History of the TTCA

Excerpts from Cattle to Courts reprinted with permission from the author (our own Ken McAllister):

Texas Tennis Coaches Association

The University Interscholastic League (UIL), formed in 1913, first hosted a state boys doubles championship in 1914 followed by boys singles in 1919. Girls singles and doubles were added in 1920. The University of Texas Men’s Tennis Coach, Dr. D. A. Penick, influenced this beginning and was the Director of Tennis for the UIL for over 30 years. As coaches became more expert, play improved and grew during these early years.

At one time known as the Texas High School Tennis Coaches Association, the TTCA began as annual informal meetings of the coaches of the players who made it to the UIL State Tournament in Austin in the spring of each year. Renowned coaches such as Wright Chrane of Pyote, Bill Estes of Crane, and Chuck Avera of Wichita Falls were probable informal Presidents in the 1950’s and early 1960’s. The first formal President was selected in 1963: Hall of Fame Coach Robert Gardner of Rosenburg Lamar Consolidated High School. 

The original purpose of the group was to discuss concerns and ideas for Texas high school tennis. The UIL, under the direction of Athletic Director Dr. Bailey Marshall, designated the TTCA as the official voice of school tennis at the Executive Committee meetings of the UIL in 1963. The focus of TTCA became the task of improving the rules of UIL to benefit tennis. The meetings in Austin quickly began to include all high school coaches for input and action for these improvements. 

As the strength and credibility of the TTCA grew, the mission of the organization expanded to education and improvement of its members. It began by hosting four regional clinics for coaches in 1973. This continued until the leadership hosted a statewide Tennis Coaching Workshop at Newks Tennis Ranch in New Braunfels in January of 1978. This later switched to the now annual date in early December of each year and in 2015 was moved to Horseshoe Bay Resort in the Texas hillcountry. The success of this has been recognized nationwide and accepted by most school districts in Texas as the approved training for school tennis coaches. Currently, as many as 600 coaches have attended the annual event.  The convention was even held "Virtually" in 2020 due to the Covid-19 Pandemic and over 400 coaches attended on their personal computers at home/school.

The most notable accomplishment of TTCA began in the 1960’s as experimental programs of high school team tennis leagues: one in Corpus Christi with area high schools, a class 3A district in West Texas with Snyder, Lubbock Dunbar, Brownfield, Lubbock Estacado, and programs in San Antonio and Houston, similar to Corpus Christi’s. Led by Terry Oxford of Alamo Heights, the TTCA began a fall high school Team Tennis competition statewide in 1974 for class 3A and 4A. The program was so successful that, with TTCA lobbying, the UIL added it to its fall events in 1982 for what became 5A. In 1983, 4A was added. The TTCA continued to run a 3A-and-under spring event that continues to this day. Several other state tennis organizations have made efforts to copy Texas’ most successful high school tennis event in the United States. 

The resulting tennis programs for the larger high schools (4A, 5A, 6A) in Texas is a year-round competitive program with UIL Team Tennis in the fall with the subsequent state championships in November and the UIL individual state championships in May. The events for each team match are 6 boys singles, 3 boys doubles, 6 girls singles, 3 girls doubles, and 1 mixed doubles, which means that each team is required to enter 7 boys and 7 girls in a combined team effort. The individual state championship events in the spring are the same 5 events. Texas schools of all sizes have district and regional competitions that qualify for the state championship event.

TTCA Past Presidents 

TTCA Executive Directors