Greater Columbus Tennis Association

Each year at the end of the summer season, the GCTA has an awards ceremony to honor the winning teams and individual Champ of Champs from those teams. These winners are listed on the respective Men's and Women's League pages. Area Junior Qualifier champions and runners-up are listed on the Area and District Qualifer page. Jr. Davis Cup team members and Jr. Wightman Cup team members are listed on the Jr. Davis and Wightman Cup page.

John Daly

John was the head tennis coach at the Ohio State University from 1972 to 1999. In 1970, he was the head coach at Northern Illinois before moving on to be the assistant coach at Notre Dame. During his coaching career, he had 445 wins while coaching five NCAA All Americans, 35 All Big Ten Selections, seven Academic All Americans and 35 Academic All Big Ten Selections. He has served as a tennis professional at the Elkona Country Club, the Racquet Club of Columbus, Channingway Tennis Club, Winding Hollow Country Club, Brookside Country Club and New Albany Country Club. John has been involved in the facility design of the Olympic Tennis Club, the Stickney Tennis Center at OSU, Tennis East and the Kirk Tennis Center at the Columbus School for Girls. He has served as the event director for the NCAA Tennis Championships, the National City Team Tournament, the Ohio High School Athletic Association State Championships, the Big Ten Championships, the WCT Tennis Championships, the McEnroe versus Vilas Exhibition, the Transplant Games, Wheelchair Tournaments, the Buckeye Boys Ranch Pre-Qualifier and the Buckeye Boys Ranch Qualifier. John has been involved as a clinician for the NCAA YES Program, the National Youth Sports Program, the Buckeye Sports Camps and Wheelchair Tennis Camps. In the area of service, he was a Greater Columbus Tennis Association Board Member, the President of the Big Ten Coaches Association, a USTA linesman and a USTA umpire. He has conducted tournament ball boy training sessions and worked on tournament operations. John lists his top three coaching highlights as 1) Ernie Fernandez' 3 Big Ten titles and his appearance in the NCAA semis, 2) the 1991 Big Ten Team Championship and 3) the 2000 World Junior Wheelchair Championship in Paris, France.  

Michelle Jarrett was a formerly ranked junior and collegiate player. She has won several adult singles, doubles and mixed doubles titles over the years. Michelle has been an active 5.0 USTA player for 20 years. She has been selected to represent the the Ohio Valley Tennis Association and the Midwest Section of the USTA in several adult tournaments. She has been a tennis teaching professional for the last 19 years. This past summer, she was Captain of the Columbus Junior Wightman Cup. This team won the OVTA championships in Springfield.  Currently, she is the Assistant Manager of the Olympic Tennis Club; she is the Director of Tennis at the The Lakes and Medallion Country Clubs during the summer. Michelle's husband is Mike and they have two children. Aaron is a junior at Tulane University and Cara is in the 6th grade. They reside in Gahanna. 

Steve Ryuse played high school tennis at Mt. Vernon High School. He continued his tennis at the Ohio State University. For the past 20 plus years, he has been a leading teaching pro. Nine months of the year, he is a pro at the Olympic Tennis Club; during the summer, he has been the head pro at the Medallion Country Club. For the past two years, he has volunteered as the Captain of the Junior Davis Cup team. This year, this team won the OVTA competition in Springfield. He has coached numerous GCTA women's teams.

Dan Witteman graduated from Grove City High. His degree from Capital University was in secondary education with an emphasis on social students. He received his Master's Degree in counseling from the University of Xavier and has spent 39 years in public education as a teacher and a counselor. For 31 of those years, he has been the boys' tennis coach at Westland High School. His career has not been limited to coaching boys. Dan coached the Grove City High School girls team for the last 14 years. This started when his daughter was playing for the team; Grove City could not find a coach and was considering doing away with the program. Dan stepped in as the coach. For a number of years, he was a site manager for the Ohio High School Athletic Association's sectional tennis tournament. For the past 17 years he has been the coordinator for the sectional and the district OHSAA tournaments. He has been involved at the state tournaments as an umpire of matches. A number of years back he began the Westland Open Tennis Tournament. It was part of the Central Ohio Grand Prix and was used as a fund raiser for the tennis programs at Westland High School. He has been involved with the GCTA as a Board Member. Dan has coached a number of women's teams that have participated in our GCTA summer leagues. He also captained a men's team in the GCTA leagues. He is an active player of the game, both summer and winter. He plays a number of tournaments in the central Ohio area.

An award is given to the newsperson who has devoted attention to the area of tennis.

This year's award went to
Dom Tiberi.

Dom Tiberi isn't your run-of-the-mill sports reporter. While other sportscasters may be content to cover the basics, Dom Tiberi brings a whole new meaning to the "world of sports." Tune in on any given day and Dom may be reporting on anything from the latest scoop on the Buckeyes to more offbeat stories of local athletes. He's been seen on everything from water skis to racing sulkies. Dom has a strong commitment to high school athletics – from his duties with First and 10 – to covering the local high school beat zeroing in on local athletes. He did an especially nice job with the Intercollegiate Tennis Tournament this summer that was run by Harvey Beahm at OSU. Dom is the Weekend Sports Anchor and the Co-host of Wall-To-Wall Sports. Dom is most noted for his coverage of the Ohio State University. He has a record of breaking stories on the Buckeyes before the competition even knows they exist. He has a proven record of getting timely interviews from the coaching staffs and players through his daily work on that important sports beat. Dom joined WBNS-TV in 1981. He graduated from St. Francis DeSales High School and then attended Otterbein College in Westerville, Ohio where he majored in Journalism and Public Relations. While at Otterbein, Dom was actively involved in HIS college radio and TV station, as well AS a member of the football team. Dom is married and has three children. He is an avid sports spectator.

Alann Leinwohl

Alann Leinwohl has an undergraduate degree from the University of Cincinnati in mathematics. He also has a graduate (A.M.L.S.) degree in library science from the University of Michigan. He began the Central Ohio Grand Prix summer tournament circuit 18 years ago. This circuit has allowed many central Ohio tennis players the opportunity to play in tournament on a weekly basis throughout the summer. Many of these tournament have been USTA sanctioned. In addition, these tournaments have often had junior events. These events have provided a much broader tournament experience for the average ability tennis junior. He coached at Granville High School and has been a volunteer assistant at Groveport High School for the past 12 seasons. The last 5 years, Alann has additionally work with the tennis teams at the Columbus Torah Academy. He has been managing the summer programs for the Columbus Recreation and Parks Department at the Champions Tennis Club. This year, all three of his junior teams won their leagues and participated in the Ohio Valley Tennis Association championships in Springfield. In the off-season, he works at Waldenbooks in Cincinnati.

Christine Johnston   

Christine Johnston, a 14 year old high school freshman from Upper Arlington, has enjoyed great success in 2002 with her tennis abilities. She has played in numerous local, district, sectional and national USTA sanctioned tournaments. In January, she was the runner-up in the Midwest Section Designated Tournament for players 14 and under. She finished 3rd in the Muterspaw Championships in the 14's; this tournament was held in Las Vegas. Christine was also the 3rd place finisher in the Columbus Indoor Championship 14 and under. Both tournaments were on the USTA National Tournament Schedule. She was champion of the GCTA Area Qualifier 14 and under. This was Christine's 4th consecutive GCTA title. Christine was the OVTA District 14 and under singles and doubles champion. She was the Midwest Section Closed 14 and under singles and doubles champion. In Lexington, Kentucky, she was the champion of the USTA National Open Championships; this qualified her for the USTA Supernational Hard Court Championships in the 16 and under division. During this past summer, she won 23 consecutive singles matches in the span of time from the GCTA Area Qualifier to the USTA National Open in Lexington. She qualified and participated in the USTA Supernational Hard Court Championships that were held in Atlanta, Georgia. She won three singles matches and made it to the round of 16 in doubles of the 14 and under age group. Christine is presently playing for the Upper Arlington High School varsity tennis team; she is currently undefeated playing mostly at 2nd singles. In the current USTA rankings she is number one in the OVTA 14 and under and number two in both the 16 and 18 and under. In the Midwest Section, she is number five in the 14 and under, number 28 in the 16 and under and number 61 in the 18 and under. Her USTA National rankings are number 49 in the 14's and number 173 in the 16's.

GCTA Male Player of the Year
Kortney Keith
 

Kortney Keith is a senior attending the Columbus Academy. He is ranked 169 nationally in boys 16 singles. In the Midwest Section, Kortney is ranked 25th in the 16 singles and 78th in the 18 singles. In the Ohio Valley, he is ranked 3rd in the 16's and 9th in the 18's. This is the second award for Kortney as the GCTA Male Player of the Year.

Lifetime Achievement Award

Carol and Andy Alexander 

Carol Alexander has served twice as President of the Greater Columbus Tennis Association. She was the Area Representative from the GCTA to the Ohio Valley Tennis Association for 25 years. Since 1978, Carol has been the chairperson of the Girls District tournament; this is a feed-in to the Midwest Closed and then the Nationals. For at least 15 years, the District hosted all age groups. She chaired 64-player draws for the 12's, 14's, 16's and 18's. These were all held at the Ohio State University courts by Larkins Hall. When this large bank of courts became unplayable, the location of the different District tournament changed to different cities. However, Carol continued to run the 16's, first at the Ohio State Stickney courts and then at the Upper Arlington High School courts. Carol is a former member of the Midwest Junior Competition Committee. She is a certified USTA umpire and has done extensive volunteer umpiring for junior qualifying tournaments and for wheelchair tennis events. She was honored with the Lee Gillespie Award from the Ohio Valley Tennis Association in 1984. In 1980, her family was honored by the OVTA and the Midwest Tennis Association as the Tennis Family of the Year. She has worked with her husband Andy Alexander on the Buckeye Tennis Classic, the Avon Futures, the Union Kodel, the Nuveen Senior's Tournament and the Holiday Tournament wherever needed. She has worked at the USTA Membership Appreciation Day in Cincinnati at the ATP event. She loves the game of tennis and plays in the GCTA leagues.

Andy Alexander created the city of Columbus parks and recreation tennis program in the mid-1960's. Under his guidance, free clinics, balls, racquets, T-shirts and instruction were offered in 18 city parks. Andy organized a special fund raising committee to pay for the city parks program. Andy was the founder of the Greater Columbus Tennis Association Junior Development Foundation, an educational and tax exempt foundation for teaching tennis. Through his efforts, Andy convince the City of Columbus to become partners in the tennis program in the city parks. The work with the city parks continues today with GCTA support for the Columbus Recreation and Parks Department's tennis programs. In 1991, one of the CRPD recreation centers was named as a designated tennis center. Andy brought tennis instruction and play for adults to the center. Also in 1991, he started a new campaign to raise funds for tennis through the business community. Back in 1972, Andy set up a winter indoor junior program. He utilized two courts in the Buckeye Building on the Ohio State Fairgrounds for city park players and top junior players. In the early 70's, he was a member of a committee working with the Ohio State University Development Department to design a new tennis teaching technique called "Instant Involvement."  His support of the youth program continued when he acquired and modified the Greater Columbus Tennis Association bus which was used for 15 years to administer the local Columbus Area Qualifier and the Girls District Qualifying Tournament. Andy initiated and was editor for several years of the GCTA Newsletter. He also initiated and was tournament director of the GCTA Champion of Champions Tournament which involves all the leagues both for the men and the women. Andy has been member of the GCTA Board of Trustees for the past 36 years. He was president in 1973, 1974, 1983 and 1984. From 1968 to 1972, he was chair of the Davis Cup program in Columbus. He organized and found funding to send the top junior players to the Orange and Sugar Bowl Tournaments. He was chair of the GCTA Holiday Tournament for six years and for three years the event chair of the Union Kodel Tournament, a city-wide mixed doubles tournament. At the men's professional Grand Prix Tournament that was held for 13 years at the Buckeye Boys Ranch, Andy was chairman of the tournament operations which involved 44 committees.  Andy worked with the International Ameri-Flora committee for the 1992 exhibition to establish a stadium court and other new courts at Wolfe Park. He chaired the committee for volunteer personnel for the Big Bear Challenge; this was a $500,000 shoot-out tournament involving four top women tennis professionals. Andy has served as vice president of the Ohio Valley Tennis Association and has served on the WTA's ranking committee. He currently serves on the Midwest Multicultural Development Committee. His awards include the Lee Gillespie Ohio Valley Award, the USTA National Community Service Award and the Westen Stanley Malles Award.

  Click here to see more pictures from the 2002 Awards Ceremony
Click here to see the 2001 Award Winners
  Click here to see the 2000 Award Winners
Click here to see the 1999 Award Winners
  Click here to see the 1998 Award Winners
  Click here to see the 1997 Award Winners
  Click here to see the 1996 Award Winners