June 19, 2009
2009 Staten Island Advance History Award: Ed Perpetua
Tom Dowd, June 19, 2009 1:10 a.m.
Ed Perpetua poses with his plaque after being named the Staten Island Advance's History Award winner. - (Bill Lyons/Staten Island Advance)
While Ed Perpetua was winning tennis title after tennis title on Staten Island - 53 in all in singles and doubles and mixed doubles - it was rare that he'd stop to reflect on the growing number of championships.
It was all, he said, just a "by-product" of the experience, and the experience was about effort.
"I never thought about anything I've accomplished," said Perpetua. "I just kept playing and I kept doing it."
The accomplishments that earned Perpetua the Advance's History Award didn't come easily, or quickly.
He went on the road chasing a tennis dream and ran into a wall. A string of losses that would have sent many looking for something else to do, or somebody else to blame.
"Ed's solution was to work even harder," said Advance sports editor CarmineAngioli as he introduced Perpetua. "He was smart enough to come up with a plan and bold enough to make it happen.
"Ed's story teaches us all the value of perseverance and meeting our challenges."
He came home feeling like he'd been giving away winnable matches by feeling the pressure. His father simplified things for him.
"He didn't care if I won or lost," said Perpetua. "He loved me no matter what. He would respect me as long as I tried my hardest.
"Winning has been a by-product of trying hard. I didn't worry about the wins or the losses anymore and that took off the pressure."
He tied that approach to a dogged work ethic and went on to dominate local tennis, all the while teaching the game to the next generations with his Ed Perpetua Tennis Academy and at Wagner College.
"No matter how good things are now, there's going to be good and bad times ahead," said Perpetua. "The ones that struggle through them will reach their goals. That's how it happens."
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