Summer 2026

That year, actor Jack Ging, who appeared on a myriad of TV shows, including two seasons as star of “The Eleventh Hour,” partnered with Jack Bowker, a former national doubles champion, to win the A-division doubles. In the finals, they defeated actor James Franciscus, TV’s “Mr. Novack,” and Belgian-born, Carmel restaurateur Yvan Nopert. Nopert learned his tennis at Reine Astrid resort and his skills as a chef at the Namur school, before leaving Belgium to become chef at the Belgian Embassy in Washington D.C. and later at the Four Seasons in New York. Nopert then came to Carmel in his early 30s with his wife Dionne and, in 1958, bought the former French Café on Dolores and Seventh in Carmel, where he established L’Escargot, a successful restaurant that he later moved to Mission Street. The A-division singles was a competitive bat- tle between actor James “Lefty” Brown and San Francisco architect John C. “Sandy” Walker. Brown, best known for playing Lt. Rip Masters on the “Rin-Tin-Tin” television series, was 20 years older than Walker, who was a top-ranked ama- teur. Brown won the first set 7-5 and fought hard before losing the second set 6-8. Walker won the third set 6-1 to win the match. The number of participants and attendees doubled in 1967 under new event chair Edith Cox Clancy, who was raised in Carmel. Her par- ents, Elmer and Ruth Cox, had built a home on Scenic Drive in the 1920s. Her Hollywood con- nections included her brother, Richard Stanford Cox, who was born in Carmel in 1930. He was known in Hollywood as actor Dick Sargent and was filming a movie in Puerto Rico with Bob Hope in the summer of 1967. Sargent joined the fun at Pebble Beach in 1968 during a break from filming “Bewitched.” He had been cast that sum- mer to replace Dick York as Darrin Stephens. Before the 1968 Celebrity Tennis Festival, Leary left to take a position in Palm Springs. Michaud hired 29-year-old Michael Hook, an associate tennis pro at SeattleTennis Club, in the spring of 1968 as Leary’s replacement. The Michauds continued as hosts, and Pebble Beach Company chairman S.F.B. Morse attended one last time (he died in May 1969). “Lefty” Brown, runner-up in 1966, won the singles champi- onship, and actor Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. (“The FBI”) paired with San Francisco attorney Tom Brown to win the doubles championship. Brown was a veteran of three Davis Cup championships and had paired with Jack Kramer to win the 1946 doubles at Wimbledon. Hook’s stay with Pebble Beach was brief. In early 1969 Don Hamilton became the new ten- nis pro. Ann “Jabby” Hess is credited with giving the tennis festival a giant leap forward. Jabby, the newlywed wife of Dennis Hess, was a grand- daughter of Morse (through his daughter Nancy). Jabby was also a director of the local chapter of the National Council on Alcoholism (NCA). She convinced Hamilton to make the tennis festival a fundraiser for the NCA and then convinced Clint Eastwood, a Beach Club member, to become the host of the tournament. They added a women’s division for the first time. As ticket manager, Jabby also led promotion as head of public relations, Gwenn Graham had died in October 1968. In 1969, it was still billed as the Celebrity 106 C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • S U M M E R 2 0 2 6 (Above) Maggie and Clint Eastwood with John Wayne. (Below) Paul Lippman, Clint Eastwood and Malcolm Moran present trophies to Dabney Coleman and Don Bering. Photo: William C. Brooks photo /Pebble Beach Company Lagorio Photo: William C. Brooks photo /Pebble Beach Company Lagorio