Resident nets 99th birthday, tennis time

This article has been amended to reflect the following correction: 

The Longboat Observer incorrectly identified Florence Heitler as George Heitler's late wife. Florence Heitler, 94, is alive and has played tennis since she was 4-and-a-half and only recently stopped playing the sport. The Heitlers will celebrate their 75th anniversary on April 21, 2015.

George Heitler was 12 when he took up tennis. Since then, he has only given up the sport once — during the Great Depression.

“I had bigger things to worry about during those days,” he said of his temporary hiatus in the 1930s. “I was still a young man too, but once I started back up when the Depression started to lift, I never turned back.”

On Sept. 3, Heitler celebrated his 99th birthday in one of his favorite places: the courts of the Longboat Key Public Tennis Center. The Plymouth Harbor resident who first moved to the area when he bought a condo in 1982 at Whitney Beach has played tennis nearly every day of the week until recently.

He has been a regular on the courts at the Tennis Center as well as the Longboat Key Club and Cedars Tennis Resort. According to Kay Thayer, manager and pro at the Tennis Center, Heitler is the Tennis Center’s oldest member and probably the oldest tennis player on the Key.

“Tennis is a reason to socialize, exercise and be outside,” he said. “I have a lot of other hobbies, but none that keep me quite as healthy.”

His wife, Florence Heitler, 94, is also a longtime tennis player. She began playing tennis when she was 4-and-a-half and only recently stopped playing. The Heitlers will celebrate their 75th anniversary on April 21, 2015.

Heitler’s other hobbies include music. A basso profondo (deep bass) singer, he still performs in the area and has been a singer all of his life. He got his singing start by singing Broadway duets with his mother, a talented pianist and singer. At age 7, in his temple’s choir, and at 12, starred in “The Student Prince.” He also plays bridge four times a week.

His friends and family members say he hits a better backhand than tennis players half his age.

Thayer said she has seen Heitler on the court playing tennis three times a week for years.

“His work ethic and consistency is something to the likes that I have never seen,” she said.

Born Sept. 3, 1915, Heitler is a former attorney who worked with Blue Cross Blue Shield for more than 30 years.

However, he doesn’t find himself thinking too much about that old career anymore.

“I stay focused on the present these days and take things slowly,” he said. “It’s a very different change of pace from my former life.”

Heitler also spent his 98th birthday at the Tennis Center. But his birthday wish last year came true early, when his family visited him in August, and he got four generations together on the courts.

“What matters is what a man leaves behind when he’s gone,” he said. “It’s good to be old and know that your family name will live on for generations to come.”

BIO
Name: George Heitler
Age: 99
Residence: Plymouth Harbor