Three USPTA Members to be Inducted into ITA Women’s Hall of Fame

Five total USPTA members will be inducted as part of the 2014 class

HOUSTON, June 2, 2014 – USPTA members Katrina Adams, Bob Meyers and Lindsay (Morse) Bennett have been announced as the Class of 2014 to be inducted into the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s (ITA) Women’s Collegiate Hall of Fame, the organization announced on Monday.

The trio join USPTA Elite Professionals Billy Chadwick and Timon Corwin, who were inducted into the ITA Men’s Collegiate Hall of Fame, to bring the total USPTA members inducted into the ITA Hall of Fame to five.

An additional 20 USPTA Professionals also received regional recognition from the ITA for the 2014 season earlier this month: 12 USPTA pros were named coach of the year, and eight were named assistant coach of the year in their respective regions.

A Chicago native, Katrina Adams joined a Chicago Park District program at age 6, and competed in her first tennis tournament at 7 years old. She was the Illinois High School Association singles champion in 1983 and 1984 before committing to playing college tennis at Northwestern. During her collegiate career, she was an ITA All-American in 1986 and 1987 in both singles and doubles. She captured the NCAA doubles championship with Diane Donnelly in 1987. The duo didn’t lose a set at the NCAA tournament, finishing the season with a 24-match win streak, a 36-2 record and a two-year mark of 72-5.

Adams left Northwestern in January 1988 to turn pro. During her rookie year, she made it to the Round of 16 in singles at Wimbledon (her best Grand Slam singles result) before losing to Chris Evert in three sets. In 1989 she was ranked No. 8 in the world in doubles, and during her 12-year career, she won 20 doubles titles. Adams has been a television commentator for the Tennis Channel since 2003, and is also an executive director of the Harlem Junior Tennis League. She began serving a two-year term as First Vice President of the USTA in January 2013 and will become Chairman of the Board, CEO and President of the USTA in January 2015.

Bob Meyers inaugurated the Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville women’s tennis program in 1979 and coached the team until 1989. Under his leadership, the teams won four straight NCAA Division II Championships plus three singles titles and two doubles titles. During that winning span, Meyers coached 32 players to All-American status. He was NCAA Division II Coach of the Year for women’s tennis in 1983 and earned the same honor for men’s tennis in 1988. He was inducted into the SIUE Athletics Hall of Fame in 2008.

In addition to his coaching successes, Meyers served on the NCAA Men’s and Women’s National Tennis Committee and was co-chairman of the ITCA/NCAA Men’s National Rankings as well as the chair of the men’s NCAA Midwest Regional Committee. He has two master’s degrees from SIUE in Physical Education (1971) and Counselor Education (1972).

Born in Pasadena, Calif., Lindsay (Morse) Bennett started playing tennis at age 8 at her local club and played her first tennis tournament at age 11. She began her collegiate tennis career at UC Irvine in 1973. She won the 1974 Southern California Intercollegiate title in both singles and doubles while helping her team capture the team title. During her collegiate career, she represented the U.S. in the BP Cup, which was a college competition held between the U.S. and England.

She was runner-up in women’s singles and doubles at the women’s National Collegiate Championships held in Kalamazoo, Mich., in 1974. Also that year, she won the National Amateur Clay Court Doubles Championships in Memphis and was runner-up in singles. In 1977, she won the singles title at the Women’s National Collegiate Championship in Baton Rouge, La. In 1977, she was awarded the Student Athlete of the Year award at UC Irvine, becoming the first female to win the award. An All-American in 1977-1978, Bennett spent a year playing professional tennis and reached a career-high singles ranking of No. 39 in 1980. Since retiring, she has taught tennis lessons at various clubs and plays on various USTA teams.

The ITA Women’s Collegiate Hall of Fame was established in 1995 and honors outstanding collegiate players and coaches, as well as players who attended college and later had a significant impact on women’s tennis. The Hall of Fame is located at the College of William and Mary’s McCormack-Nagelsen Tennis Center, named for the late Mark McCormack, founder of sports marketing giant International Management Group, and his wife, former tennis pro Betsy Nagelsen. The official site of the ITA Women’s Collegiate Hall of Fame is www.itahalloffame.org.

SOURCE: USPTA