USTA EASTERN TO INDUCT TENNIS HALL OF FAME CLASS OF 2019 Kit Byron, Bid Goswami, Nick Greenfield and Carole Wright are this year’s inductees

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., (April 17, 2019) – USTA Eastern will induct four exemplary individuals into its Tennis Hall of Fame during a ceremony to be held Thursday, April 25th at the New Yorker Hotel in New York, N.Y.

“Induction into the USTA Eastern Hall of Fame is our organization’s highest honor,” said USTA Eastern Executive Director and CEO Jenny Schnitzer. “Our four recipients have dedicated their lives to growing and enriching tennis in our region. Their achievements are vast and varied, and their contributions are innumerable. We are thrilled to celebrate their legacies and formally recognize each of them for a lifetime of service to the sport.”

The members of the USTA Eastern 2019 Hall of Fame Class are:

 Kit Byron, a renowned tennis coach and club owner in the Eastern section. Byron helped develop and transform the games of over 150 juniors who would go on to become Eastern, USTA and WTA-ranked players, including former world No. 10 and two-time French Open Quarterfinalist Kathleen Horvath and French Open Quarterfinalists Terry Phelps and Melissa Brown. Today, Byron oversees 600 juniors and 450 adult players at Rye Racquet, the club he has owned since 1995.  Bid Goswami, the head coach of the Columbia University men’s tennis team since 1982. Among the most successful coaches in college tennis history, Goswami has led Columbia to 13 NCAA tournament appearances and 13 Ivy League Championship titles—including the last five from 2014-18. Under Goswami, the Lions have advanced to the Sweet 16 seven times in the last ten years: Three times in the NCAA tournament and four in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Team Indoor Championships. From 1977 to 2012, Goswami also held the position of Tennis Director and Head Professional at Westchester Country Club in Rye, N.Y.  Nick Greenfield, a former ranked Eastern junior who went on to play No. 1 singles for Lafayette College. As a college player, he won four individual conference titles and led his team to three conference championships. After graduating, he founded Eastern Roundup Magazine, a publication with every USTA Eastern junior tournament match result, along with photos, articles of interest for junior tennis players and their families. Greenfield also worked for three years as a member of the USTA Eastern staff.  Carole Wright, a former player who was ranked No. 1 in the East for seven years (and as high as No. 16 nationally). Wright won the New York State Championship title three times, the USTA National Indoor Championships twice, the Canadian Indoor Championships once, and medaled in the Maccabiah Games. After retiring as a player, she founded the Wright Tennis Center with the Irish Lawn Tennis Center in 1984 to help grow the sport in Ireland. Since 1992, she has served as the co-director of All City Junior Tennis and Sports Camp at the Roosevelt Island Racquet Club in New York, N.Y.

Past inductees into the USTA Eastern Hall of Fame include Katrina Adams, Arthur Ashe, Mary Carillo, Althea Gibson and John McEnroe.

Proceeds from the celebration will benefit JTF, which provides scholarships and grants for junior and adaptive tennis players throughout the Eastern Section. At the event, two junior players, Keisha Marcellin and Tristan Thomas Ryder, will receive the David N. Dinkins Scholarship Awards for their accomplishments both athletically and academically.

Since its inception in 1979, JTF has provided more than $2 million for programs and scholarships in the Eastern Section.

Click here for additional information on the Hall of Fame ceremony.

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The Junior Tennis Foundation (JTF) was incorporated in 1979 as a nonprofit organization to raise funds for junior tennis and for adaptive tennis within the Eastern Section. The volunteer Board of Directors includes tennis dignitaries and patrons who love the game and support making it available to all. Nine volunteers have served as president. Over two million dollars have been granted to worthy programs and scholarships to junior players since the inception of the Foundation.

The USTA Eastern Section, based in White Plains, N.Y., is a not-for-profit community service organization whose mission is to promote and develop the growth of tennis. The section encompasses all of New York State, Northern New Jersey and Greenwich, Conn. It is one of 17 geographic sections of the United States Tennis Association, the governing body of tennis in the United States, and supports more than 49,000 members. The section also establishes and maintains rules of fair play, high standards of sportsmanship and represents, in its jurisdiction, the programs and policies of the USTA. More information is available by visiting usta.com.

For more information, contact: Scott Sode, Manager, Public Relations, 914-696-7290; [email protected]