AskaNewYorker: Bob is the owner of Courtside Shirts at 990 6th Ave, Ste. 7P, in New York. Bob, how long have you been in business?
Bob: Twenty-nine years.
AskaNewYorker: How did you get into the Tshirt making business?
Bob: When I was in college I used to do screen printing for the fraternities and sororities. When I graduated from college I was going to go to law school. That was my plan. But, I was a tennis player in college and decided to take a year off from school and play tennis, and as I did, somebody came up to me and noticed the Tshirt I was wearing, and liked it, and told me about their company that was looking for a thousand Tshirts.
AskaNewYorker: Where did you go to college?
Bob: I went to Hofstra University on Long Island.
So anyhow, about that guy who needed the thousand shirts….He asked me if I could make them, and I did. I made a few dollars per shirt, and I thought to myself that law school doesn’t sound so attractive anymore, maybe I could go out and get some Tshirt orders and play tennis for the rest of my life, and here we are!
AskaNewYorker: So how often do you play tennis, and where? Here in the city?
Bob: I don’t play anymore, actually. I hurt my knee unfortunately.
AskaNewYorker: Earlier when we were talking, you mentioned you were getting married.
Bob: I’ll be getting married in the next few months, to a beautiful girl from Brazil.
AskaNewYorker: Have you been to Brazil?
Bob : Not yet, but I am looking forward to it.
AskaNewYorker: Besides your fiancee, what other passions do you have?
Bob : For over 20 years, my hobby has been horse racing. I love the sport.
AskaNewYorker: Any good horse gear shops in the city?
Bob : There’s one on the east side called Miller’s. But usually for me and my thoroughbreds, we can go right to the race track and go to the track shops.
AskaNewYorker: Any races coming up?
Bob : In fact, I have a nice horse you’ll see running in a few weeks. Her name is Tough Partner and the story behind her is that I raced her mother, who was my best horse ever. Now that we have the baby, we have very high hopes for her.
AskaNewYorker: Where will she be running?
Bob : She’ll be running first off at the Philadelphia race track.
AskaNewYorker: Does she have a preference for a type of race track?
Bob : Well, I think she’s going to end up being a superior race horse on the grass, her mother was one of the fastest grass horses of her time. Her name was PJ Tough as Nails.
AskaNewYorker: That’s an interesting story; a screen printer and thoroughbred horse racer.
Bob: In New York, everyone’s got a story, and that’s mine.
AskaNewYorker: Thanks for sharing it. (along the sides of the page you can see some of the Tshirt designs Bob makes)
