GORHAM, Maine - Anyone who has spent any time at award banquets has heard some variation the oft-overused cliché that basically declares that without the person being honored, there would be no organization.
Sometimes, though, that description fits.
Such is the case with Chan Bearce and the Maine Tennis Association.
Chan Bearce (left) and Ron Friedman
Bearce has been with the Maine Tennis Association in some capacity since the organization's inception in 1973 - five years before it became formally incorporated - and serves currently as vice-president.
Bearce is one of the most influential individuals in Maine's tennis community and boasts the nickname, "Mr. Tennis," to prove it.
Bearce, who grew up in Auburn playing baseball and basketball, attended Gorham State Teachers College - now known as the University of Southern Maine, and wound up on the tennis team after his freshman year.
During the summer prior to his sophomore year, Bearce worked at a Maine summer camp, where tennis was a popular activity. Bearce taught himself the game at the same time he was teaching it to youngsters and joined his college team as a sophomore, starting what has become a long and accomplished career in tennis.
"As luck would have it, when I returned to college for my sophomore year, just about the entire tennis team had graduated," Bearce recalled. "So, I tried out for the team and made it, and I wasn't very good. By the time my senior year came around, I started to get better."
Bearce entered the "real world" as an educator, but even then, he gravitated toward tennis, first coaching a middle school team and later developing a high school team at Auburn High School.
Bearce left education and began what would become a distinguished career as a tennis professional, making stops along the way at Central Maine Tennis in Lewiston, the Racket and Fitness Center in South Portland, Foreside Fitness and Tennis in Falmouth and Portland Country Club.
Bearce used his influence and passion for introducing others to the game in his work with MTA, joining the organization's original board, where he is now MTA's longest serving board member.
"(The MTA) started out as just a few guys looking play tournaments - put together a schedule and find some places to play," said Bearce, who last year won the MTA's inaugural "Lifetime Achievement Award. "It was a players' organization, if you will. But it has really branched out has encompassed so many more opportunities to get people involved in the game, and it's pleasure to be part of that. The award means a lot to me, and I'm very appreciative of it."
Despite his busy schedule and demands on his time, Bearce is an-always willing and dependable volunteer for all things tennis in Maine.
"The game has given me quite a lot over the years," Bearce said. "I enjoy everything that I'm involved in, and when I get the chance to do something, I think of it as my way of giving a little something back to the sport."
Bearce, a member of the University of Southern Maine's Athletic Hall of Fame, is still one of New England's most talented players, having been ranked in the top 10 in the section each year since 1986.
As a teaching pro, he has trained numerous nationally-ranked juniors and was named one of America's best instructors in 2006 by "Tennis Magazine."