Father Time apparently wasn’t invited to the latest party at the Key Biscayne Tennis Association, where members celebrated the 89th birthday of former club president John Rivella.
It was a party where ID certainly wasn’t required, as a host of AARP eligible people sang the praises of the guest of honor.
Jack McGuire, a super competitive Irishmen, looked around the patio deck of the KBTA clubhouse watching members feast on barbecue and side dishes while sipping perfectly made virgin Peña Colada’s. The longtime club member talked about the positive energy at The Tennis Association and how he and Rivella can beat anybody in their age group.
“It’s all about the camaraderie here,” McGuire said. “Everybody is from all over the world, we‘re playing tennis, we get along and we love to have a little … well, we enjoy the Pina colada.
Rivella is a fixture at KBTA.
He served as president of the organization for 14-years before passing the position on to current President Jon Garito.
Sitting on a bench under the shade of a tree, Rivella shared cocktails and laughs with dozens of people who stopped by to wish him well. The longtime snowbird, who splits time in New York City, is a non-stop jokester who downplayed how much he means to people at KBTA.
“I was not important,” he said, faking seriousness. “They’d do it anyway, they just use me as an excuse to have a party. Now I gotta clean it up.”
John Rivella in action.
Rivella is not only the former president of the club, he also serves as a volunteer maintenance worker whose work ethic and dedication has earned the respect of his colleagues.
“I planted all these palm trees you see here,” he said. “The big ones you see, I planted 30 years ago. They were just little pups.”
Rivella reminisced about his KBTA journey.
“In 2013 when I took over we had $277 in checking and we had a $5,000 monthly payroll,” he remembered. “ Fortunately Miami-Dade came along with IMG and helped us out. Andrew Kaplan and Jon Garito did some negotiating on KBTA’s behalf and we have what we have today. At the present time we’re very happy with the way things are going. We have probably 80 members and I think we are one of the most successful non profit public tennis clubs in south Florida. It’s the right thing in the right place at the right time.”
Garito talked about the guest of honor.
“I affectionately call him the bull,” Garito said. “He is not afraid to do the heavy lifting, actually he prefers to do it. He is involved in everything.
“He tells the maintenance guy, ‘just stand there and watch me.’” Garito said. “He physically is in incredible shape, I’m in awe of the things he does … from fixing leaking sprinkler heads to putting new water fountains together. And he’s a good tennis player, he moves around the court really well. He’ll play two or three sets of tennis and then say, “I gotta stop, I have some repairs I gotta do.” Then he’ll go in the back and start working for hours on some project he’s doing.”
As the early afternoon started to wind-down, and Rivella blew-out his candles and cut the cake presented to him by his well wishers.
Miami resident, Ana Novak, smiled and said something a lot of people were probably thinking.
“I want to be like him if I get to 89,” she said. ”He’s just amazing.”