Paul “Hobie” Halbach returned to the scene of his prime this week, this time as the head coach for the Bowdoin College women’s tennis team.

Halbach, a 1980 graduate of Gustavus Adolphus College, is coaching Bowdoin at the NCAA Division III National Women’s Tennis Championships. It is his first year as the school’s head coach and it marks the first time Bowdoin has ever reached the Elite Eight.

The 1980 Gustavus Adolphus College graduate was one of the most accomplished players ever to compete in the Gusties’ tennis program. He was a two-time All-American and Academic All-American, was the 1980 Division III doubles champion and ended his career with a 113-35 mark in singles and a 135-20 record in doubles.

He had successful coaching stops in St. Louis and California before ending up at Bowdoin in Maine this season. He says Gustavus deserves much of the credit for his livelihood.

“When I started coaching I used a lot of the techniques and drills that coach (Steve) Wilkinson taught me at Gustavus,” he said. “In fact, I was one of his very first employees when he started the Tennis and Life Camps in the 1970s. I learned a lot from him.”

Holbach, who also played two years of basketball for coach Whitey Skoog at Gustavus, was unable to find a teaching job right out of college. When that first September rolled around, a friend of his from St. Louis called and suggested he go down there to coach for a year before starting his search process over again.

“I wasn’t in love with the idea at first, but I got down there and it was great,” Holbach said. “They had a large junior program there; I loved working with kids, anyway — that’s the reason I wanted to be a teacher — so I just stayed with it.”

Seven years later he moved to California and started coaching some of the elite young players in the country. He rose to national prominence, coaching such players as Stella Sampras (Pete’s older sister) and Lindsey Davenport, who went on to become the No. 1 women’s player in the world.

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