Ruth Lay, Georgia, 1982

• Began tennis career on her high school clay courts in Vienna, Georgia, and went on to play at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia.

• Instrumental in starting ALTA League play in Atlanta, Georgia.

• Received the USTA Service Bowl, Southern Tennis Association Touchstone Trophy, and Jacobs Bowl.

• Member of the Georgia Tennis Association and USPTA Southern Division Halls of Fame.

• Began her coaching career at the Cumberland Indoor Tennis Center.

• USTA Georgia named and award in her memory called the Ruth Ryner Lay Award for Lifetime Achievement.

• Over 50 of the athletes she helped mentor and coach over the years received college scholarships, with several receiving All-American honors.

Ruth Lay passed away in 2013 at the age of 87.

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Dan Magill, Georgia, 1981

• Head tennis coach at the University of Georgia for 34 years with a 706-183 record, making him the winningest coach in NCAA Division I history.

• His teams won 13 Southeastern Conference Titles and two National Team Championships.

• Brought the ITA Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame to Athens, Georgia in 1984.

• Relinquished his head coaching job in 1988 to become Georgia’s Director of Tennis.

• Inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 1976.

• Member of the Chi Phi Fraternity before entering the Marine Corps during WWII.

• Received his Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from UGA and wrote for the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

• Married Rosemary Reynaud from New Orleans and had three children.

Dan Magill passed away in 2014.

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Doris Jane Hart, Florida, 1981

• Began playing tennis as therapy for a knee infection during childhood that nearly crippled her for life.

• Winner of 35 major championships (Australian, French, Wimbledon, United States.)

• Won all 12 of the Grand Slam titles at least once.

• Ranked in the U.S. top ten for 14 consecutive years 1942-1955.

• Ranked number one in the United States in 1954-55 and top ten in the world for ten consecutive years.

• Won singles, doubles, and mixed doubles at Wimbledon in 1951, losing only one set in two weeks.

• Won the French doubles with Shirley Fry five straight times in 1959-1954.

Doris Hart passed away in 2015.

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Pollard Parsons, Tennessee, 1980

• Southern tennis enthusiast and longtime tournament director.

• Friends said Parsons was “about as informed about Nashville tennis as anyone could be.”

• Provided the Southern Lawn Tennis Association with a foundation on which today’s programs were developed.

• Served as an officer, committee member, and USLTA delegate during a period that lasted from 1929-1955.

• Secretary/Treasurer of the Southern Lawn Tennis Association.

• Vice President of the United States Lawn Tennis Association.

Pollard Parsons passed away at age 88 in Tennessee.

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Clifford Sutter, Louisiana, 1979

• Born in New Orleans where his family built two grass tennis courts next to their property on Loyola Street.

• Began playing on those courts with his entire family when he was five years old.

• Won the NCAA Singles title in 1930 and 1932 during his collegiate career at Tulane University.

• Semifinalist in 1932 at the United States National Championships, losing in five sets to world number one, Ellsworth Vines.

• Became the only male New Orleans native to play the main draw singles at Wimbledon in 1933.  

• Marketing Manager of Bancroft Sporting Goods until he retired in 1975.

Clifford Sutter died in 2000 at the age of 89.

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William E. “Slew” Hester, Jr., Mississippi, 1978

• No one knows quite why the wildcatting oilman was called “Slew.”

• In his own words, he liked to “drink all night and play tennis all day.”

• The first United States Tennis Association President from the Deep South.

• During his tenure from 1977-78, “Slew” led the move of the US Open from Forest Hills to its current site in Flushing Meadows.

• One big mistake he made in picking the new location was not realizing planes taking off and landing at LaGuardia Airport next door would be disruptive during play at the Open.

• Planted ivy near the entrance of Flushing Meadows with a handwritten sign that read, “Watch Tradition Grow!”

Slew Hester  died from congestive heart failure at the age of 80.

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Hamilton F. “Ham” Richardson, Louisiana, 1977

• Won two NCAA Singles Championships in 1953 and 1954 while attending Tulane University.  The university made him a charter member of its Athletic Hall of Fame.

• Named a Rhodes scholar and earned his master’s degree from Oxford University.

• Diagnosed in 1949, at the age of 15, with diabetes. Doctors advised him against playing tennis. He obviously did not comply.

• “Ham” went on to win 17 national titles and play on seven United States Davis Cup Teams, winning the Cup in 1954 and 1958.

• Ranked number one in the United States in 1956 and 1958.

• In retirement, “Ham” founded the New York investment and venture capital firm Richardson and Associates.

• Married to author Midge Turk and had three children.  

“Ham” Richardson died in 2006 from diabetes complications.

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Bryan M. “Bitsy” Grant, Georgia, 1977

• Nicknamed “Itsy Bitsy the Giant Killer” because of his five feet, four-inch frame, Grant was a pioneering representative for the game of tennis in Georgia.

• In 1954, The Bitsy Grant Tennis Center, which was once the headquarters of the Atlanta Lawn Tennis Association, was named in his honor.

• Two-time quarterfinalists at Wimbledon and played four U.S. Davis Cup Teams between 1935 and 1938.

• Played on the 1931 University of North Carolina team that won the Southern Conference title. Selected All-American that same year.

• Served in the Pacific Islands around New Guinea during WWII where he was involved in heavy firefights.

• Inducted into the International Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1972.

Bitsy Grant died at the age of 76.

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