It’s spring break next week so summer is on the way. This picture of a couple guys rolling the clay tennis courts (circa I’d say 1918ish) made me laugh. Or rather the decoration etched on it made me laugh. Two days in a row I can say that I know the feeling:
Who knows what’s in that white container, apparently being spread about and rolled in?
Gravel, chips, seeds?
Were those courts ever grass covered?
I’d guess that the white container held chalk or lime for marking the lines on the court.
It’s not 1918, but an article on page 5 of the Sept 21, 1923, Thresher (https://scholarship.rice.edu/bitstream/handle/1911/65075/thr19230921.pdf?sequence=1) described the Rice courts’ composition at that time:
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Campus gardener, Tony Martino, requests that tennis enthusiasts need not be alarmed over the condition of the tennis courts. Throughout the summer the courts were covered with six ins. of cut grass and weeds. This was to prevent summer winds from blowing away the fine cinders and clay which makes the hard surface when watered and rolled.
Tony said earlier in the week that the courts would be ready for play not later than Monday. For men students there are five cinder courts and one clay court. For co-eds there are three cinder courts.
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