Jan. 8, 2008

By Louis Bonnette

Rita Caldarera Hudgins has a McNeese State record that no one will ever break or even come close to.

Fifty years ago she became the only woman to play on the McNeese State men's tennis team.

This was during the heyday of Cowboy tennis, when such players as Frederico Zarazua, Vincente Hernandez and Carlos Perez were leading McNeese to an unprecedented four straight conference titles and to national prominence.

This was also during the time when there were no women athletic programs on the McNeese campus and very few on any other campus in the nation.

In 1958, her freshman year, Rita Caldarera, as she was known then, became a member of the McNeese men's tennis team for one day in April.

"I don't remember the exact date," she said recently, "but Coach Arthur Lee (the McNeese tennis coach) had asked me to play the No. 5 singles in a match against Loyola. Loyola had a women's player on the team and Coach Lee didn't want to play one of his male players against her."

Back then Rita had made a name for herself in the area as a top tennis player, first in high school and then on the city level.

She had grown up playing a lot of fast pitch softball but when she was a sophomore at Lake Charles High School, Rita came under the tutelage of Lloyd Johnson who was one of the leaders of the tennis program in the lake area.

Johnson ran the summer programs for the city and was also the tennis coach - boys and girls - at Lake Charles High.

Rita became his prize pupil.

She was part of a doubles team that won a state title and was a member of the squad that won a state team championship.

She also became a perennial champion in the city league and won numerous city titles over a long period of years.

"I worked three years after getting out of high school before I enrolled at McNeese," she said.

And, after she enrolled it took her only three years to obtain her degree in Health and Physical Education and English, graduating Magna Cum Laude.

As a freshman at McNeese, she often would workout with the male tennis players.

"Carlos (Perez) was real helpful with this,"she recalled. "We had a class together and became friends and he talked with Coach Lee who allowed me to go out and workout with the players."

Lee said that when he found out Loyola was bringing a woman in as their No. 5 player for the match, he asked Rita to play for the Cowboys.

"I remember that there was a lot of publicity about Loyola having a woman on their team," Caldarera said. "So there was a good bit of interest in the match."

She played a girl by the name of Ann Bee and Rita won in straight sets by scores of 9-7, 6-1.

"I was estatic about being able to play," she said. "I had a little trouble early in the match. Her game was to just sit back and return everything while my game was a strong serve followed by rushing the net.

"I remember Coach Lee coming by and telling me to play my game and not her game and that's when I got the edge."

The Lake Charles American Press in its Sunday's edition of April 27, 1958, had written: "McNeese State College became a coeducational sports institution Saturday afternoon. And, the first coed ever to compete on a McNeese varsity team made the debut a successful one by stealing the spotlight in a 7-0 Cowboy (and Cowgirl) tennis victory over the Loyola Wolfpack of New Orleans.

"Miss Rita Caldarera, a freshman at McNeese, swept past the highly-touted Miss Ann Bee of Loyola to capture the No. 5 singles in straight sets, 9-7, 6-1.

"Loyola had brought Miss Bee to play in the No. 5 spot. Coach Arthur Lee of McNeese switched his doubles teams around assuring each member of his squad some action and enabling Miss Caldarera to make her college net debut.

"Miss Caldarera fell behind in the opening set, 4-1, but quickly regained her composure to knot the set at 4-4. The score was again tied at 7-6 before Miss Bee took a 7-6 lead over the McNeese freshman due to serve. At that point, Rita won three straight games - breaking Ann's service in the second - to win the set, 9-7. The second set was won handily, 6-1."

That was the only collegiate match for Caldarera Hudgins who would latter become the girls tennis coach at Lake Charles High, coaching such players as Deanna DiGiglia, Ray Montgomery, Anna Reed, Sheryl Gow and Marsha Landry and taking her team to the state championship.

She didn't earn a letter (she did receive a tennis warmup suit and was named the American Press athlete of the month) for her ground breaking achievement and her accomplishment is only noted for that year in the McNeese record book. In fact, men's tennis is no longer a sponsored sport at the university.

But, for one afternoon in April, 50 years ago, Caldarera Hudgins held the tennis world's attention on the local and state level.

Golf is her game now.

After receiving her degree from McNeese, she continued to play competitive tennis in city programs and at the Lake Charles Racquet Club. She taught for 10 years in the Calcasieu Parish School System and served as a counselor for 21 years before retiring in 1992.

"My knees gave out when I hit 60," she said, "so I haven't played tennis since then."

She has taken up golf which she and husband Earl plan to begin making a weekly outing.

And, she can look back on an April afternoon in 1958 when she accomplished what no one else has done or will ever do again.