Bob Ryland was the first Black male professional tennis player in the U.S. An Illinois state and American Tennis Association junior champion, Ryland played college tennis at Xavier University of Louisiana and later, after serving in the U.S. Army during WWII, at Wayne State University and Tennessee A&I. After winning the 1954 and 1955 ATA national singles title, Ryland earned an invitation to the 1955 U.S. National Championships. In 1959, at the age of 39, Ryland was invited to the World Pro Tour Championships. A 62-year USPTA member, Ryland coached many notable players, including Harold Solomon, Bruce Foxworth, a young Arthur Ashe, and later, Venus and Serena Williams as teenagers. Ashe once famously said he wanted “to be good enough to beat Bob Ryland.” Throughout his life, Ryland battled against discrimination and segregation and paved the way for many other legends of the game. Ryland passed away on Aug. 2, 2020, at the age of 100.

The winningest coach in NCAA men’s tennis history, legendary Stanford head coach Dick Gould guided the Cardinal to 17 NCAA championships in his 38 seasons. After playing collegiately for Stanford he took over as head coach of the men’s program from 1967-2004, and continued to work in the athletic department until his official retirement on Jan. 15, 2018 as the John L. Hinds Director of Tennis, wrapping up a Stanford career that spanned 57 years. Over his 38 seasons as head coach, he led Stanford to a 776-148 overall record, produced 50 All-Americans, 10 NCAA singles champions and seven NCAA doubles titlists. Over a four-year stretch from 1995-98, Stanford won four straight NCAA crowns, going 28-0 in 1998 while losing only three dual-match points the entire season. For a 34-year period, every four-year letter winner earned at least one NCAA championship ring. An innovator both on and off-court, Gould spearheaded fundraising efforts, including one of the first personal seat license programs and raised funds to create endowments that went towards building the Taube Family Tennis Stadium, coaching and assistant coaching positions, athletics scholarships, operations and facility maintenance and repair. 

As the head coach for the women’s tennis team at Stanford University for 21 years, Frank Brennan Jr. posted a 510-50 record along with winning NCAA record 10 intercollegiate national team championships, NCAA record 22 combined team, singles and doubles national championships, NCAA record six consecutive intercollegiate national championships, and a NCAA record 65 tournament match wins. Along with his NCAA records, Brennan Jr. reached the NCAA Final Four 18 times in 19 years, recorded four undefeated seasons in 1982,1984 1989 ,1990), coached 40 players to 94 All-America honors and 22 players to 45 All-Pac-10 honors.  As a member of the USPTA for 53 years, Brennan Jr. won many USPTA accolades for his incredible tennis-teaching career. He is a two-time USPTA Coach of the Year and a six-time USPTA NorCal Coach of the Year.

Kathy Woods is the director of tennis at the USTA National Campus, where she is responsible for the set-up and implementation of all national campus programs and hiring teaching professionals and coaching staff. She directs a staff of 30 tennis professionals with comprehensive year-round programs for all ages and levels of play, as well as adult and youth camps. Previously, she served as the director of tennis at the Racquet Club of St. Petersburg, Fla., and managed tennis programs in several communities, including Princeton, N.J., Key Biscayne, Fla., and Westport, Conn. In 1995, she was awarded the Tennis Educational Merit Award from the International Tennis Hall of Fame for outstanding service at the national level. She served as president of the USPTA from 1994-1996 and held the distinguished honor of being the first and only woman to serve the Association's president. She played singles and doubles for the University of Pennsylvania and graduated summa cum laude in 1980. She was later inducted into the University of Pennsylvania Tennis Hall of Fame in November 2017. She is the co-author, along with her husband, Ron, of "Playing Tennis After 50."

Jimmy Evert was an All-America tennis player at Notre Dame in the 1940s and reached as high as No. 11 in the U.S. rankings. He was the tennis director of Holliday Park in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., for nearly 50 years and coached players such as Jennifer Capriati, Brian Gottfried, and Harold Solomon. The tennis complex was later renamed the Jimmy Evert Tennis Complex in 1997. During his tenure, he taught all 5 of his children how to play tennis. His daughter, Chris, went on to win 18 Grand Slam Singles titles and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1995.

Harry Hopman is known throughout the tennis industry as the most successful Davis Cup captain, leading the country of Australia to 16 World Championships from 1939-1967. Hopman inspired a slew of Australian tennis greats, including players like Mal Anderson, Ashley Cooper, Roy Emerson, Neale Fraser, Rex Hartwig, Lew Hoad, Rod Laver, John Newcombe, Tony Roche, Mervyn Rose, Ken Rosewall, Frank Sedgman, and Fred Stolle. Hopman was known on the ATP World Tour for capturing the 1929 and 1930 Australian Men's doubles title alongside Jack Crawford and 4 mixed doubles titles.  After consecutive years of success in the Davis Cup, Hopman moved to the United States in 1969 and became a highly successful tennis-teaching professional at the Port Washington Tennis Academy in New York. He later moved to Largo, Fla., with his wife Lucy and opened the Hopman Tennis Academy and lived in the city until his death in 1985

Rick Macci is an iconic tennis-teaching giant. Over the past 40 years his innovative, unique, and powerful on-court philosophies and passion have inspired millions of players and coaches at each level. Macci has coached players such as Karim Alami, Jennifer Capriati, Tommy Ho, Sonia Kenin, Bethani Mattek, Anastaysia Myskina, Mary Pierce, Tina Pisnik, Andy Roddick, Christan Rudd, Maria Sharapova, Vince Spadea, Venus and Serena Williams, and hundreds of other professional tour players around the globe.

Since 1985, Macci and his academy of USPTA professionals have produced 247 USTA national championships in singles and doubles. Rick has been an instructional editor for tennis magazine for over the past 30 years.  A highly sought after motivational speaker, clinician, and author, his award-winning book, "Macci Magic" , a self-help novel and a snapshot of players Rick has coached, is among the most read tennis books ever. Macci has also consulted for Trump Management from 1998 to 2004. Macci, along with the USPTA, has produced many award-winning videos and his Improved Forehand Technique with Rick Macci video delivered more than a million views on YouTube. Macci is in the Hall of Fame for Basketball and Tennis in his hometown of Greenville, Ohio. He was honored recently by the USTA with the USA Legendary Coach Award. He is also in the USPTA Florida Hall of Fame and has been named Coach of the Year numerous times in Florida and won the USPTA Alex Gordon Professional of the Year Award in 2006. Macci now coaches at The Rick Macci Tennis Academy in Boca Raton, Fla., which hosts thousands of kids and adults throughout the year.

Peter Burwash is the founder and president of Peter Burwash International, which, for the past 41 years, has been the world’s largest tennis management company, operating in 32 countries. PBI was named “One of the 10 Best-Managed Companies in America” by author James O’Toole in his book, “Vanguard Management.” He has been a USPTA Master Professional and a USPTA-certified member for more than 40 years, has spoken at numerous conferences and events, and has encouraged the certification of many teaching professionals.

Burwash is a featured international speaker for Fortune 500 companies and devotes his time as a keynote speaker, consultant, and seminar specialist, giving more than 100 speeches a year. The former Canadian champion and Davis Cup player coached and played in 135 countries. As a player, he won 19 international singles and doubles titles and competed on the ATP Tour from 1968-74. Burwash has been recognized for many of his accomplishments throughout his successful career as a tennis professional, entrepreneur, speaker, and author, and now as an inductee into the USPTA Hall of Fame.

Tom Gullikson is a legendary player and coach who has taught Grand Slam champions and helped grow the game of tennis. Gullikson and his twin brother, Tim, played collegiate tennis together at Northern Illinois University, where they still rank as 2 of the top student-athletes at the university. At the professional level, Gullikson won 16 top-level doubles titles – 10 of them with Tim. His career-high rankings were world’s No. 34 in singles and No. 9 in doubles, both in 1984. Gullikson earned his only Grand Slam title in 1984 at the U.S. Open, taking home the mixed doubles championship with partner Manuela Maleeva.

Gullikson became one of the original members of the USTA Player Development Program, coaching players such as Todd Martin, Jennifer Capriati, and Andy Roddick. He served as Director of Coaching for the program from 1997 to 2001. He also served as the U.S. Davis Cup Captain from 1994 to 1999. He captained the teams that won the Davis Cup in 1995 and were runners-up in 1997. In 1996, he coached the U.S. Olympic men's tennis team, and guided Andre Agassi to winning the Olympic Gold Medal in Atlanta. Gullikson later returned to the USTA, where he is now the lead national coach for men’s tennis with USTA Player Development. A USPTA member for more than 28 years, Gullikson has been generous with his time to share his expertise with other tennis-teaching professionals.

Dennis Van der Meer was a pioneer in creating a standard for tennis-teaching instruction. He began playing tennis at an early age while living in Namibia in southern Africa with his missionary father and mother. After a stint with the Davis Cup at the age of 19, Van der Meer found his calling to teach tennis. He made a name for himself in Johannesburg, South Africa, before he quickly developed a large following in the U.S. Eventually he started to coach professional players, including Margaret Court and Billie Jean King, who he coached during the famous “Battle of the Sexes” match with Bobby Riggs in 1973. Van der Meer founded the Professional Tennis Registry in 1976. He was instrumental in developing the TennisUniversity course manual, which became the first of PTR’s instructional series of books and supplements. He became one of the first registered coaches of both the ATP and WTA, and he has coached hundreds of nationally and internationally ranked professional and junior players throughout his career, including world champions in singles and doubles.

A USPTA member for 54 years, Van der Meer is a believer in the concept of tennis for everyone. He also developed courses and manuals for teaching wheelchair tennis and adaptive techniques.

Nick Bollettieri has been one of the most influential people in tennis. In 1978, a year after becoming a USPTA member, he founded the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy (now known as IMG Academy) in Bradenton, Fla., which was the first full-time tennis boarding school to combine intense training on the court with a custom-designed academic curriculum. His approach helped 10 players reach No. 1 in the world: Andre Agassi, Boris Becker, Jim Courier, Martina Hingis, Jelena Jankovic, Marcelo Rios, Monica Seles, Maria Sharapova and Venus and Serena Williams.

Vic Braden has impacted tennis as a player, teaching professional, and broadcaster. He was the founder/director of the Vic Braden Tennis College in Coto de Caza, Calif., co-founder of Vic Braden Tennis College at Star Island Resort in Kissimmee, Fla., and co-founder of Vic Braden Tennis College in St. George, Utah. He and Jack Kramer co-founded the Jack Kramer Tennis Club in Palos Verdes, Calif. Since joining the USPTA in 1984, he authored numerous books including “Tennis for the Future,” “Teaching Children Tennis the Vic Braden Way,” “Quick Fixes,” and “Mental Tennis.” As a professional player, he was invited to play in the World Tennis Championships 3 times.

Steve Wilkinson of Saint Peter, Minn., was the head men’s coach at Gustavus Adolphus College for 39 years from 1971- 2009 and is the winningest coach in the history of men’s collegiate tennis with 923 victories. He has coached 46 players to 87 all-American honors (including current ATP tour player Eric Butorac). He founded the Tennis and Life clinics/camps more than 25 years ago and has dedicated his time and effort to improving tennis performance of youth and adults while teaching life lessons that can be used off the court. He has been a USPTA member since 1972.

Doris Hart is 1 of 3 players, all women, to have a "boxed set" of Grand Slam titles – every possible title (singles, same-sex doubles, and mixed doubles) from all 4 Grand Slam events. The others are Margaret Court and Martina Navratilova. She won 35 Grand Slam titles during her career. She won 6 women's singles titles, 14 in women's doubles, and 15 in mixed doubles. Hart retired from the tour in 1955 – the same year she joined the USPTA – to become a tennis-teaching professional. She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1969. She is the first woman inducted into USPTA's Hall of Fame. She lives in Coral Gables, Fla.

Pancho Segura is a former leading tennis player of the 1940s and 1950s, both as an amateur and a professional. In 1950 and 1952, he was the World Co-No. 1 player. He was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador, but moved to the United States in the late 1930s. He is the only player to have won the U.S. Pro Tennis Championship title on 3 different surfaces (which he did consecutively from 1950-1952). He joined USPTA in 1946, and was widely credited with helping develop the young Jimmy Connors. He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1984.

Randy Snow became the first Paralympic athlete inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame in 2004. He was a silver medalist in the 1,500-meter wheelchair race at the 1984 Summer Olympics. He won gold medals in both singles and doubles with Brad Parks at the 1992 Summer Paralympics in Barcelona. He also won the U.S. Open Wheelchair singles titles 10 times and doubles 6 times.

A USPTA member for 17 years, Snow was considered a pioneer and an innovator in the wheelchair industry and helped improve the designs for athletes and improve the lives of many disabled people. He devoted his time to giving back and sharing the game of tennis.

Welby Van Horn's career as a coach has spawned institutions such as the Welby Van Horn Tennis Academy in Boca Raton, Fla., and Welby Van Horn tennis programs in a number of locations. The teaching system he developed is still used today and it is featured in his book "The Secrets of the Tennis Master."

Van Horn was a star player and contemporary of other world-class players and USPTA members, including Fred Perry, Bobby Riggs, Bill Tilden, and Bruce Barnes. When he was 19 years old, he reached the finals of the 1939 U.S. Nationals. A highlight of his playing career was his crushing defeat of the great Bill Tilden during a match between U.S. and British Empire service teams at Wimbledon in 1945. Van Horn also won the United States Pro Championship (a USPTA event) in 1945.

Bill Tym, a USPTA Master Professional and past USPTA national president, has been involved in tennis as a coach, player and administrator for half a century. He coached the Vanderbilt University men's tennis team to its first NCAA tournament. As a player, Tym was a Southeastern Conference singles champion at the University of Florida. He also competed on the international tour and won 10 national and international titles. As executive director of USPTA, Tym helped create a standardized certification test. Tym was named USPTA Professional of the Year in 1982, College Coach of the Year in 1989, and Touring Coach of the Year in 1997 and 2002. He also received the George Bacso Lifetime Achievement Award from the USPTA in 2001 and the International Tennis Hall of Fame Tennis Educational Merit Award in 1981.

Alex Gordon made great contributions to the game of tennis as a coach, player, and USPTA member. As a coach, he was first hired on as head professional at Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego in 1946. He taught there for 10 years and then returned again in 1960 and remained there until 1976. As a player, he attended UCLA and was captain of the men's tennis team and the No. 1 singles player. He was also the 2-time Southern California Interscholastic doubles champion. Gordon was the USPTA national 45 doubles champion in 1969, '71, and '72 (with Ben Press).

Gordon was the president of the USPTA San Diego Division in 1969 to 1974. He was also president of the USPTA national Board of Directors in 1976, but passed away during his presidency. He is credited with holding the Association together in the 1970s, when it struggled with internal political turmoil. For that and his other contributions, the Alex Gordon Professional of the Year award was named in his honor.

Clarence Mabry is both a respected player and tennis-teaching professional. As a player, he was nationally ranked and a state champion, winning the Southwest Conference singles and doubles title while at the University of Texas at Austin in 1946. In 1955 he established the Trinity University's men's tennis team and went on to develop a nationally recognized program. He led them to the NCAA championship in 1972, and for 18 of his 19 years as coach, his team ranked among the top 4 NCAA teams, giving him an impressive win-loss record of 319-36.

Mabry's other honors include induction into the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Men's Tennis Collegiate Hall of Fame, Texas Tennis Hall of Fame, San Antonio Hall of Fame, Trinity University Hall of Fame, and the University of Texas Hall of Honor.

Tut Bartzen was one of America's top amateur tennis players, ranked in the U.S. top 10 from 1953-62. He was unflappable on clay courts, achieved a national ranking of No. 2 in 1959 and reached as high as No. 3 in 1961. He was 15-0 as a Davis Cup player and also served twice as assistant captain. He competed with players like Rod Laver, Roy Emerson, and Chuck McKinley, and won.

Bartzen joined the USPTA in 1961 and a year later turned professional as a player and became a tennis professional at the Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas. After the 1998-99 season, Bartzen retired from Texas Christian University after 25 years as men's tennis head coach. Starting with a group of walk-ons and 1 scholarship, Bartzen experienced 24 winning seasons. With a winning record of better than 70%, his team finished in the nation's top 20 all but 3 times between 1977 and 1998.

Tim Gullikson, a USPTA member from 1989 until his death in 1996, was a teaching professional, playing professional and coach to other world-class playing professionals, including Pete Sampras, whom he coached to 6 Grand Slam singles titles. As a USPTA member, Gullikson was generous with his time as a speaker at educational events and a promoter of the association.

Gullikson and his brother, Tom, were doubles partners in high school and college, and then club teaching professionals before joining the pro tour in 1976. Tim Gullikson was the ATP's Newcomer of the Year in 1977 and reached 11 finals and won 16 doubles titles. He won 10 of those doubles titles while playing with his brother, Tom, and the duo reached the Wimbledon doubles final in 1983. 

Tim Heckler was elected USPTA president in 1980 and subsequently served as USPTA CEO for 30 years from 1982 to 2012. He previously served on the USPTA executive committee and board of directors. He was a Master Professional and was awarded USPTA Professional of the Year in 1979.

As CEO, Heckler guided the Association through a period in which it increased its membership 5-fold and its annual income 10-fold, established the USPTA as the foremost organization of teaching professionals in the world, and revolutionized USPTA's operations through computerization.

While attending Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas, on a tennis scholarship, he played the international circuit, including Wimbledon in 1959 and 1961, and the U.S. Open in 1960. Heckler assumed a full-time tennis-teaching position in 1970 at Houston's Westwood Country Club, and was elected president of USPTA's Texas Division in 1974. In 1973 he was the consultant to and tennis director for the Bobby Riggs vs. Billie Jean King "Match of the Century" held in the Houston Astrodome.

The late Paul Xanthos amassed a 550-94 win-loss record during a 28-year career as tennis coach of Los Angeles Pierce College. During Xanthos' tenure at Pierce College, he led teams to 23 conference championships, and experienced winning streaks of 96, 50, 37 and 27 wins in a row.

Xanthos wrote numerous articles and books on tennis, and conducted tennis seminars worldwide. He was a charter member of the USPTA Education and Research Committee, and was instrumental in founding the USTA's National Tennis Teachers Conference.

His awards include the USTA Award of Merit in 1974, the USPTA California Division Coach of the Year in 1981-84, and the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's Community College Coach of the Year in 1988. In 1994, he was named USPTA Coach of the Year and was also inducted into the ITA Hall of Fame. Xanthos was a USPTA honorary member and Master Professional.

The late George Bacso served as the USPTA's Director of Certification and Academies. In this capacity, he traveled the world conducting Certification Exams, Tennis Teachers' Courses, and Certification Training Courses. He was also a popular speaker and clinician in the United States. Bacso was instrumental in developing the current USPTA certification process and worked with the USPTA's national tester network.

Bacso held a Master Professional rating and served as the USPTA's national president from 1978 to 1980. He also served several years as the president of the USPTA Eastern Division. He received the USTA National Education Merit Award and the national USPTA Professional of the Year Award. Bacso also received the inaugural George Bacso Lifetime Achievement Award in 1998.

The late Arthur Ashe was the first inductee into the USPTA Hall of Fame. Ashe's tennis accomplishments, including Wimbledon and U.S. Open titles, earned him the world's No. 1 ranking on 2 separate occasions – 1968 and 1975. He was instrumental in the founding of the ATP Tour and the National Junior Tennis League.

Ashe, who died of complications from AIDS in 1993, is also well remembered for his off-court activities, including his outspoken support of the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, a writing career that earned him an Emmy award, and his publicized battle with AIDS. He was also active in bringing inner-city children into the sport of tennis through programs such as the USPTA's Tennis Across America.