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Lovers of tennis, squash, pickleball and more trust this Detroit shop

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6 months ago

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Lovers of tennis, squash, pickleball and more trust this Detroit shop

In 1964, Michael Banks was drafted by his high school football coach to play tennis. Banks chose to give his new sport 100 percent of his effort, a practice he continues today at his Detroit business.

It has been said that tennis is “a game of inches.”

But for native Detroiter Michael Banks, it really was a game of a couple feet — give or take.

Banks’ business, Professional Racquet Services, has been a fixture on Detroit’s Livernois Avenue of Fashion for nearly 40 years. But to understand how Banks’ love affair with tennis began requires a trip back in time, during a period when a former east-side Detroit high school needed a few good men to start a new sports team. 

“You five playing tennis; you five playing golf,” Banks said as he explained the directive that he received in the Kettering High School gymnasium following a football practice during the fall of 1964 when he was a freshman running back; at a moment when the school was desperately trying to create additional teams in other sports to ensure funding for the entire athletic department. “If I had been just one more person over, I would have been in the golf group and this place I have today might have been a golf shop.”

During the late morning and early afternoon Wednesday, the 73-year-old Banks spoke from his business located at 19444 Livernois. Given the vast, colorful array of rackets, clothing, balls, bags and other merchandise that are literally at Banks’ fingertips regardless of where he stations himself at any given time within his place of business, it is difficult to imagine Banks doing anything other than selling goods and providing additional expertise for tennis, racquetball, squash, badminton and pickleball players of all levels. Nonetheless, the past 60 years of Banks’ life would no doubt have been drastically different had he not turned to a trusted Detroit resource when the challenge of playing tennis was presented to him at Kettering — 6101 Van Dyke at east Interstate 94 — where he was a part of the school’s second graduating class in 1968. 

“None of our coaches knew anything about tennis. And at practice our players were hitting the ball everywhere with the coach sitting in the car, so I went to the library,” recalled Banks, who described making repeated treks from his home on Field and Canfield, near the old Eastern High School, to Detroit’s main branch library for knowledge about a sport that he was beginning to take seriously. “I’ve always been a reader, so I would say: ‘Mom, I’m going to the library.’ Once I got there, I started reading tennis books and it was fascinating to me. And most of the books were written by Australians at the time. Then I started going through all of the examples. And I was like: ‘OK, Ohh, um-hum, OK.’ ”

As it turned out, by the time Banks graduated from Kettering, he was quite a bit better than “OK” when it came to playing tennis. And Banks’ newfound tennis prowess, along with support from the Upward Bound program, enabled him to earn a scholarship to Ferris State University. Ultimately, Banks completed his college education at the Detroit College of Business, where he studied computers. But Banks also continued to study and play tennis at a high level throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s, building on the early lessons he learned at Detroit courts like Farwell Park and Northwestern High School. Banks became a regular winner of tournaments presented by the Motor City Tennis Club and the USTA Midwest Adult League.  

“I’ve always believed in putting in 100% in whatever you do,” said Banks, who explained that he was at the peak of his game as a tennis player when he was around 32 years old. “And I have always tried to do that with the business. 

“It was a hard sell at first. But I’m a specialty shop; people come to me with special needs. You can’t just go anywhere and get special tennis and racquetball equipment, especially stringing. And that’s one of the things that I have tried to specialize in to make sure that every racket I do, I do it professionally; whether you’re an amateur, or a beginner, or a top player, you’re going to get the same kind of quality work.” 

The staying power of Banks’ business, which began in Banks’ home in 1973 before moving into a Livernois location 38 years ago across the street from his current shop, provides proof that Bank’s commitment to quality has been appreciated by repeat customers that prefer seeing Banks in person over internet shopping.   

“He’ll string your racket on the fly — you can even wait for it — where most places send your racket out and you have to wait about two weeks,” explained 63-year-old Melvin Reyes, who on Tuesday said that even highway construction will not deter him from making the trip from Canton to Banks’ shop, where he has purchased rackets, balls, shoes, a tennis bag and even a ball machine. “If you play the game of tennis, or any racket sport, and want good advice and good equipment, this is the place to be. He even redid my grip for a left-handed player, which I didn’t even know was needed until I came in here.”   

Fitting Reyes with the proper racket grip is an example of what Banks calls “problem solving.” While watching the French Open from his shop on consecutive days beginning Wednesday, Banks also used the term “problem solver” to describe the top-seeded players on the men’s and women’s sides — Novak Djokovic and Iga Swiatek. And a close inspection of a few photos attached to the crowded walls at Banks’ shop reveals that he also has been a part of some lasting problem solving that has extended well beyond the grounds of his building.  

The photos show some of the girls and boys that have been enriched through the years by participating in the Palmer Park Tennis Academy at the Palmer Park courts, located about 2 miles from the bright yellow awning that greets customers and the community outside of Banks’ business.   

“We — myself, Leonora (King, director of the Palmer Park Tennis Academy) and (coach) Jesse (Cleary) — were kind of lucky because we wanted to do something with kids and I had already been doing my program with kids on Saturdays at Palmer. But when the idea for the Academy came up, I said if we can get the courts, we can get it done,” Banks said while describing the origins of the Palmer Park Tennis Academy (launched during the summer of 2011), which will be presenting a high performance tennis day camp and summer tennis classes from June 10 through Aug. 16. “In three years, we had close to 125 kids and then COVID-19 came. 

“But now things have picked up again, and Leonora has done a great job and she’s just run away with the program, with help from the People for Palmer Park group. When we started, all we wanted was for kids to get involved. Back in my day, we didn’t have junior rackets like they have today, so the younger kids can now handle the rackets, while staying active and out of trouble. Then we have older kids that are receiving scholarships and going off to college. So it just feels pretty good to see what is happening. And they know if they need help all they have to do is call me.” 

Scott Talley is a native Detroiter, a proud product of Detroit Public Schools and a lifelong lover of Detroit culture in its diverse forms. In his second tour with the Free Press, which he grew up reading as a child, he is excited and humbled to cover the city’s neighborhoods and the many interesting people who define its various communities. Contact him at stalley@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @STalleyfreep. Read more of Scott’s stories at www.freep.com/mosaic/detroit-is/. Please help us grow great community-focused journalism by becoming a subscriber.  

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