Luedtke Leads Bears Home -- to Wisconsin?
2/13/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Feb. 13, 2001
WACO, Texas - As the Baylor women's tennis team prepares for its first trip to the USTA/ITA Women's National Team Indoor Championships this weekend in Madison, Wisc., head coach Dave Luedtke has much on his mind. For Luedtke, the National Team Indoors will be not only the toughest tournament of the season for the Bears, it's also a homecoming for the Wisconsin native.
"I grew up dreaming of playing for the [Wisconsin] Badgers or playing in the National Team Indoors there," Luedtke said. "It means a lot to me to go back and take the Baylor Bears with me."
Luedtke, in his 14th season as head coach of the 18th-ranked Bears, grew up in Wisconsin, watching the Badgers play and attending the National Indoors as a boy with his father, Robert Luedtke, Sr. Robert Sr. was the manager and tennis pro at Fox Cities Racquet Club in Appleton, Wisc., the first indoor tennis club north of Milwaukee and the club where young Dave Luedtke grew up surrounded by tennis.
Dave's brother, Robert Luedtke, Jr., played collegiate tennis at Wisconsin-Oshkosh and is a member of the university's sports hall of fame. Robert Jr. never lost a conference match in college, after spending nearly 20 years as a tennis pro, he now teaches physical education at an elementary school in Wisconsin.
"He was a big idol of mine," Dave said of his brother. "He was 13 years older than me, so I sort of naturally followed in his footsteps."
After playing his junior tennis in Green Bay, Wisc., Dave followed his brother to Wisconsin-Oshkosh. The younger Luedtke won the Wisconsin State University doubles championship in 1982 and 1983 and won the state singles title in 1983. Luedtke then began his coaching career at his alma mater before coming to Baylor in 1987.
"Wisconsin is home," Luedtke said. "My wife grew up in Wisconsin, too. My experiences there honed my competitive nature and my passion for the sport of tennis."
While the Baylor women will be making their first appearance in the prestigious tournament, Luedtke has spent plenty of time on the courts of Nielsen Tennis Stadium, the site of the weekend's play.
"I played four state championship tournaments on those courts," he said. "Before that, I remember going there with my father as a boy to watch the tournament. It's an amazing complex. It's ideal for spectators --just a tremendous building."
Now in his 14th season at Baylor, Luedtke has a career coaching record of 177-122. He is a three-time ITA Southwest Region Coach of the Year honoree and was the Big 12 Coach of the Year in the conference's inaugural season of 1997.
So does returning to Wisconsin make Luedtke wish he had stayed closer to his roots?
"Home is always home," he said of his native state, "but we've spent so much time here in Waco, building and shaping this program. I've seen this team built up to a top-25 team, and we've got a great new facility under construction that will open in April. We've established strong ties here now. Wisconsin will always be home, but Texas is home now, too."
The Baylor women play No. 1-ranked Stanford in the first round on Thursday at 3:30 p.m.
