Dan Waintrup: Speaker, Author, former Tennis Pro

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Leon Charney

Dan Waintrup Biography

Dan Waintrup, the only son of Rabbi Harold Bernard Waintrup, was born in Abington, Pennsylvania — also known as "the town next to the town where all the Jews lived."

Growing up as the son of a prominent Rabbi wasn't easy. Dan felt the pressure to be a good Jewish boy volunteering at Temple, but he also felt rebellion brewing.

"Like a lot of R.K.s (Rabbis' kids) that I knew in my life, I really wanted to push the envelope as far as I could," Dan writes in his debut memoir. "My main goal in life during my teenage years was to see if I could date every great-looking shiksah in town. And you know what, I think I came pretty close."

As it turns out, the rabbinate seminary was not for Dan, but partying with gorgeous blondes in college between tennis matches was.

Dan was a top ranked-player in the '80s and '90s. After a stunning defeat in a major competition sidelined him from national competitive play, he got a plumb job as the head tennis pro at an exclusive country club, where he partied and flirted his way into the social elite of New England's business community. His father, the Rabbi, wailed and prayed and asked God where he went wrong.

Dan later completed an MBA and is now affiliated with a New York-based investment company. His social connections brought him face-to-face with the woman of his dreams, to whom he is now happily married. They live in a beautiful home in Brookline, MA, and travel the world together. He drives a Mercedes convertible and knows the difference between a goal and a fantasy. He's achieved his goals. His most recent goal was the completion of his first book, It's Not My Fault
- or - Can a Rabbi's Son Find Happiness as a Tennis Pro?. With its publication, he has found his true calling.

What's next? The movie, the sitcom, the musical? Who knows… But rest assured — there's more where this came from. Fasten your seat belt; Mr. Waintrup is on a roll!

Click here to see Dan's Photo Gallery