In a game of hushes and whispers, Ruth Ann Stevens fits in perfectly. She's not much for words.
Which is why she was able to enter the game of tennis as quietly as a resting tennis ball and leave as quietly . . . this despite having one of the most successful tennis careers ever posted in Utah, capped by being named only the second All-America to ever play in the University of Utah's women's tennis program.She started the game at age five, encourage by her mother, Janice, a player herself of note, and quickly rose to prominence on a local level in junior programs.
It was, she remembers, something she wanted to do, and besides, a good many of her friends played - Julie Kempin, Liz Fox, Kylie Johnson and Lani Hunsaker, to name a few. All of whom, by coincidence, went on to play on college teams. Kempin and Fox for Utah, Johnson for Stanford, Hunsaker for Weber.
It helped, she notes, to have grown up among such notable talent . . . "It made me play better. We all pushed each other, but we were all good friends. It made tennis more enjoyable."
It was in high school that she started to catch the eye of the country's top tennis scouts. In four years she won four state titles, had 74 victories and zero losses . . . which didn't go unnoticed by Sports Illustrated.
And despite the wooing of other colleges, there was little doubt where Stevens would go. Kempin and Fox were already Utes, and Ute mentor John Tsumas had coached her since she was 13.
What Ruth Ann did in college, of course, was become a collegiate All-American. The last Utah woman to make the elite teams was Jane Stratton, nearly 20 years ago.
She admits now that her collegiate career wasn't all winners.
"I had two pretty good years of singles and two years I wasn't happy about," she says. "I think I got burned out my senior year. I did so well in high school I just expected to do better."
It was in doubles that she drew the most attention.
Tsumas says without a pause that she is one of the best doubles players in the country. She was, at one point, ranked No. 3 in the country in doubles. Over her four-year career she posted several key victories over teams ranked higher - Nos. 1 and 2.
Three of her four years at Utah she made the NCAAs in doubles, each time with a different partner, which Tsumas considers an major accomplishment in itself.
"It's not easy switching partners. I know most coaches wouldn't do it. Once they got a winning team they'd stay with it. I felt it would push her a little more and I saw her doing better," he notes.
What makes Stevens so good, adds Tsumas, is that she has great court anticipation, a very good return of service and "she probably one of the quickest players at the net I've seen."
Her college playing is over and for that, she says, she's sorry. She misses it. But she is an assistant on the women's team this year, and the coaching part she likes.
"She can relate to the players . . . their problems, their game, their disappointments, their accomplishments. It's been good. She's helped a lot," Tsumas says.
One thing is certain, when Stevens talks the players listen. She doesn't have a lot to say, but when she does talk they know it's not small talk.