Red Oak, Iowa’s Mark Jackson has the hardware to back up his love for the sport

By Jeff Sikes

Red Oak, IOWA — Drive through the center of town in Red Oak, Iowa, and Mark Jackson’s Hardware Hank store is a hard sight to miss. The giant, white, three-floor structure is located near the center square of Red Oak, a 6,000-population town in the southeast corner of the state that is about as pure a slice of Americana as it comes.

Jackson’s store is known far and wide in Iowa and is known as much for the owner’s down-home customer service as it is for something not always associated with rural Middle America – tennis. The top level of the store is a complete tennis shop, with racquets, strings, balls and even apparel. It is Jackson’s pride and joy – a 40’ x 30’ wall of gear that is a testament to his love of the sport.

It seems an odd pairing, tennis and tools, and an even odder location for a tennis store to be. But, then again, Red Oak is a crazed tennis community, with an impassioned and dedicated playing population that makes court time on the city’s total 18 courts a precious, precious commodity.

Red Oak’s high school team makes consistently deep runs into the Iowa state championships, and the city has a strong USTA League and tournament presence, as well as a great summer junior program.

Jackson, though, may be the most impassioned of all in Red Oak when it comes to tennis. He is certainly the city’s most well-known tennis player because of his store, Red Oak’s tennis hearth.

“The store has kind of taken on a life of its own and made me more well known than I should be,” said Jackson, who also does a weekly spot on a local radio station each Wednesday morning, talking up hardware, lawn care and, of course, tennis.

“People’s jaws drop when they see the tennis portion of the store, which is always a funny reaction. I think we’re kind of an outpost for tennis in this region, and the store continues to grow and gets bigger and bigger each year.”

Jackson’s store started up on a frustration with having to make an hour-long drive to Omaha, Neb., for all his tennis needs. So he began adding a few sporting goods and tennis items here and there, but it was the tennis side that grew exponentially, probably because Jackson was and is such a tennis junkie.

“Our clientele really extends in any direction for about two hours because there’s not many people that carry tennis gear in this part of the country. We outfit about 10 southeast Iowa schools, as well, so it’s just great for us business-wise but also to support the sport. We’ve met a ton of friends through tennis and the USTA, so the word of mouth from that has been great.”

A native Georgian who was introduced to the game on public courts during teenage summer visits to his grandmother’s home in Sikeston, Mo., Jackson’s tennis love affair started early on in life. It has only blossomed and deepened even more into adulthood and since his move to Red Oak in 1983.

Jackson even met his second wife Ann Carder carpooling back and forth to USTA Mixed Doubles League matches in Omaha.

“She was single at the time and just starting to get into tennis. She convinced me to play mixed doubles in a league in Omaha with her, but really she just used me for the carpool. I was just a set of wheels to her,” said Jackson laughingly.

“On those drives to and back from Omaha, we’d compare notes on dating. I’d tell her how dating life was going. She would decipher girl talk for me, and I’d do the same for her about guys. After about six months of that, we both kind of caught on that we liked each other.”

The two are a formidable pair in Red Oak, helping put on the city’s local and junior tournaments in the spring and summer, swapping off tournament director and referee duties for each event. In addition to that, Jackson is also the Iowa Tennis Association’s incoming president and a key USTA Missouri Valley volunteer, heading up the section’s membership committee.

Carder also lends her time as a USTA Missouri Valley volunteer, helping out with the section awards committee.

The couple takes a handful of trips each year working for Steve Furgal’s Tennis Tours. They befriended Furgal on a vacation to New York for the US Open over a decade ago and have been tight ever since. The pair has traveled the globe helping out the Furgal’s and this year has already made stops at the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, Calif., and the ATP event in Monte Carlo. They have also worked the US Open booth the last 11 years for the Furgals.

“I’ve made a life partner through tennis, I have a tennis store, and I have a hobby that I try to help out by working with the USTA,” said Jackson. “All of it grew out of a love for the sport of tennis. Tennis means so much to me.”

Believe him because he’s got the hardware to back it up.

Photo Attributions:

Front of Store picture: Mark Jackson’s Hardware Hank store in Red Oak, Iowa, has a complete tennis shop inside.

Jackson Team Iowa: Mark Jackson (second from right) is the soon-to-be Iowa District Tennis Association president. Jackson is seen here at the USTA Missouri Valley Battle of the Districts Competition, which Team Iowa won in 2007.

Mark and Stephanie Jackson: Mark and daughter Stephanie Jackson, working at the Steve Furgal Tennis Tours booth at the US Open in 2007.