary, the other pushed harder and when one boy had doubts, the other fearlessly pressed on. They often slipped and were bruised but loved their fight against the stubborn mountain.
“After years of climbing, the boys finally reached the top. The view was beautiful but not what they expected. They saw a vast landscape filled with endless ranges of even taller peaks. Without looking back, they continued on.
“The trail eventually disappeared but the boys kept going, clearing their own path and exploring undiscovered lands they never knew existed. No matter the direction, they stayed together, for they knew their journey was impossible alone.
“And when their bodies could carry them no further, they turned around and gazed upon the world they had travelled. They looked at each other, smiled proudly, and headed home shoulder to shoulder, with a newfound peace and a bond stronger than ever.”
Along their fantastical journey, Mikeandbob behaved like chivalrous knights in shining armor. For example, they gave a match-used racket to a 10-year-old boy in Japan who was fighting cancer. More special, they stayed in touch. When they later learned he was on his deathbed, they expressed a final package of gifts to him.
A small thing? The young fan passed away wearing a shirt autographed by his twin heroes.
One more example of thousands: For a young girl fan who was in the hospital after attempting suicide, Bobandmike sent a video message complete with a musical performance – Bob on keyboard, Mike on drums – of an original song they wrote specifically for her.
Back when the kid Bryan Brothers first posted their lofty castle dream on the refrigerator, their mom Kathy told them: “It’s far more important who you are as people than who you are as athletes.”
Remarkably, Mikeandbob climbed that Mount Everest, too.
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Essay copyrights Woody Woodburn
Woody’s new novel “The Butterfly Tree” is now available in paperback and eBook at Amazon (click here), other online bookstores, and is orderable at all bookshops.