Andy has been on the GCTA Board for 35 years. He was President of the GCTA twice. For the past ten years, he has been a member of the Midwest Minority Participation Committee for the USTA. He is a past member of the Midwest Ranking Committee. Formerly, he was a Vice President of the Ohio Valley Tennis Association. For 13 years, Andy was Director of Operations for the Buckeye Ranch professional men's tennis tournament. He has received the following tennis related awards: Ohio Valley Family of the Year, Mid Western Family of the Year, Ohio Valley Howard Dredge Award, Midwest Stanley Mallese Award, and the USTA National Community Service Award. Most recently, Andy  organized the USTA Tennis 123 program in central Ohio.

Les Varnado

Leslie Varnado, Jr., is a managing attorney with the Legal Aid Society of Columbus. He received his B.A. from Jackson State University, Magna Cum Laude. He graduated from The Ohio State University with his J.D. Les has been very involved in tennis as a participant and as a representative. His involvement with the Greater Columbus Tennis Association goes back to 1986. He has been a Vice President and President of the organization. Les organized the GCTA Awards Ceremony for a number of years. He has also involved himself in the Ohio Valley Tennis Association. This involvement dates back to 1987. He has served a Vice President and President of the OVTA. He has also held the positions of OVTA Grievance Chairman and OVTA Junior Ranking Chairman. Les has extended his involvement in tennis to the regional and national level. In the USTA/Midwest Section, Les has held the positions of Secretary and Treasurer. He has served as Section Grievance Chairman as well as Youth Tennis Foundation Secretary and Treasurer. He has been nominated as Vice President for this section. At the USTA national level, he has been involved with the committee dealing with Affiliations Professional Circuits. He is presently serving on the committee for Adult/Senior Competition. Locally, Les created and ran the Southeast Open Tennis Tournament which was a sanctioned event that featured 18 divisions. Les donated the profits from this tournament to the GCTA. He served as the Assistant Tournament Director for the USTA Satellite Event at the Ohio State University in 1994 and 1995. He is an accomplished player who participates in a number of local tournaments each year. Les has also been involved in singing as part of Chorus Columbus. He performs solo concerts at nursing homes. He is a former member of the Board of Directors of Neighborhood House, Inc.

An award was given to the newsperson who has devoted attention to the area of tennis.
This year's award went to
Brian Rapp.

 Brian Rapp graduated in 1972 from Watterson High School. He attended the University of Dayton and graduated in 1976 with a B.A. in Communications (Broadcasting). For six years, he was involved in radio in Dayton, Springfield, and Columbus. He was the assistant production director for the Sports Ohio Radio Network. He did coverage of such things as the Ohio High School State Basketball Tournament, the Little Brown Jug, and the US Open in Toledo. In 1980 was hired by SNP as a sports writer where he covered area high school and community sports. From 1983 till June of 1999, he served as Sports Editor for SNP. He supervised a sports staff of 16 writers, editors, photographers, and stringers. They were responsible for producing the sports sections of the 21 SNP area newspapers. He resigned the Sports Editor position in June of 1999 to return to a writing position as Senior Sportswriter and Columnist for the SNP. His areas of responsibility are covering Upper Arlington High School sports, Dublin High School sports, Capital University sports, and the Columbus Blue Jackets hockey team.

Awards were given to the following persons for special promotion of the
USTA Tennis 123
program.

The USTA Tennis 123 program is sponsored by the USTA to get people involved in the game of tennis. Both adults and youngsters can participate. Andy Alexander applied for seed money from the USTA and was granted money and materials necessary to get the program running. He organized meetings of local pros and distributed information to the clubs and news media. The GCTA supports the program. It is called Tennis 123 because there are three steps to the program. The first step is a free lesson. The second step is to involve participants in clinics. The third step is to get the participants into team play or league play.

Doug grew up in Upper Arlington. His earliest remembrances of playing tennis were when his parents took him as a fourth grader to the courts at the high school and tossed balls to him. He remembers trying to hit the ball not just over the net, but over the fence. He spent a number of years playing tennis at Northam Park, where he says he really began to understand and play the game as it should be played. Doug graduated from the Ohio State University with a degree in Physical Education. He has been teaching for twenty-one years in the Groveport-Madison School District. He has his Master's Degree from OSU in the area of guidance and counseling. At Groveport Madison High School, he has coached the girls' tennis team for twenty years and has coached the boys for nineteen years. He says he can't imagine not coaching tennis at the high school level. Doug has taken many non players and made them into very solid high school players; players that play tough with all but the very best central Ohio high school players. He had the pleasure of being the high school coach of Lilia Osterloh. Her 9th grade year, she was the runner-up in the Ohio High School Athletic Association State Tennis Tournament. Her 10th grade year, she won it. Doug says that was definitely a high point of his coaching career. In addition to coaching tennis for Groveport, he coached basketball for a number of years. During the summers, he has worked with Christine Davis at Columbus Country Club. Doug runs a tennis camp each summer for the Groveport Parks and Recreation Department. The USTA Tennis 123 program fit perfectly into this summer teaching. Doug is putting together a community tennis association for Canal Winchester, where he lives. He knows what tennis has meant to him and is hoping that he can help it mean so much to others in that community. Doug just doesn't coach tennis, he plays a number of local tournaments in singles and doubles.

Bob is a tennis pro at the Scarbourgh East Tennis and Fitness Club. He started playing tennis in 1972 and played two years for the Mansfield Madison High School tennis team. He graduated from Muskingum College with a Business Degree. While at Muskingum he played on their tennis team in 1978 and 1979. He was the Captain of the team and the Most Valuable Player in 1979. He began at Scarbourgh East as a part-time pro in 1980 and has been there since. He is the USTA Adult League Tennis Coordinator for Columbus. He participates in PYAA tennis. Bob has four children who play tennis. Staci is 16 and plays Varsity for Pickerington High School. Amanda is 15 and is on the Junior Varsity Team at Pickerington. Jessi is 12 and was a District Qualifier. Kyle is 9 years old and plays too.

Guy W. Parks II, before accepting the position of Director of Tennis at the Racquet Club of Columbus, 1100 Bethel Road, Columbus, Ohio, owned and managed his own club. He has a Master's Degree in Education with an emphasis in Motor Learning from Ohio University. Guy has been awarded the highest rating of Master Professional from the United States Professional Tennis Association, USPTA, one of the first eighty in the world to have done so. He was the first Master Pro to have completed Level 1 and Level II A, B, C of the U.S.T.A. Sport Science Competencies. He has developed numerous nationally, sectionally and district ranked players in central Ohio. Guy has spoken at national U.S.T.A and U.S.P.T.A. sponsored workshops. Guy served as Chairman of the Delegates Committee, as well as being a member of the Nominating and Junior Competitive Committees, and a U.S.T.A. Clinician of the now Midwest Tennis Association. He is a Past President of the Ohio Valley District Tennis Association. He has been the Head Coach of the Columbus, Ohio Area Training Center since its inception. Currently Guy is a district adult league verifier, certified sectional umpire and referee. He is a member of the Wilson National Advisory Staff, Vice President to the Midwest Division of U.S.P.T.A., and a division tester. In February of 1998, he received the "Fay Tooley Award" for the Midwest Division U.S.P.T.A.

A special award was given for
Outstanding Promotion of Tennis.
This award was presented to

Jim Criswell

    In his senior year in high school, Jim switched sports from baseball to tennis, a sport that he had played to some extent when he was 12 years old. He played 3rd singles on the first Worthington High School Tennis Team. Following graduation from high school, Jim helped organize the Cardinal Tennis Club in Worthington. Over the next several years, he was a club officer and president of the group. He actively promoted play by the formation of tennis ladders and team play for adults and youth.
    Jim played college tennis for the Ohio State University and lettered in 1960. His college coach was John Hendrix. After graduation from OSU, Jim became a chemistry teacher and a tennis coach at Columbus Whetstone High School. During his years at Whetstone, his teams won 11 consecutive City League Championships. Two of his players, George Learmonth and Randy McLaughlin, won the Ohio High School Athletic Association's State Doubles Tournament one year and they were the runner-ups the following year. During Jim's time at Whetstone, he never cut players from the team. Each year, he would have around 30 players playing in varsity and junior varsity matches. Jim has always felt that it is important that everyone who wants to learn the game should be encouraged to do so.
    While at Whetstone High School, Jim was an active member of the Ohio High School Tennis Coaches Association. He served as Secretary-Treasurer for several years. He helped set up the State Coaches Team Championship Tournament. He was twice speaker at the annual Ohio High School Coaches Clinic. For many years, he coordinated the Columbus area high school tennis scene by being the Director of the Central District High School Tennis Tournament for the Ohio High School Athletic Association.
    After 11 years as a teacher and a coach, Jim left Whetstone High School to become the Manager and Director of Tennis at the Olympic Indoor Tennis Club. He is still there today. As with the Cardinal Tennis Club, Jim set Olympic up with same primary emphasis on league and team play for adults and juniors. For over 20 years, Jim and Olympic Tennis have offered free tennis lessons to both adults and young people in a continuing effort to get more new players into the game of tennis.
    Jim has been a major promoter and organizer of tennis in the Columbus area for close to 40 years. During this time, he has helped to develop the USTA Adult Leagues. He has established and directed several USTA sanctioned junior and adult tournaments. For many a summer, the best players from around the state have played in the Bernard Master Olympic Tennis Classic which Jim has organized. He has also been the co-tournament direct of three men's professional satellite tournaments that have been held in Columbus.
    Jim and his family have truly supported tennis. His wife, Mary, works at the Olympic Indoor Tennis Club. His son, Wynn, is a teaching pro at Olympic as well as a professional player. Jim has written several articles for local publication in the SNP papers in support of tennis.
    The GCTA is very pleased to select Jim as the recipient for Outstanding Promotion of Tennis.