Southern Tennis Foundation

Southern Tennis Foundation

Georgia

Lisa Spain-Short, Georgia, 2008

Lisa Spain-Short, Georgia, inducted in 2008Lisa Spain-Short

  • Ranked number 1 in Georgia and number 34 in the nation in the Girl’s 18U
  • Compiled a 56-1 state AAAA high school match record, winning 4 state singles championships
  • Received the first full women’s tennis scholarship at the University of Georgia where she played number 1 singles and doubles 4 years winning the Southeastern Conference Singles Championship in her junior and senior seasons and was named All-SEC 4 years and All-American 3 years
  • Won the ITCA All-American and the 1984 NCAA Singles Championships
  • Continued her tennis career on the Women’s Tennis Association pro circuit from 1984 through 1987 playing in all 4 grand slams and reaching a ranking of number 63 in the world
  • Teaching professional at the Atlanta Athletic Club
  • Inducted into the Georgia Tennis Hall of Fame in 1995 and the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 2011

Edgar A. “Ned” Neely, Jr. Georgia, 2003

Edgar A. “Ned” Neely JR, Georgia, inducted in 2003Edgar A Neely

  • Started playing tennis at age 8 and won local, state and section champion-ships in the early 1950’s, culminating with his first national singes and doubles titles at the 1955 National Boy’s 15U Singles Championship followed by a title at the National Junior Clay Court Championships
  • Finalist at the 1956 National Interscholastic Championships and ranked 8th in the nation in the Boy’s 18U in 1958
  • 2-time All-American at Georgia Tech leading the Yellow Jackets to the 1960 Southeastern Conference team title, winning SEC championships in singles and doubles and finishing with a doubles record of 55-13
  • After serving in the Marine Corps, joined the professional world tennis circuit making 3 appearances at Wimbledon, 5 at the U. S. Open and playing in every major tennis stadium in the United States, Europe and Australia and ranked number 11 in United States Men’s Singles in the mid-1960’s
  • Gave up the professional circuit to become a lawyer and primarily competed in local and state tournaments since the late 1960’s
  • President of the Georgia Tennis Foundation, board member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame and established the Tennis Academic Program to provide academic and tennis instruction for disadvantaged children ages 8 to 12 at community centers throughout Atlanta
  • Inducted into the Georgia Tech Hall of Fame in 1969 and the Georgia Tennis Hall of Fame in 1991

Wendy White-Prausa, Georgia, 2001

Wendy White-Prausa, Georgia, inducted in 2001Wendy White Prausa

  • Dominated at all levels of junior play, reaching the #1 ranking in Georgia in the 16’s and 18’s, the #1 Southern ranking in the 18’s and the #8 ranking in the nation in the 18’s
  • Finalist in the Southern Closed 16’s, won the Southern Closed 18’s and played on 2 Southern 18U Intersectional teams
  • Either won or was the finalist in over 30 junior and amateur tournaments in 1977-1978, 1978 Georgia Player of the Year and was selected to play on the USTA National Junior Wightman Cup, the USTA Junior Federation Cup, the U. S. Continental Cup and the U. S. Connolly Cup teams
  • Played college tennis at Rollins College, then ranked the #4 women’s team in the nation where she was a finalist in the AIAW Division I Collegiate Championships as a freshman and won the event as a sophomore and was named All-American and Collegiate Player of the Year in 1979 and 1980
  • Ranked #26 in the world in 1980, the highest ranking among amateur players before she turned pro
  • Played all the grand slams and ranked in the top 100 in singles for 12 straight years, including the top 40 in 7 of those years and earned her highest world ranking of #19 in 1982 and consistently was ranked in the top 20 in doubles
  • Inducted into the Georgia Tennis Hall of Fame in 1996

John C. Skogstad, Georgia, 1998

John C. Skogstad, Georgia, inducted in 1998John Skogstad

  • Played junior tennis in Florida where he won multiple Florida junior singles and doubles titles, the Interscholastic High School Doubles Championship, several Florida high school singles and doubles championships and the Boys 15’s Orange Bowl
  • Undefeated at the #1 singles position for Baylor University for 2 years
  • Transferred to the University of Miami where he was team captain and All-American in 1961
  • Helped Miami set the NCAA record for consecutive team wins
  • Continued to excel as an adult/senior player and won multiple Georgia and Southern championships
  • Served as President of the Atlanta Lawn Tennis Association (ALTA) and Vice-President of the Georgia Tennis Association
  • Inducted into the Georgia Tennis Hall of Fame in 1985

Eugene Ray, Georgia, 1996

Eugene Ray. Georgia, inducted in 1996Eugene Ray

  • Involved as a local competitor, teacher and organizer and known as “Mr. Tennis” in Clayton County
  • Devoted much of his time to introducing tennis to local residents, maintaining the only 2 courts in the county, giving free lessons to juniors and adults and running tournaments
  • Began playing senior tournaments at age 60 and restricted himself to 10 tournaments per year, but still earned 21 number 1 Georgia rankings and 9 number 1 Southern rankings
  • Won all 6 Southern tournaments he entered in 1984 at age 80
  • Played few national tournaments, but earned wins over several nationally ranked players, including Bitsy Grant
  • Attained his highest national singles ranking of number 5 in the 85’s in 1990
  • Inducted into the Georgia Tennis Hall of Fame in 1995