Tom Anderson of Russell delivers his acceptance speech at the Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame induction banquet at the Lakewood (N.Y.) Rod & Gun Club on Monday night. Times Observer Photo by Scott Kindberg

LAKEWOOD, N.Y. — When Tom Anderson was in his late teens and playing the best tennis of his life, he entered the Western New York tournament.

“I knew I wouldn’t win, because we had Penn State’s No. 1 player, and the best players from Buffalo, Pittsburgh and Rochester,” he recalled Monday night at the 43rd annual Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame induction banquet at the Lakewood Rod & Gun Club. “If I won a few rounds, I would be happy.”

After a first-round victory, Anderson, then an outstanding player at SUNY Brockport, learned he would be matched up against an 11-year-old in Round 2.

“I was giddy,” he said. “He looked like a 6-year-old.”

Well, guess what?

Anderson, who grew up in Lakewood and now resides in Russell, Pennsylvania, lost 6-0, 6-1, to Jimmy Arias, the preteen phenom.

“He went on to become number-five in the world,” said Anderson, a 1976 graduate of Southwestern Central School.

At about the same time as that setback, Anderson entered, and won, the Jamestown City Tournament for the fifth straight year. Figuring that streak had to be one of the better ones in the history of the event, he went to the Prendergast Library in Jamestown, found old copies of The Post-Journal on microfilm and searched for tournament results.

What he discovered, however, was humbling tennis experience No. 2.

“Lenny Johnson (Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame Class of 1986) won 37 times!” Anderson said. “I quit tennis.”

Fortunately, Anderson found another passion as the director at the Lakewood YMCA. For more than 30 years, he was the point man for all kinds of events, including more than 90 running races, a 3-on-3 basketball tournament that was the largest youth indoor tournament in the eastern United States, as well as gymnastics, soccer and pickleball programs.

Anderson’s humorous, and inspiring, story was one of nine told by this year’s inductee class that also included Jessica Anderson, Anthony Barone, Stephen Carlson, Mark Edstrom, Ron Frederes, Nick Kahanic, Aaron Leeper and Nick Sirianni.