Off the courts, Katrina has helped provide strategic direction for the WTA Tour and professional women players worldwide, serving four one-year terms as a player representative on the WTA Tour Board of Directors and participating in the integration of the WTA Tour, ITF and Players Associations. She also served five two-year terms on the WTA Tour Players Association Board of Directors in the posts of vice president and treasurer and chairman of the Anti-Doping committee. Since 2005, Adams has served as the Executive Director of the Harlem Junior Tennis and Education Program where she helps local children learn tennis and succeed in school and life.

Born and raised in Chicago, Adams started playing tennis at the age of six on the public parks tennis courts.  She is pictured here with the Black Tennis Hall of Fame Founder Dale Caldwell and Executive Director Bob Davis. Adams earned a tennis scholarship to Northwestern University where she studied communications and became the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Rookie of the Year in 1986. In 1986 and 1987, she teamed with her college doubles partner Diane Donnelly to amass an incredible two year doubles record of 72-5. In 1987, Adams became the first African American to win the NCAA Doubles Championship. Adams and Donnelly did not lose a set on their way to the collegiate championship. They were both named to the NCAA All-American team twice (1986 and 1987). Adams was inducted into the Northwestern University Hall of fame in 1998, the USTA Midwest Section Hall of Fame in 2005, the Chicago District Tennis Hall of Fame in 2008 and the Eastern Tennis Hall of Fame in 2015.

 Contributor Category

The lease agreement was just one of the ways that Mayor Dinkins has been one of the most important contributors to tennis in New York City.  One of the challenges that the US Open faced in Queens was the considerable noise of airplanes taking off from nearby LaGuardia Airport. The players and fans constantly complained about the noise of the planes. Mayor Dinkins and his well-respected administration convinced the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to establish special takeoff procedures at La Guardia Airport for the entire 14 day US Open tennis tournament. This change helped to make the tournament even more popular with players and fans. Attendance at the US Open has made it the largest annually occurring sporting event in the world.

Mayor Dinkins is the first African-American to serve six consecutive terms on the USTA Board of Directors.  In this capacity, he played a vitally important role in promoting the growth and development of tennis throughout America (especially in African-American communities).

In the picture below, Mayor Dinkins receives his Black Tennis Hall of Fame Induction Sculpture from Black Tennis Hall of Fame Founder Dale G. Caldwell and Executive Director Bob Davis. Mayor Dinkins was vice-president of the board of the Black Tennis and Sports Foundation and, as a Board member of the New York Junior Tennis League, helped to develop the largest community tennis program in the world. He is also on the Advisory Board of the Black Leadership Forum and the Board of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund where he promotes the growth and development of tennis in communities of color around the world.

Mayor Dinkins is a living legend who has dedicated his life to helping children, providing leadership in good government and promoting the growth and development of tennis in African-American communities. For the last two decades he has been a true “Tennis Ambassador” supporting efforts to promote tennis in Black communities around the world.  He was a trusted and cherished friend of the late Arthur Ashe and also deserves to wear the title “Citizen of the World.” He has one hundreds of awards for his tremendous leadership and community service. Mayor Dinkins was inducted into the USTA Eastern Tennis Hall of Fame in 1993. Every year he is honored by the New York Open professional tennis tournament when they celebrate David Dinkins Family Day on the first Saturday of the tournament.

Coach Brown passed away in September 2010. He was so respected by the communities he served volunteers created the annual Pete Brown Tennis Classic to “Honor the Legacy of Coach Ulysses “Pete” Brown. In the picture, Willie Emerson accepts the award for the late Coach Pete Brown from Dale G. Caldwell and Bob Davis.

A former City of Oakland, California fireman, Manning founded and ran the Elmhurst Youth Tennis Center in inner-city Oakland and spent many years using tennis as the vehicle by which he could have an incredibly a positive impact on urban youth. Many of the USTA Northern California Diversity Scholarship recipients have credited Manning for their success on the court and in the classroom.  Manning was also a leading voice for “minority participation” in tennis.  He served on committees and worked with the late Oakland Mayor Lionel Wilson toward that end.

Manning was a member and Chair of the USTA NorCal Junior Council.  In addition, he was a recipient of many USTA national, sectional and community awards. In 1992, Manning was honored by USTA NorCal with the Service to Tennis Award, which recognized his significant contributions to the game of tennis over a period of many years. In 2013, Manning was inducted into the USTA Northern California Tennis Hall of Fame.

Tennis was a central part of Manning’s life and sadly, on March 29, 2012, he passed away at the age of 53 while on a rail journey with some of his tennis students to Reno. In many ways it was fitting that Manning passed away while on a tennis trip with some of the young people he mentored. He was a true innovator and champion for the youth of Northern California. The picture to the right depicts Manning’s sisters, Cleo Simon and Lillie Ferguson speaking during Manning’s Black Tennis Hall of Fame Induction ceremony.

The Peters sisters were both born in Washington, D.C. Margaret was born in 1915 and Roumania was born in 1917. They both graduated from Tuskegee in 1941 with physical education degrees and spent most of their professional lives as teachers. In addition to being a doubles star, Roumania Peters was also a successful singles player who won the 1944 ATA Women’s Singles Championship. In 1946, she won her second ATA Women’s Singles Championship and became the only African American woman to beat Althea Gibson in a major tournament.

The sisters did not receive widespread recognition until they were in their 80s. The USTA honored the legendary players during the 2003 Federation Cup quarterfinals in Washington, DC on July 19^th and 20^th. They were both inducted into the Mid-Atlantic Section Tennis Hall of Fame on November 15, 2003.

Charity was so impressed with Ashe’s game and attitude that he arranged for him to spend the summers at the Lynchburg home of Dr. Walter Johnson who received widespread recognition as the coach of Althea Gibson. Dr. Johnson became Ashe’s coach and mentor and, with Charity and a few others, became the architects of the American Tennis Association’s formal Junior Development Program. Charity was also instrumental in the creation of a network of families who offered family to family (no-cost) housing to players traveling on the ATA circuit. In the top photo, Charity is pictured with Dr. Whirlwind Johnson in 1964. In the middle photo, Charity flashes his legendary smile. In the bottom photo, Ron’s son Khris Charity accepts the Black Tennis Hall of Fame Induction Trophy from Dale G. Caldwell and Bob Davis.