Faces of MAC

Pictured above: Dana Fischer, Linda Niedermeyer, Carol Fortino, Davia Rubenstein, Joyce Kikkawa, Sheri Anderson, and Nita McAdam.

Nearly 20 years ago, four women — Davia Rubenstein, Marcella Larsen, Joyce Kikkawa, and Carol Fortino — set up weekly Wednesday tennis matches at 9:30 a.m., generally on Court 7. Twenty years later, the matches continue and, as anyone on a nearby court knows, so does the obvious enjoyment of each of the players.

Over the years, the core group has changed; some have dropped out, but more have been added. Some days it’s three players with two-on-one matches. Others it’s six players who rotate in, because no one who’s available wants to miss out on the fun.

Today, the average age of the players is 74. It used to be younger. Play can include aces, drop shots, spins, and wellplaced cross-court or down-the-alley service returns. Or not, depending on how everyone is performing that day. Sometimes there’s more talking about the issues of the world than swinging of the racquets.

After play on Feb. 16, the original four members and newer add-ons joined to celebrate the 90th birthday of Rubenstein, a founding member of this weekly game who still regularly participates. Rubenstein is a 50-plus year MAC member and counts the Wednesday morning matches as among her favorite pastimes at the club. “The women in all the groups I’ve played in have been fabulous. I love them all,” she says. Her cross-court return-of-serve, which places the ball in the alley barely feet from the net and totally out of the receiving player’s range, is her signature shot.

Davia Rubenstein

Ask any of the players why they show up, and they’ll tell you it’s because they enjoy tennis. But really, it’s mostly because they enjoy each other.

“I want to play like Davia when I grow up,” says Sheri Anderson, who first joined the group as a designated sub 12 years ago, before being officially welcomed into the fold four years later. “She’s quick, she’s cunning, and she keeps at it. It’s so impressive.”

Melanie Morris

For some, strenuous exercise while battling cancer might sound like adding insult to injury. For members Steve Brown and Melanie Morris, it’s music to their ears. Not only that, but it might be medicinal.

“Research by OHSU’s Dr. Kerri Winters-Stone, and others, has shown exercise to help improve the quality of life of cancer patients,” Brown says. “It has led some to speculate that greater intensity of exercise may even have greater benefit. MAC is the perfect place to be at the leading edge of that movement and share our success with other private athletic clubs.”

With that in mind, Brown has started a cancer running group for the support, sharing of information, and motivation of athletes battling the all-too-common disease. Aspects of Brown’s personal journey, including by surfboard, has been chronicled in the pages of The Winged M. When his cancer came back in 2021, and Brown found himself at the Knight Institute for Cancer Research, he got back in touch with his latest effort to exert positive power over a situation at least partially beyond his control.

“This group is just getting started,” he says. “I thought I could expand my reach by asking fellow members to join. With COVID, it may take a while until our first group run, but we will be ready. Melanie is the perfect person to put a face to it at MAC.”

“When I was diagnosed with my second bout of cancer in 20 months, Steve was one of the first people I called because who gets cancer twice in less than two years?” Morris says. “He has been so helpful as I navigate this second cancer journey. His outlook on life and cancer is like mine: This sucks but you can’t let it hold you back! I have far more blessings in my life than not, so I am not going to let cancer dictate my life.

“If someone has not been through cancer, it’s hard for them to understand all of the emotions that come with the journey. To have a group you can turn to for support is vitally important to the healing process.”

Morris and Brown first became friends nearly 20 years ago, when the former had the latter’s son, Cal, in her seventh-grade class at West Sylvan Middle School. These stories of MAC making the world smaller are common, as is members supporting each other through tough times. This running group represents a new take on the club’s community aspect, and both Brown and Morris look forward to seeing what role it might play in improving the quality of life for all who participate.

Morris adds: “The group is not just for cancer patients, so having doctors or nutritionists or nurses would also be helpful — not just to them so they understand what a cancer patient is struggling with, but to be another support system for the cancer patients.”

Interested in joining? Email sbrown6435@ gmail.com.