Tennis helps reunite two CNY Navy buddies after 60 years

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — In the sweltering summer heat at Sedgwick Farm Tennis Club in Syracuse, Sam Corso and Tom Britten work on their game.

Corso has been playing tennis here since he got out of the Navy.

"I signed up for three years, four months," Corso said. "I went to Bainbridge, Maryland for boot camp, then had temporary duty at Pensecola, Florida."

Britten served too.

"Hairs cut off, and all that stuff and getting the shots and everything. It was fun though," he said.

And when Britten joined the club a month ago, something remarkable happened.

"He walks in the door, and they introduced us and he remembered my name," Corsco said. "He remembered my name. So we started talking and he asked if I was in the Navy and I said 'yeah!"

Britten recognized him almost immediately.

"He kind of morphed into a 17 year-old in front of my eyes, and I looked at this guy and said 'this cannot be,'" Britten said. "I said 'were you in the Navy?' He said 'yeah but it was an awful long time ago.' I said 'I'll tell you the exact date. Aug. 27 1957.' He nearly fell over."

Corsco went home to get the book that had pictures of their 100-man company and the memories came rushing back.

And after 60 years, the two take each other to task on the court.

"It's a miracle as far as I'm concerned, and I'm going to see if I can, maybe, I'll see if I can help him with his game a little bit," Corsco said.

Now they celebrate how a love for tennis brought these two together again.

It's life serving them a second shot at friendship.