TENNIS / JEFF RILEY : Contribution With No Strings

Ron McCabe, the founder of the Southern California Tennis Club, marvels over the dedication of Eric Mann.

Mann, 43, a member from Canoga Park, has won the club’s past two Lighting Grand Prix titles, awarded largely for volunteer work in the club during a one-year period. And at the midway point of the 1991 season, he appears to have wrapped up his third consecutive “championship” with a 1,505-point lead over Tarzana’s Jimmy Kim.

Mann holds the single-season record of more than 18,000 points.

“He’s the most giving player I’ve ever met in my life,” McCabe said.

Yet if McCabe knew more about Mann’s background, he might not be so surprised.

Mann once hitchhiked from his home in Bloomington, Ind., to South Bend, Ind., just to compete in a tennis tournament--nearly 200 miles away.

“And I didn’t tell my father, so he was a little upset with me when I returned,” Mann said.

That is just one chapter in a life that has taken Mann to Vietnam in the early 1970s, where he was wounded, and to West Germany, where he played exhibitions with Stan Smith. Mann stayed around Europe in 1973 and played in the French Open and Wimbledon.

He was eliminated in the first round of both tournaments.

He played for three Division II-champion teams at UC Irvine from 1974-77, but tossed his racquet aside the next 11 years in order to concentrate on his work.

Today he is a computer programmer with Coca-Cola in Los Angeles and teaches computer programming classes at Pierce College. He returned to competitive tennis in 1988, after his son Dylan began to show interest in the sport.

He was ranked No. 17 in men’s 40 singles in Southern California last year and sixth in doubles with Ventura’s Fritz Sproule. But he is just as happy with his volunteer work, which carries him from poster-hanging to umpiring matches.

“Tennis has always been real fun, and I like to do as well as I can,” he said. “But if I lose, I lose. And if I win, I win. The fun is getting out there and competing.”

He admits his body sometimes doesn’t agree with him.

“I have to try to use my wits a little bit more, but that’s OK,” he said. “I’m just happy to be able to be out there. There was something missing during all those years that I didn’t play.”

Junior tournament: More than 300 players will compete in the 47th United States Tennis Assn.-sanctioned Ventura Junior tournament that begins today and concludes Sunday.

Seventeen Australians will compete in the tournament, which also includes players from France, England and Sweden. The first two days of the tournament will be held at Camino Real Park and Ventura College from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday’s semifinal and championship matches will be played at Pierpont Racquet Club.

The tournament may feature a rematch between Los Angeles’ La George Mauldin and Ventura’s Mike Marquez, who are ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the Southern California boys’ 10-year-old singles division. Marquez beat Mauldin in straight sets last weekend to win the boys’ 10 singles at the 89th Southern California Junior sectional championships in Fountain Valley.

Despite Marquez’s victory, he is seeded second behind Mauldin in the boys’ 12 singles.

Oxnard’s Leslie Balta is seeded No. 1 in girls’ 12 singles and Agoura’s Roman Braslavski is seeded No. 1 in boys’ 14 singles. Ventura’s Rhiannon Potkey, who is 11, will compete in the girls’ 18 doubles.

Ventura’s Alex Lynch is seeded No. 1 in the boys’ 18 singles.

“Yeah, but Alex’s seeding is strictly from the computer,” laughed his mother, Terry, the tournament director. “I promise.”

Longtime coach: Arnie Leckman, who retired just two weeks ago after coaching boys’ tennis for 32 years at Cleveland High, died last weekend of complications after heart surgery.

Leckman, 64, underwent his second bypass surgery in seven years after a treadmill test disclosed a coronary disorder. The World War II veteran will be buried with full military honors Monday in a private service at Los Angeles National Cemetery in West Los Angeles. Cleveland’s team brought Leckman a West Valley League title this season, his first since 1961. Leckman, a popular figure on campus, also coached varsity football from 1967 to 1982 and won five league titles.

He is survived by his wife Gloria, two sons and two daughters.

Upcoming: The Racquet Centre in Studio City will play host to a senior satellite tournament July 12-14.

The Racquet Centre also will play host to a pre-qualifying tournament July 15-21 for the Volvo/L. A. tournament.

The tournament comprises open men’s singles and doubles and the winner in each division will qualify for the Volvo/L. A. in August.