Rider's Torres Wins Gold, Silver
Rider's Torres wins Gold, Silver
One of the greatest tennis players to ever compete in a Rider uniform, Rider University tennis coach Ed Torres is still competing, and still winning. Torres recently won a gold medal in doubles and a silver medal in singles at the New Jersey Senior Olympic Games in the 70 to 74 age bracket, held in Atlantic City. Torres has now qualified for the National Senior Olympic Games to be held next year in Louisville, Kentucky.
“Only the hearty survive, and so far, I’ve survived,” said Torres, 74 years young. “Next year I’ll be able to compete in the 75 to 79 bracket at Nationals.”
A member of the Rider Athletics Hall of Fame, Torres graduated from Rider in 1955 with a career record of 43-1 as the team’s number one singles player. Forty years later, in 1995, he was ranked first in New Jersey in the men’s 55 years old and over division, and second in the Middle States Tennis Association in the men’s 60 years and older division.
In October of 2004, Torres played on the USTA New Jersey and Middle States doubles Championship Team in the men’s over 50 3.5 doubles league, and currently competes in the over 50 4.0 doubles league in Monmouth and Ocean County.
“I always enjoyed playing singles better than doubles, but it gets harder and harder to find singles players my age,” said Torres. “They all play doubles now. I have to play guys much younger if I want to play singles. I’m always playing men 20, 25 years younger than I am.”
In 1996 Torres won a gold medal in singles at the National Senior Games in the 60-65 year old category in Tucson, Arizona.
In 1993, Torres won a bronze medal in doubles at the National Senior Games in Baton Rouge, LA, after winning a gold medal in doubles in 1991 at the Nationals in Syracuse, NY.
“I’ve always liked the competition, and I’ve been lucky that I’ve never had a major injury,” said Torres. “Ever since I was 10 years old I’ve always played. The only time in my life that I didn’t play was just after graduating from Rider, I spent two years on a ship in the Navy. It was tough finding a game on the ship.”
Torres returned to his alma mater in the fall of 1995 to take over the head coaching duties of the Rider men’s and women’s tennis teams, and in the spring of 2005, Torres was named the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Coach of the Year, and was named the Rider University Coach of the Year.
Since coming to Rider, Torres has restored Rider tennis to the high level of play it was known for in the 1950s and 1960s. For the first time the men’s and women’s teams compete both in the fall and the spring, with various meets and tournaments during their non-traditional seasons. In 2005 the Rider women advanced to the MAAC semi-finals for the first time ever. In 2006 Torres coached Rider’s only First Team All-MAAC tennis player.
Torres retired in 1994 from the Neptune Middle School after 35 years, where he served as a Spanish teacher and the last 20 years as vice-principal, and also served three years as the tennis coach. He currently is employed at Fairway Mews in Spring Lake Heights as a tennis instructor. Torres has worked as a tennis pro at the Ocean Beach Club, the Monmouth Beach Club and the Spring Lake Bath and Tennis Club.
“The Senior Olympics have age categories all the way up into the 90s, and one of these days, if I’m still around, I hope to play in that category,” Torres said. “My father and uncle played into their 80s, and I grew up in a tennis family.”
So it looks like Ed Torres will continue to play tennis, and to win, if he can find someone his own age to play with.
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