It’s Thursday night at the Cricket Club, and Mr. Talbot is setting up his serve. He’s been playing for seventy years, and though he’s lost some velocity on his serve, he hasn’t lost his love for the game and competition. 

 Mr. Talbot is a staple of SCH and CHA athletics, totaling 12 Inter-Academic League titles over four sports, receiving many awards and accolades and even having a field dedicated in his honor. However, few know he was a dual sport varsity athlete at the Division 1 level, and he still stays active today by playing tennis. 

Talbot said that “Tennis is in his blood” and that “if you were a Talbot, then you were going to play tennis.” After all, his father was a tennis pro. Talbot himself played tennis at UNC; his son played tennis at Princeton, and his grandson is on the tennis team here.

Talbot’s grandson Jimmy ’25 said that “all of his family plays tennis” and that his grandfather has been a big influence on his tennis career. They used to play together a lot.

Talbot’s grand-nephew Ethan Eckert ’25 said, “When we go on vacation in Georgia, he’s always watching us play tennis and giving me tips to improve my game. It’s nice to see him come down to our matches at the pavilion.”

Throughout his years as a teacher and athletic director at CHA, Talbot went to many lengths to maintain his physical fitness. He started at CHA in 1966 as an English teacher, and during the day he and the other English teachers would run down to the squash courts during free periods to get a couple of rounds in before having to go back to classes.

When he was the athletic director, he played basketball with MLB legends Richie Ashburn, Robyn Roberts, and Kurt Simmons on Tuesday nights. On Thursday nights, he played in the alumni basketball league, and the weekends were for pickup basketball, alumni soccer, and alumni softball. 

Jimmy Talbot said that one of his favorite things about his grandfather “is how committed he is to SCH athletics and the school as a whole.”

Mr Talbot is still to this day involved in SCH Athletics and is an active member of the development office, working to secure funding for SCH athletics. He was an integral part of the funding for the McCausland Lower School and the new Woodward Fitness Center

Talbot ended the interview with a positive outlook on the school he has been a part of for over 60 years saying that he “is very excited about the direction SCH Academy and its athletics are headed in.”