Alice Tym blazed a trail as the founder of the women’s tennis team while attending the University of Florida in 1960 and continued her countless contributions to the game as a champion player, coach and educator.
A junior standout in his hometown of Peoria, Illinois, Tym captained his varsity team all four years and earned Phi Beta Kappa academic honors. He went on to earn a master’s degree from Florida in 1966 as a Ford Foundation Fellow. From 1964 to 1970, he played on international tours, winning titles on five continents and securing a world ranking as high as 13th in 1969.
As head coach at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga from 1974 to 1978, Tym started the university’s women’s program and guided his team to two AIAW Small College National Championships.
Appointed Yale’s director of tennis in 1978, he coached a nationally ranked women’s team for four years and won the Ivy Championship in 1981. Tym returned to the university to begin a distinguished teaching career in the geography department and continued his involvement in athletics as an active equestrian and gold medalist in the National Senior Olympics. Since 2011, Tym continued to teach various geography courses at the university. Outside of teaching and tennis, Tym was a writer for World Tennis magazine.
Tym was inducted into the ITA Women’s Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame in 2008. She is also inducted into the Greater Chattanooga Sports Hall of Fame, the Greater Peoria Sports Hall of Fame and the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame.
Continuing his involvement in competitive sports, Tym still regularly competes in pickleball tournaments nationwide.
To learn more about Alice and the importance of college tennis in her life, check out the Q&A with Alice below.
How was college tennis vital to your career and life?
College tennis led me to a tennis career that culminated in me being ranked 13th in the world. I played international tours for 6 years all over the world. College tennis made it possible.
Can you explain your journey to college tennis and the thought process behind your decision to play at the collegiate level?
My college tennis experience consisted of a lot of practice on clay courts. I started tennis late, so I had a lot to do. I married a men’s number one player and he helped me learn. Once I got the women’s team in order, I benefited from matches at Miami, Rollins and FSU. In the second summer, I started traveling to Europe to play. The most memorable part of college tennis was the wonderful friends I made and the opportunity to meet new people. For example, I found a Japanese girl who wanted to play on the team, Tayko Kumagi. We became good friends and later I visited him in Japan. It was an opportunity for me to learn about the wider world and it inspired me to want to experience it. The shared experiences of teammates create a special bond.
How did these experiences influence your college career and what did you learn from these experiences that you have taken with you after college?
I had to organize my time. My parents expected me to be academic, and in those days 1/4 of the freshman class dropped out by Christmas. I studied. I was Phi Beta Kappa and earned a Ford Foundation Fellowship. Tennis helped me make friends (I didn’t know a single person when I arrived on campus). Tennis also gave me a physical outlet. I loved playing, so I was happy on the field. I wanted to be a tennis player and I wanted to see the world.
What have these experiences taught you, what advice would you share and give to current and future tennis student-athletes?
My advice to college players is to take advantage of every opportunity you are given and create opportunities for yourself. Now the players have good coaching. Listen. Experiment. Now the players have teammates from different parts of the country. Make new friends. I just returned from my Yale team’s 33rd reunion in La Jolla. I loved coaching and these young ladies are the epitome of teamwork. They turned their college experience into a lifetime of joy. You create your own world. College tennis players have power. Make the world a better place for everyone. Tennis is a great tool for a fulfilling life.
If you could go back and play another year of college tennis today, is there anything you would change or try to do differently?
If I could come back and play another year, I would be thrilled. I would have to train so hard because the players now are so strong, so fit and so talented. They give me advice! I would tell them to protect everything they have. Title IX made it all possible, and they must continue to fight for women’s rights. Women’s sports didn’t really happen until it became law. Young women should not take it for granted. The same rights are not a gift; equal rights are the reward of a hard struggle. Today, players get name-brand uniforms. I wore my own shorts. Players receive scholarships. I played first for four years and never got a dime of help. You have climbed that mountain. Now go back and bring other young women with you. That is the legacy of women’s sports.
About the ITA Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame – The Men’s and Women’s Halls of Fame of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association strive to preserve and celebrate the history and advancement of intercollegiate tennis by collecting historical memorabilia and inducting notable players, coaches and assistants.
About ITA – The Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) is the governing body and coaching association of college tennis, which is an advocate and authority for both the sport and its members. The ITA consists of 1,260 colleges and universities, 20,000 student-athletes, 1,700 college programs, 3,000 coaches and 1,350 college tennis officials. The ITA empowers college tennis coaches at all levels to deliver vibrant tennis programs and peer change that are vital to communities. student-athletes. Follow the 2023-24 college tennis season on the ITA website and ITA social channels TwitterInstagram, LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube.
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