Dan Luna Sr. This is Me

Education

 Web References

1. 1. DenverPost.com - Serving is name of his game

   www.denverpost.com/sports/ci_3 - [Cached]

   Published on: 6/12/2006   Last Visited: 6/13/2006

   Catching Up With: Dan Luna DenverPost.com - Serving is name of his game
   ...
   doesn't quite make it for Dan Luna.
   
   His marching order is "Tennis everyone." From his roots in a steel-mill neighborhood in Pueblo where he learned to play, continuing on the courts at the University of Colorado and still playing at 73 years old, Luna is a self-appointed tennis activist.
   
   Luna's doctrine is diversity. He believes more young people from every walk of life should look at tennis in a positive way when choosing a sport.
   
   "It's important that we get tennis out of the niche of being considered a country-club sport," Luna said. "The sport has been very good to me and my family, and it can be for a lot of others."
   
   One of Luna's platforms is the U.S. Tennis Association's Hispanic participation task force. But his efforts aren't aimed at any specific group.
   
   "We want to expand the presence of tennis among minorities in general," Luna said.
   ...
   Dan Luna has been a great ambassador for our sport. He has a great passion for getting young people involved in the sport."
   
   Luna found that tennis was a fit for his athletic ability and body size about the time he was entering Pueblo Central High School. His father, Francisco, was a steelworker, and his mother, Sista Ortiz-Luna, was a leader in the Mexican-American community. His parents were immigrants from Mexico.
   ...
   In 1950, Luna became the only Hispanic
   
   border='0' Dan Luna was a champion tennis player at Pueblo Central High School (in 1950 becoming the first Hispanic to win the state boys singles title) and the University of Colorado. He went on to become a head tennis pro and a high school coach.
   ...
   "I was on a hot streak," Luna said. "I was working hard on my game at the time."
   
   In 1954 at CU, Luna made his mark in the Big Seven Conference championships as he and Don Hilger won the doubles championship. It was the first title in any sport for CU.
   
   While Luna was making a mark for Hispanics in tennis in Colorado, Pancho Gonzales was making headlines in the sport on the national scene.
   ...
   Luna returned to Pueblo after graduating from CU, but didn't leave tennis behind. He coached tennis at Pueblo Central and Pueblo South high schools and later became the head tennis professional at Pueblo Country Club.
   
   In 1993, Dan and his family started Luna Tennis, Inc., offering tennis instruction at no cost in Denver's low-income communities.
   
   Tennis is his sport, but Luna also excelled in public service.
   ...
   Luna still plays his game. Just a couple of weeks ago, he was on the doubles championship team at the Asian Tennis League's tournament at the Gates Tennis Center.
   
   His efforts have been recognized. The Colorado Tennis Association in 2003 made him the first Hispanic inducted into its hall of fame.
   
   Luna prepared for tennis as well as everyday life. Along with being the captain of the tennis team at Pueblo Central, he also was on the debate team.
   
   "I always thought that was a good combination," Luna said.

2. 2. Feature Stories

   www.urbanspectrum.net/archives - [Cached]

   Published on: 6/1/2004   Last Visited: 6/1/2004

   What was not typical was that Daniel Luna, a Chicano student from Pueblo Central High School, played tennis very well.
   
   Dan Luna, 1940's
   
   Now, some 50 years later, Luna has earned a place in the Colorado Tennis Hall of Fame, one of seven Coloradoans inducted in February. The honor recognizes his achievements and contributions to the game and the Latino community, both on and off the court.
   
   "In the ‘40s when I was a young man, and this is hard for people to believe, there were hardly any Black or Latino athletes in any sport," said Luna. In the mid-1950s he was among the first Latino teaching pros in Colorado, and later coached at Pueblo Central High and Pueblo South high schools.
   
   Today, Luna lives in a cozy apartment in Denver surrounded by photos, trophies, ribbons, plaques, and tennis memorabilia. Wearing a cap from a U.S. Open tournament, he reminisces about the old days breaking the brown color barrier in 1950 when he became the first Latino to win the Colorado High School Boys State Championship singles title.
   
   "Nobody expected me to win it but I was playing well. My mother was particularly supportive. She was community minded. She was a feminist before they had a word for it and she worked with the Mexican American Service Agency."
   
   The son of a Pueblo steelworker, Luna later won a tennis scholarship to CU-Boulder and, as a senior, led the university tennis team to a Big Seven Championship in the 1950s. At the time, there were about a dozen Latino students at the Boulder campus. After graduation, he returned to Pueblo and became a teaching tennis pro working at his alma mater high school and later at the Pueblo Country Club.
   
   "Half the matches you win because of better strategy and half you win because you outlast the other guy," he said, chuckling.
   ...
   He was fast and he taught me how to move," said Luna. "And my brother was really smart in math and science and he taught me all about the angles."
   
   Luna later earned two nicknames: "The Alarm" and "Mancha."
   ...
   In 1993, Dan and his family formed Luna Tennis, Inc., Colorado's first Latino nonprofit tennis training organization, which taught tennis to Denver's low-income communities.
   
   Luna hardly regrets not having pursued a full-time pro career, and explains that a commitment to professional sports requires tremendous talent and can be a huge financial gamble, particularly for minority players of the day.
   
   "When I talked to Arthur Ashe," said Luna, "there were 10 or so African-American doctors and lawyers who put in money to get him started. And they told him, ‘If you make it, you pay us back, if you don't, forget it.' He went to tennis camp and that's how he got started."
   
   Luna still keeps an eye on today's players, and laments that few U.S.-born Latinos are among the top rankings. He does remind folks that a Latino trainer named Gil Reyes has helped keep top-ranked Andre Agassi in the top 5 for nearly a decade.
   
   Dan Luna, today.
   
   Today, he said, many baby boomer one-time weekend players have drifted away from tennis and switched to a more leisurely golf. Popular spectator team sports including baseball, basketball, and soccer have also drained tennis of gifted athletes.
   
   "Tennis is more rigorous," explained Luna, "and it requires more conditioning and more time to get an adequate game. "In the U.S. we haven't had a top 10 or top 2 player in a long time," said Luna. "But I'm waiting. I think it might be happening because the younger generation is supportive."
   
   Now 72, Luna still plays tennis, often nicknamed "the lifetime sport."

3. 3. Hispanic Participation Task Force Annual Meeting Minutes

   www.usta.com/diversity/fullsto - [Cached]

   Published on: 3/1/2005   Last Visited: 2/7/2006

   DAN LUNA, Sr., Denver, CO, Retired, Founder of Luna Tennis