Stadium 1938 Boy's Tennis Team

1938 Stadium HS State Tennis Champions Team Left to Right: Darrell "Righty " Eden, Donald "Lefty" Eden, Bill Guyles, Bill Taylor, and Dick Meyer.

With over a century of talented student athletes and teams, Tacoma's Stadium High School has a deep history of exceptional performers. Any discussion of the best teams in the school's history would have to include the boy's tennis team of 1938.

The varsity team of Donald "Lefty" Eden, Darrell "Righty" Eden, Dick Meyer, Bill Guyles and Bill Taylor was unbeaten and won the University of Washington interscholastic tournament which was the equivalent of the state tournament at the time.

Stadium's tennis team dominated local competition for decades and this group was the best of them all. The team was so deep that the Eden's, Meyer, Guyles and Taylor were considered the best five players in the area.

In The Tacoma Times, a season preview article indicated that: "Each of the Bengal players is a star in his own right. There is not a lot of difference between the first man and the last on the team. They are all above average for high school players in this section of the nation and there is considerable rivalry among them for playing positions."

The team went 12-0 to earn recognition as the best in state. Stadium defeated the UW freshman team twice (8-1 and 6-3), a feat which hadn't been accomplished by a high school team. The unbeaten season also included two wins over Seattle's Franklin High. Franklin had two players considered to be among the best in the Northwest. It was the first time in many years that Seattle teams were allowed to play outside of the city league but boys from Stadium cruised by Franklin to earn widespread recognition as the best team in the state.

At the interscholastic tournament Lefty Eden played his twin brother Righty Eden for the singles tournament championship. After a tough start, Lefty battled back to win the match 0-6, 8-6, 7-5, 7-5, 5-7, 6-2. With very little rest after their long duel, the Eden's took the court together and claimed the doubles championship, beating the Aberdeen netters 6-4, 6-1, 9-11, 9-7.

The Eden twins' impact on local tennis extended well beyond their Stadium High success. After winning the Washington interscholastic title, they traveled to Haverford, Pennsylvania for the National Interscholastic Tournament.