-Caveat Lector- 'I could have been the next Monica' John Newcombe was renowned only for tennis - until the night he went drinking with George W Bush. Michael Shelden meets him Electronic Telegraph March 9, 2001 FORMER tennis star John Newcombe is not usually camera shy. In the early Seventies, when he was the number one player in the world, his rugged good looks and dashing manner made him a media favourite. But, late last year, the flamboyant Australian suddenly dodged the celebrity spotlight and went into hiding. "A lot of newspaper and television people were looking for me," he recalls, "and I just went underground for several days. For a time, there were only three people in the world who knew where I was." Newcombe's temporary disappearance was staged, not for his own sake, but for that of an old friend who was in big trouble in the American presidential election campaign. With only five days left until voting day, George W. Bush's enemies had embarrassed him with the revelation of an old conviction for drunken driving. When it was reported that, on the night of the arrest, in 1976, young Bush had been drinking with John Newcombe, a worldwide search for the tennis player began. "But nobody found me," he says, smiling slyly. And, with a big laugh, he says: "I guess I could have become the next Monica, but I kept my mouth shut." He stayed underground until after the election, and then emerged only briefly to say that the story was no big deal. "Just a couple of young blokes having a good time," he said. "I didn't want to answer a lot of questions. These guys will get you on television and grill you. They'll say: 'How many beers did he have? Was it six or eight or what?' I didn't want any of that." But now, with Bush safely in office after a close election, Newcombe seems happy to discuss his friendship with the new leader of the free world. They are still friends and John is delighted to see him in the White House. Oddly enough, that fateful night in 1976 was the first occasion that they had spent much time with each other. No doubt young George, who had just turned 30, was eager to impress the freewheeling, hard-drinking "Newk". Not only was John two years older, but he was internationally famous as the winner of numerous championships, including several Wimbledon titles in singles and doubles competitions between 1965 and 74. George was still struggling to find some direction in his life and was living very much in the shadow of his famous father. He had left college eight years earlier and was staying in a bachelor apartment in the small town of Midland, Texas, where he was buying and selling oil leases on a modest scale. "I had known his dad since 1968 and was invited to spend some time at the family's holiday home in Maine. My wife, Angie, and I went up there. We met George and went out to the local pub one evening. I guess we spent a few hours, just enjoying a good time, talking and having a few beers." So how many beers did Bush have, John? "Oh, six, I guess. Not a lot. Nobody was incapacitated or anything like that. But I did think afterwards: 'George, your big mistake was to go out and drink with an Aussie'." Indeed, after the incident came to light, George's father described Newcombe as a "black-belt beer drinker", implying that his son was ill-advised to visit a bar with the Australian. Was John really a serious drinker? He winks and says: "Well, let's just say that when I was growing up, you had to be able to hold your own pretty well." If George felt the need to prove something in Newk's company, one factor might have been a touch of envy over the tennis champion's friendship with the elder Bush. In a family that places a high value on athletics - George Sr was a star baseball player at Yale - young Bush had achieved little. His father was clearly very fond of Newcombe's company and even made a point of showing him the sights in Washington. "When he was the director of the CIA, Mr Bush picked me up in a limo one day and took me to visit the White House. That was a pretty incredible experience. One minute I was just this guy who played tennis, and the next, I was standing in the White House with the head of the CIA, who was introducing me to Henry Kissinger and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff." Newcombe's friendship with the elder Bush dates back to the time when the Australian decided that he needed a permanent base in America. "I was looking for a home-away-from-home, a place where the weather was good and where I could always play tennis. I had a friend in San Antonio who recommended an old rundown dude ranch in south Texas. I bought it, turned it into a tennis camp and made it my home for half the year." More than 30 years later, Newcombe still owns the ranch and has transformed it into a huge resort complex with 28 tennis courts, a swimming pool, apartments and a conference centre. Thousands of tennis fans come to the complex each year for a chance to rub shoulders with Newcombe and to polish their skills on his immaculate courts. He brought up his son and two daughters on the ranch and is still married to Angelika Pfannenburg, the German tennis player he wed 35 years ago. Despite his fondness for a good beer now and then, he is in excellent shape and plays tennis with some of the same dramatic style that he used to display on the Centre Court of Wimbledon. In his early days at the ranch, Newcombe's biggest fan was the congressman from nearby Houston, the elder George Bush. They played tennis together, and Newcombe helped to raise campaign money in Texas. After several years of friendship, the tennis star had become almost a member of the family and so, in the late summer of 1976, it was only natural that he should be invited to the Bush family's annual gathering in Kennebunkport, Maine. "There was only this one little pub in the town. It was down this narrow road from the house. Well, after we went there that evening, Angie and I got in the car and George started to drive very slowly up that road. His sister Dorothy was also with us. I think the local cop was waiting for people to leave the pub so that he could stop them to check for alcohol. "He had George get out and walk up and down. When George failed the test, the cop put him under arrest and George was very cooperative. He didn't make a scene or try to use his dad's name to get out of it. But, boy, was that cop in for a shock when he found out who he had arrested. He looked really nervous when he realised that he had picked up the son of the CIA director." George didn't fight the charge, but admitted his guilt, paid a fine of $150 and was briefly banned from driving in Maine. His father could easily have applied a little pressure on the local authorities and cleared his son's name, in the manner sometimes used by prominent political families. But nothing of the sort took place. In fact, according to Newcombe, nobody ever told him to keep quiet about the incident or to pretend that it hadn't happened. "No, quite the opposite. I used to tease George about it from time to time. I'd say: 'You know, George, you better watch out, you're going to run for some important office one day and I might just tell someone about that night in Maine'. But he knew I was joking. I wasn't going to make anything out of it. As I said, I didn't think it was that big a deal. But we joked about it for years." The morning after his arrest, George was prepared for a strong lecture from his father, but Newcombe says that the elder Bush didn't blow up or rake his son over the coals. "Considering that, as CIA director, he didn't want any bad publicity, you'd think he might be very angry with George. But he just looked at him and said: 'Well, son, I hope you learnt your lesson'. And that was that." That might have been the last word if the official record of the incident had not been unearthed during last year's campaign. Outside the family, Newcombe and his wife were the only real witnesses who might have talked. But their friendship with the family only grew stronger over the years and made it very unlikely that any revelations would emerge from their side. Indeed, the year after the incident in Maine, young George spent a weekend at the tennis ranch and brought a date with him - a woman he had met only a few weeks earlier in Midland, a young librarian named Laura Welch. Two months later, she became Laura Bush. If George and Laura had been an average couple, the encounter with the vigilant policeman of Kennebunkport would have faded and been forgotten. But, contrary to the impression Bush gave last November, he always knew that the incident was a potential time bomb that his enemies might be able to use against him. It is arguable that its sudden revelation cost him votes and made a close election even closer. Newcombe clearly thinks that the best policy might have been to confess to the small crime and avoid bigger problems later. But that was always Bush's decision, and Newcombe was content to stay out of the limelight until his friend's long election struggle was over. Now, with the dust of the campaign settled, he can get back to the life he loves best: playing tennis with friends, coaching new prospects on his ranch and telling tales of his colourful past. "Once something's out there in the open and everybody's discussing it, it's just not in my nature to keep my mouth shut. I'll always say what's on my mind." © Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2001 <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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