46-YEAR-OLD SAUGUS MAN LIVING LEGEND IN PADDLE TENNIS CELEBRITIES, OTHERS PAY $70 AN HOUR TO VOLLEY WITH SOLLY.

Byline: Nicholas Grudin Staff Writer

SAUGUS - Sol Hauptman brought his New York attitude to California in 1978 and began dominating the niche sport of paddle tennis, a game that he turned into a career.

The 46-year-old Saugus father of two is consumed with the sport, and his boisterous personality has pervaded the Venice Beach-based paddle scene.

Hauptman's home answering machine starts to tell his story.

``Come volley with Solly. Come slam with the man,'' he hollers on the recording, going on to offer lessons to anyone who dials his home phone number.

Every day, Hauptman teaches the sport at fenced courts along the Venice Beach boardwalk, where he often starts work at dawn. And over the last 30 years, he has won dozens of national championships. He is a legend in the sport, which has about 1 million players throughout the nation.

``He's like Shaq or Kobe or Michael. It's a first-name basis down there at the courts,'' said Scott Freedman, another legendary paddle-tennis player who teaches professionally at the courts on Venice Beach, one of the national hubs for the sport.

Paddle tennis, which originated in the Midwest in 1898, is played on what looks like a tennis court, but with smaller dimensions. Using paddles that are a mix between pingpong paddles and tennis rackets, players slam a deflated tennis ball and volley over a net.

The game, which gained popularity in Manhattan in the early 1900s, was played by inner-city kids who did not have the resources to play real tennis. < That's how Hauptman picked up the game.

``I learned how to play in New York when I was 11,'' Hauptman said. ``It kept me off the streets of New York.''

From a childhood hobby, Hauptman now makes his living teaching the sport for $70 an hour.

He has given lessons to Barbra Streisand, Al Pacino and Wilt Chamberlain.

But Hauptman is more proud of his accomplishments as a player than as a coach.

It is difficult to measure his success in paddle tennis against that of players in well known sports, but comparisons with Babe Ruth, Jack Nicklaus and Bill Russell come to mind.

``I've won a total of over 110 doubles tournaments,'' Hauptman said. ``My drive is that I wanted to become the best in the world at something, and I had a drive to do it. It didn't matter if it was tennis, tiddlywinks, poker or badminton.''

Today, the game is mainly played in Florida, South Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Venice Beach and a few other select spots.

``Sol doesn't have a rival in all-time paddle-tennis players. As far as longevity (goes), no one compares. He started winning tournaments when he was 16 years old,'' said Rick Beckendorf, who was Hauptman's partner in the 1980s.

Since 1975, Hauptman has won nearly every national doubles championship, including several with now-partner Freedman and several with Beckendorf, who is the national singles champion.

But he has not gained fame for simply winning.

It's how he wins.

``If you see Sol on the court, he can be a maniac. You either love him or you hate him; he's yelling all over the court,'' Beckendorf said. ``It's not a vindictive type of thing. He's just yelling for him. When somebody first sees Sol play, people just think he's nuts. They think he's an obnoxious person. But really he has a very sweet personality.''

And according to Freedman, who runs the official paddle-tennis Web site (www.paddletennis.biz) and has coined the term ``tennis with an attitude'' for the sport, Hauptman plays the game as it is meant to be played.

``Sol is aggressive and dominant on the court. He's not known as a great athlete, but he has incredible hands, and he's an extremely smart player. He knows exactly when to apply pressure and when to back off. What he lacks physically, he makes up for emotionally.''

Nicholas Grudin, [phone]

nicholas.grudin(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Sol Hauptman gets a rain break from teaching paddle tennis at Venice Beach. The 46-year-old Saugus father is the iron man of the sport, having won dozens of national championships.

(2) With a rain break from teaching, Sol Hauptman still gets in some practice. In 30 years of competition, he has become a national legend in paddle tennis.

Phil McCarten/Staff Photographer