Guerry Joins College Tennis Elite
5/26/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
May 27, 2010
Zan Guerry, who earned All American recognition in three consecutive seasons and led Rice to a pair of NCAA team championship matches, became the fifth Owl to be enshrined in the ITA Men's Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame during induction ceremonies Wednesday evening in Athens, Georgia.
 |
"My four years at Rice were some of the best four years I've ever had. We had a great team -- we finished second in the country twice and should have won one of the years. We never lost a match in our conference those four years, I made close friends, had great teammates and it was all a lot of fun."
Zan Guerry
|
He joined fellow Owls Frank Guernsey (1989), Wilbur Hess (1989), Sammy Giammalva (2005) and Mike Estep (2005) in being enshrined. Guernsey, Hess and Estep played for Rice while Giammalva was the Owls' head coach from 1959-72. Estep and Guerry were teammates at Rice and led the Owls to a pair second place finishes in the NCAA team competition.
"My four years at Rice were some of the best four years I've ever had," Guerry told the Chatanooga Free Times Press. "We had a great team -- we finished second in the country twice and should have won one of the years.
"We never lost a match in our conference those four years, I made close friends, had great teammates and it was all a lot of fun," he added.
Guerry is one of 10 new members of the Hall. The new class consists of five players, one player/coach, three coaches and one contributor. Players are eligible for election to the ITA Men's Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame 15 years after their last collegiate match and coaches are eligible following retirement. The main criteria for election are college accomplishments as well as honors earned after college. College tennis legend Dan Magill serves as curator for the ITA Men's Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame, which is housed at the University of Georgia.
In addition to earning three consecutive All American honors at Rice, Guerry has won a total of 20 U.S. National titles during his career, including age group titles at ages 12, 14, 16, 18, 35, 40 and 45. He also won a total of five Southern Men's singles crowns, winning his first at age 15.
Other members of the Class of 2010 include former players Mahesh Bhupathi (Ole Miss), Daniel Courcol (Mississippi State), Rodney Harmon (Tennessee/SMU), Leif Shiras (Princeton); coaches Kent DeMars (South Carolina), Craig Tiley (Illinois), Steve Wilkinson (Gustavus Adolphus) and contributor Gordon Smith (Georgia), Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer for the USTA.
The ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame, which includes over 1,800 rare photos, was inaugurated in 1983 and has inducted more than 200 players, coaches and contributors. Members include the late Arthur Ashe (UCLA), Jimmy Connors (UCLA), John McEnroe (Stanford) and Stan Smith (Southern California). The ITA Women's Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame is located at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va.
