Don Johnson: Using Tennis To Teach Life Skills

San Jose (CBS 5)  -- Tennis isn’t always confined to the country club. Thanks to this week’s Jefferson Award winner, some San Jose kids are getting a chance to play something their coach calls “street tennis.”

For 30 years Don Johnson has held court at San Jose's public parks. And he does it for a fraction of what most pro coaches charge. For as little as $60 a month, kids can attend four of Don's clinics each week. And in the summer, his junior tennis program is free. It's a life a young man from a Brooklyn tenement never expected to be living.

"It was rats and roaches and things like that, and it gave me a chance to get away, away where there was green grass,” Johnson says. “Tennis gave me that, a nice dress code, beautiful clubs, smart people."

A coach at a local park took Don under his wing. He rose quickly, becoming the first black tennis coach at an East Coast college, the Pratt Institute. It gave him the opportunity to meet his mentor, legendary player Arthur Ashe.

Don worked with Ashe for 6 years in New York, helping set up that city's first national junior tennis league program. Something he repeated in 1976 when he moved with his wife to San Jose.

“He was my inspiration, mild manner genius, he was just what I needed to take that fire in me and control it,” Johnson says. "I promised Arthur Ashe that I would keep the fuse lit, that I would everyday strike a match and put it out there.”

Over the years, thousands of San Jose children have learned the game of tennis at one of Don's programs in the park. They all start with the basics, backhand, forehand and a little few of life’s lessons in between.

"It teaches them manners, politeness, dress code,” Johnson says.

Doug Fitzpatrick's son learned the game from Don on these courts, and went on to become a pro player himself.

"The man is so great in doing what he does. He does so much for the kids and the community," says Fitzpatrick. "Don taught him a lot of discipline. He had to wear uniforms. He's strict on these things, but the kids love it."

“He's not only a coach, he's a friend. So he helps us out, he's tough on us but he really cares about us," says Milani Lumactod.

This spring the Northern California African American Ethnic Sports Hall of Fame recognized Don. Two years ago he was the first African American inducted into the Northern California US Tennis Association hall of fame.

"Tennis has been good to me. In some cases it was being black, but I say it was easy because I was the only one out there."

He is still out there, promoting events, raising money for needed equipment, spreading an appreciation for the sport that changed his life. For offering lessons in tennis and in life to the children of San Jose--this week’s Jefferson award goes to Don Johnson.

By Kate Kelly