Cali Fuller’s opening-round match was almost perfect in the USTA National Open 12s at the Champions Club on Saturday morning.
The 10-year-old from California’s San Francisco Bay area won 6-0, 6-1, despite being one of the youngest players in the event. Her mother Kimberly Ellis-Fuller having once lived here, family and friends surrounded the court to cheer her on.
The only thing missing was her uncle Victor Ellis, who passed away 27 months ago at the far too young age of 28, his life cut short by a rare form of cancer.
“He’d always make me laugh when I was mad or sad,” said Cali. “I miss his smile.”
We all miss his smile, from those of us in the media who covered his football exploits at Red Bank High School, then the University of Alabama, to his Crimson Tide teammates, to his family and those who treated him like family, particularly Tim and Kathy Miller, who cared for him in their home during his final months.
“No matter how tough things got — and it was pretty rough there near the end — I never saw Victor down,” said Tim Miller after cheering on Cali. “Victor was always the one cheering everybody else up.”
Kimberly says she still needs cheering up from time to time, calling the return to Chattanooga, “Bittersweet.”
She soothes her pain recalling the year Victor spent near her in California when he was still healthy. Or the jokes he’d tell. Or the interest he showed in both Cali and her four-and-a-half-year-old brother Ellis.
“One interesting fact about Vic; he was really good at baseball,” said Kimberly. “He told me one time that if he could choose but one sport to play it would be baseball. So I think it’s really neat that Ellis likes baseball.”
But as Kimberly’s husband James Fuller — who played Division I basketball for the Jacksonville Dolphins — begins working with Ellis, Cali is viewed as a possible major talent. Despite being knocked out of the this week’s tourney on Sunday, there are already discussions about her joining a national program.
“I really like (pro player) Kim Clijsters,” said Cali, who has been swinging a racquet since she was 2 and has been playing competitively for the past two years. “I love her forehand, how she serves and her backhand. Everything.”
She also wishes she could play more matches on clay, instead of the hard surfaces she faced this weekend and most tournaments.
“I move better on clay,” she said with a smile to rival that of her late uncle.
Lives sometimes move too fast, gone too soon.
“It’s really hard to believe it’s been over two years,” said Kathy Miller. “We still hear from Victor’s teammates every week. He’ll never be forgotten.”
Last January, with the Tide facing Texas in the national championship game, Kimberly, James, Cali and Ellis all tuned in.
“I updated my Facebook page after Alabama won,” said Kimberly. “I know my brother’s really proud. He was up there screaming ‘Roll Tide’ the whole game. I like to think he had something to do with that outcome. I guarantee you he was smiling the whole time.”
A smile we’ll miss forever.