Greater Columbus Tennis Association

The Greater Columbus Tennis Association "grew" out of the Upper Arlington Tennis Association. It is unclear as to exactly when this occurred. It is also unclear as to who the people were who were involved in the original Upper Arlington Tennis Association and who moved to change this organization to the present structure. It is, however, possible to list the previous presidents of the GCTA. Each president serves a term of two years; several presidents have served more than one term. Simply doing the math, the change took place in the later part of the 1950's or early 1960's.

Dick Klitch was involved with this migration of the Upper Arlington Tennis Association to the GCTA to a degree. It is also known that Andy Alexander was involved early with the GCTA and very much a part of its involvement with Columbus Recreation and Parks Department. This was definitely as early as the mid-to-late 60's.

The GCTA was also very active with the professional tournament that was held at the Buckeye Boys Ranch in the 70's and early 80's--at one time, this was one of the summer's major tournaments. It often involved the eventual US Open winner. The GCTA handled the logistics of the tournament from A to Z, providing ballboys, ushers, ticket sellers, umpires, and much more.

After the Ranch stopped hosting the tournament, the GCTA was involved with shorter tennis events. When the Jimmy Conner's Senior Tennis Tour came to the New Albany Country Club, the GCTA handled some of the activities as it had during the time of the Buckeye.

The GCTA has a long history of running events for the Ohio Valley Tennis Association. At one time all district tournaments, boys and girls, 12's through 18's were held on the now, nonexistent bank of courts at Ohio State. The GCTA continues to run the Girls 16's District for the Ohio Valley and the GCTA runs a Area Qualifier that helps in the selection of players who want to play in the District tournaments.

Many people are only familiar with the summer tennis leagues that the GCTA administers. Both men and women play doubles at levels based on ability. The GCTA also administers summer USTA leagues.

A fundamental part of the GCTA is its support of the Columbus Recreation and Parks Department. At one time, the GCTA hired the teachers and oversaw the running of the CRPD tennis programs. Columbus Recreation and Parks had one of the first junior team programs, much earlier than the equivalent USTA program. The CRPD program was designed to give high school players who did not have the financial ability to take private or group lessons an opportunity to improve their game through summer clinics and matches.

Today, the GCTA is still strongly committed to running USTA programs for all age levels and providing support for tennis in the Columbus area.