About five weeks from now, five inductees will formally be enshrined into the ITA Women’s Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame with the Class of 2026 Ceremony and Reception set for Saturday, Oct. 10 in Williamsburg, Virginia.
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Jill Craybas, Louise Gengler Thomas, Laura Granville, Zuzana Lesenarova and Sheila McInerney round out the highly anticipated Class of 2026, joining the legendary players, coaches and contributors who came before them.
As the excitement builds for the upcoming ceremony, continue reading below to hear from five previous inductees, who detail their emotions and excitement from their respective inductions.
Class of 2024
Louise Allen: “My family was there, my kids were there, a lot of my friends were there. It was a really, really special weekend. It was something I’ll never forget, to be honest.
I still think about how I had people come to that event that I hadn’t seen in a long time, and for them to just take the time to do that was really special to me. The really meaningful people in my life were there and and just to have everybody there to celebrate that – it was just everything. It was done so well. If anybody’s not been through Williamsburg and seen the Hall of Fame at William & Mary, it’s just amazing. I was really just blown away by how beautiful everything was.”
Shelley Keeler Whelan: “My gosh. It was incredible to get the call. I was so humbled and honored to be a part of such an incredible group of people and to be even considered for the Hall of Fame. I think it’s wonderful that the ITA really considers people from all aspects of of women’s tennis. It’s such an honor to be considered as a part of the the great people that have come before me. That was wonderful.
It brought back a lot of memories and it was really exciting.”
Class of 2022
Diane Donnelly Stone: “I didn’t think that I could feel more honored or blown away by a Hall of Fame induction after my Northwestern one, but this was clearly the most unbelievable honor that I’ve ever had. It it was something that I did not see coming. Looking at the list of people that had been inducted before me, many of them were women that I had idolized as I was growing up. If anybody had ever told me back when I was a young tennis player that I would be inducted into that Hall of Fame with those women that had accomplished so many amazing things, I never, ever would have believed it.
The way that the ITA Hall of Fame takes care of all the arrangements and really puts on a wonderful weekend for us out there at William & Mary, it was unbelievable. When I try to explain it to people, I don’t do it justice. It was, by far, the greatest honor I’ve had, and probably ever will have, for that matter.
AnnaMaria Fernandez-Ruffels: “It was a really neat experience to be able to go over there and have the support of [former USC head coach] Dave Borelli, who is no longer with us. That was a really fun time for us. I don’t even know how to explain the gratitude that I felt.
Tennis has been such a big part of my life, and USC as well, and it just felt like, wow, that’s nice that I’m getting some credit for the the good work that I did, the good results that I had at USC. It just felt really good to be remembered in that way.
It was really, really nice. The whole ceremony, everything, it was just really, really nice.”
Class of 2014
Jeff Moore: “It was just such an honor. When you become a member of the Hall of Fame, you realize how many different types of people are involved; coaches, former players, administrators, and then you learn their stories from where they came from, how they accomplished what they did, listening to their talks. That’s what’s been a lot of fun to watch and to listen to those stories and to meet those people.”
Interested in more conversations with Hall of Famers and college tennis legends? Visit the ITA History Library YouTube channel!