Nonprofit founder remembered for helping kids succeed through tennis
“He wanted kids to learn the sport, to do better in life, to learn life skills, and improve their education. His legacy was to grow a stronger community.” David Kimani, senior director of education for Grassroots Tennis & Education, referring to founder Arthur Goldblatt
NORWALK — Arthur J. Goldblatt’s passion for tennis began overseas while serving in the Peace Corps. Stationed in Ethiopia from 1964 to 1966, he traded tennis lessons with a man who wanted to learn how to speak English.
“That’s when his love and interest in tennis began,” his wife, Ann Goldblatt, said Monday.
When Goldblatt returned to the states, he moved to Norwalk, where he worked as a lawyer for nearly 30 years. After he retired, he combined his love of tennis with his passion for helping those most in need and founded Norwalk Grassroots Tennis (known today as Norwalk/Stamford Grassroots Tennis & Education) in 1995.
The nonprofit organization has introduced thousands of the city’s underserved youth to the game of tennis, as well as lending academic support, developing their character, and teaching them life skills that can be used on and off the court. The board and the staff remain committed to Goldblatt’s legacy of selflessness and helping others following his death on Oct. 2 at age 87.
“He wanted kids to learn the sport, to do better in life, to learn life skills, and improve their education. His legacy was to grow a stronger community. He touched thousands and thousands of youngsters,” said David Kimani, the senior director of education for Grassroots Tennis & Education. “He was an incredible man. We’ve lost a great human being and a great individual.”
Goldblatt wasn’t sure what he wanted to do with his life following the Peace Corps, so he wrote his good friend Bill Collins in Norwalk for advice, according to Collins. The two men had met in 1963, “both seeking fortunes in Washington, unsuccessfully,” he said. Their paths crossed at a table tennis club downtown.
Collins wrote back to Goldblatt and told him to come to Norwalk “and lo and behold, he showed up.”
When Collins was elected mayor of Norwalk in 1977, he appointed Goldblatt as the city’s corporation counsel. He brought a “serious concern” for social values to his work, according to Collins.
“To me, he was a wellspring of social values,” Collins said. “He went a layer deeper than other socially conscious attorneys. He kept me on the straight and narrow in terms of socially conscious. He created a working example for the community which the community appreciated.”
Goldblatt’s wife and two sons, Alan and Ben, remembered him as a very giving person and very accepting person who always was trying to help people.
“He always saw the beauty in the individual. He was an exceptional person and everyone loved him,” Goldblatt’s wife said.
Norwalk Grassroots Tennis originally began as a six-week summer program with 25 to 30 kids. It now serves over 250 kids, ages 5 to 18, each year “with a relationship-first approach that brings together children and their families with dedicated volunteers and caring staff,” according to the website. More than 90 percent of the kids come from low-income households.
“From the mayor to all the staff, whether in Norwalk or Stamford, we all believe in putting our kids first in everything we do. When we do that, we know we are growing the next community leaders,” said Kimani, who joined the organization in 2000.
Once the group was well established in Norwalk, Goldblatt started to reach out to other communities to set up new programs. He started with Stamford and Danbury and, in 2019, Norwalk Grassroots Tennis & Education joined with Stamford Youth Tennis Academy. He also supported the Grassroots program in New Haven.
“He inspired all of us,” Kimani said. “We hope the legacy of Art will grow for a long, long time.”