Hugh King hired as FMTC caretaker

In searching for a new caretaker board members consulted with Felix McCrea, who had retired after almost 20 years at the club on a full-time basis and five more years on part-time. He suggested they talk to the foreman of the Scarsdale Parks and Recreation Department, namely Hugh King.

Hugh admitted that when Jim Carlisle approached him about the job, he was apprehensive. He was, after all, a family man with three young sons. At the Village he had a staff under him, and a pension. “So I sat with Felix,” Hugh said in a voice that still echoes County Galway, “and he told me he was there during the Depression, and that there were days when nobody came into the Club. And Felix said, ‘I never lost a paycheck. You don’t have to worry about security’.”

When Hugh King was hired in 1967, FMTC acquired a man who was to become universally liked and admired. And the feeling was mutual. “I didn’t expect that I’d become part of a big family, but that’s what the Club is.” To the Club, he contributed not just his own devotion, but also the help of his wife, Rose, and that of his three sons. Each has pitched in, whether it was one of the boys shoveling snow or Rose King taking the curtains home for a wash. “Rose is not there as often as Hugh, but when she is, with her marvelous twinkle, it is a definite asset,” said Molly Kindred.

Former President Bob Lee commented that to replace Hugh would take five or six people: “His Irish wit and his unbelievable tact have solved more problems! You wonder who the president is sometimes because he finds a way to solve the problems you’ve been thinking about.”

The 1976 ladies chairman, Donna Henderson, touched on another side of the Club manager’s caring personality. “Who else would think of assisting a robin to repair its nest as I saw him doing on the porch eaves this morning?”

“The overriding characteristic of both Felix and Hugh,” said Brook Kindred, “is that they were more like Club members than employees. Their spirit, their care, their involvement was so much deeper. If I were to leave the Club, certainly I’d miss my friends, but I would miss Hughie King as much as any person I know here.”

When Hugh retired in 1994, his son Kevin took over.

Source: Adapted from Diana Reische, Fox Meadow Tennis Club – The First Hundred Years, 1983