Secret Weapon/ Hillway helps prep programs from early on

Richard Hillway couldn't play sports as a child.

He couldn't breathe.

His health was so poor that at age 8 doctors gave him a year to live, unless his family uprooted itself from a comfortable Connecticut home and went west to find a more favorable climate for an asthmatic son.

After an August in Arizona, Hillway's parents picked Colorado - and tennis in this state has never been the same.

Fifty-two years later, over 100 individual state champions, and members of 23 state title teams - at Cheyenne Mountain High School alone - are glad their coach's parents couldn't stand that late- summer heat.

Hillway is not the coach at Cheyenne Mountain, never has been. But he's built a foundation as a pro at the Country Club of Colorado, that has found, polished and produced state champion after state champion for the Indians.

And when Cheyenne Mountain begins its quest for another state title today in the Class 4A state tournament at Pueblo City Park, Hillway will be there - as he's always been.

"He was actually my first coach, he basically taught me everything I know," Cheyenne Mountain's No. 2 singles player Christina Cutter said. "He's just so enthusiastic, he's brought so many players onto the team it's amazing."

All 11 girls playing for the Indians today were coached by Hillway at some point, mostly when they were younger.

That's the secret. It's so simple it's almost laughable, but it has helped Hillway build tennis dynasties wherever he's gone during his coaching career.

"The key to having a good program is to try and get a lot of kids involved at an early age and then make sure they have fun," Hillway said. "If they have fun they practice, and if they practice they get good."

Too simple to be true?

In addition to the aforementioned championship bonanza at Cheyenne Mountain, Hillway has:

Won three state titles as a player and another as a coach during his time at Greeley Central in the 1960s.

Resuscitated a Cherry Creek tennis program that had 15 members when he took over as coach in 1969, and built it into the largest team in the country, with 152 members at one point. And during that process, won eight consecutive state championships, beginning a streak (continued under his assistants after he left to come to Colorado Springs in 1981) of 19 straight boys titles and 316 consecutive dual-meet wins spanning 29 years - both national records.

"Winning in high school was important for me, and I've always aimed, even when the kids are little, at gearing things toward them having a really good high school experience," Hillway said. "When I came down here my goal was to get our kids to win state in high school."

Hillway estimates that nearly 90 percent of the kids who have played for the Indians since his arrival in town have been taught at his club. Four-time state champion Becky Varnum was his student.

"When I was young I used to duck behind the net when I was trying to volley so I didn't get hit in the head," said Varnum, now a Cheyenne Mountain assistant. "Rich made me more comfortable and relaxed. He makes tennis fun. The girls are really excited about the state tournament and Rich is a part of that. He's instilled that."

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