Ron Woods, of Corpus Christi, Texas, who has been involved in tennis for more than 45 years and has been a USPTA member for 44 years, received the United States Professional Tennis Association’s Alex Gordon Award for the Professional of the Year.

Woods was recognized during the USPTA’s annual awards breakfast at its World Conference on Tennis, where he was also honored for achieving Master Professional status and received the individual award for Tennis Across America. The USPTA, the world’s oldest and largest association of tennis-teaching professionals, hosted its annual World Conference Sept. 27 - Oct. 2 at the La Quinta Resort and Club in La Quinta, Calif.

The professional of the year is judged in seven areas, including: contributions to USPTA and USTA; as a teaching professional, player and coach; education, research and publications; organizational affiliations; and contributions to the community.

Woods has been very committed to the USPTA. He is the past president of the USPTA and serves on the USPTA Executive Committee. He is the past president of USPTA’s Texas Division and has served as chairman of various USPTA committees, including budget and finance, tournament, and sports marketing. In addition, he has also been highly involved with the USTA Texas section and has served as chair of both the adult league and adult senior competition committee. At the USTA national level, he has served on the Davis Cup, adult league and innovations committees.

After playing collegiate tennis for four years at the University of Houston, he started as an assistant tennis professional in 1965 and then went on to become the director of tennis at the Corpus Christi Country Club from 1970 until 2001.

Woods has also made giving back to the community a priority. He has donated his time to raise funds for the Tennis Success Program, which is a nonprofit in Corpus Christi for underprivileged and at-risk youth. He also has hosted a Tennis Across America event for the last 20 years for his local community.

He is currently a HEAD/Penn Racquet Sports Advisory Staff Member. Previous accolades include receiving the Texas Proud Award in 1994 and the USPTA Texas Pro of the Year in 1987.