This week’s writing prompt for 52 Ancestors is Teams. I do have Irish ancestors killed by a team of runaway horses, and many ancestors that were farmers and used a team of horses. I have some distant cousins that have played professional baseball. I have many ancestors that were in the military and militias. The words militia, squadron, etc. are related to the word team, as in a group of people. But I decided to write about my cousin Mitch Nutick, and his love of tennis.
Mitchell Edward “Mitch” Nutick was my double cousin. We were Nutick 2nd cousins, 1 time removed, and we were Armstrong 3rd cousins. Our Nutick ancestors were siblings, and our Armstrong ancestors were 1st cousins.
Mitchell Edward “Mitch” Nutick was born 13 September 1931 in Terrace Park, Hamilton County, Ohio, and died at the age of 88 years old on 14 April 2020 in Los Angeles, California.
He was the son of Mitchell Howard Nutick and Emma Jane Bowker. He grew up in Deer Park, Hamilton County, Ohio, and attended Deer Park High School.
In his 20’s he left the Midwest for New York City and settled in Manhattan.
He was a dancer on the Denny Vaughn Show which aired on the CBC Television channel (Canadian English language public television network) from June 1954 to June 1957.
He appeared as a bit actor in a few of the plays listed below, but he was mainly a dancer on Broadway in the original stage production of Bells are Ringing (1956) and:
The Body Beautiful (1958), The Girls Against the Boys (1959), 13 Daughters (1961), Guys and Dolls (1965), and an off-Broadway production of Guys and Dolls (1966).
He was a talented dancer, and handsome with beautiful piercing “Paul Newman” blue eyes.
By 1970 he had migrated to Los Angeles and was living in West Hollywood. He worked as a bookkeeper for many years. He loved to play tennis. In the Fall of 1978, Mitch, along with 7 other gay tennis friends, began a regular tennis gathering playing matches in West Hollywood Park. They called the original organization the West Hollywood Tennis Association — which is now known as the Los Angeles Tennis Association (LATA) with a 300+ annual membership.
Along with David Newlon, he researched the history of the club and presented the club with a History of LATA for the club’s 30th anniversary in 2008.
Mitch Nutick and the Los Angeles Tennis Association:
Founding Member 1978.
Board Treasurer 1984-2016.
LATA Lifetime Achievement Award 1995.
Inducted Into GLTA Hall Of Fame 2000.
President’s Award 2006.
Outstanding Member Award 2008.
President’s Award 2017.
Although his most recognizable contribution to the LATA was his service as a Treasurer for 30 seasons. His first stint as the Treasurer was in 1984 and his last was 2016. The club will always consider him a Treasurer Emeritus.
At LATA there have been several Mitch Nutick Club Tennis Tournaments.
In the above photo from 1994 are Mitch Nutick and Norm Tucker noting their victories in Men’s Singles tennis as U.S. Tennis Association Champions in 1987 and 1993.
To learn more about our shared Nutick/Weiss and related ancestors please visit my blog posts:
- Origins of My 2nd Great-Grandfather Elias “Eli” Nutick
- My Weiss, Fried, Propheter, and Related Ancestors from Klingenmünster, Germany.
- German Surnames in My Family tree and German Language Studies.
I have not written in this blog specifically about my Armstrong ancestors, but I have written about direct related lines:
- My Ancestor Rev. Thomas Shepard, an English and American Puritan Minister and Significant Figure in Early Colonial New England.
- Check it Out! My Ancestor Rev. Thomas Shepard.
- William G. Lyons, My 2nd Great Granduncle.
- Stormy Weather. My ancestors John Cogswell / Elizabeth Thompson – The Great Colonial Hurricane of 1635 – The Ship Angel Gabriel.
- My Ancestor Maria Thomas Badie, Gifted Two Silver Communion Beakers to The Dutch Reformed Church of Breuckelen (Brooklyn, New York) in 1684.
Sources for information about the West Hollywood Tennis Association and the Los Angeles Tennis Association (LATA):
If you’d like to learn more about the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks project, please visit here:
Or join the Facebook group Generations Cafe.
If you use any information from my blog posts as a reference or source, please give credit and provide a link back to my work that you are referencing. Unless otherwise noted, my work is © Anna A. Kasper 2011-2023. All rights reserved. Thank you.
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