PRESS RELEASE

CONTACT: Millie West - ITA Hall of Fame Curator

Tele: (757) 229-5921

Email: mebwest@verizon.net

ITA WOMEN’S HALL OF FAME INDUCTED FOUR NEW MEMBERS
Induction ceremony was held Sept. 19, 2008 at the College of William and Mary

WILLIAMSBURG, Va.

Doubles legend Gigi Fernandez, an All-American in her freshman year at Clemson University, was among this year’s inductees to the ITA Women’s Hall of Fame. Also honored at the Sept. 19 ceremony was Janice Metcalf Cromer of the University of Redlands, winner of the women’s intercollegiate singles title in 1972 and ’73; Alice Tym of the University of Miami, an internationally ranked player in the 1960s and head coach at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga and Yale University; and Wendy White Prausa of Rollins College, a 12-year touring pro and intercollegiate champion in 1980.

Beatriz “Gigi” Fernandez won 17 Grand Slam doubles titles and two Olympic gold medals during her pro career from 1983 to 1997. Recruited to Clemson from her native Puerto Rico, she reached the national intercollegiate singles finals in her freshman year and then joined the professional circuit. She captured 69 doubles titles overall, and reached as high as No. 17 in the singles rankings.

After retiring from the tour, Fernandez went on to earn her B.A. with honors from the University of South Florida in 2003. She also coached the USF women’s tennis team from 2002-05, taking the unranked team to a Top 30 ranking. Dedicated to developing Puerto Rican tennis, Fernandez worked with the island’s Fed Cup and Olympic teams, and in 1999 was named Puerto Rico’s Female Athlete of the Century. She is currently enrolled in the M.B.A. program at Rollins College.

Janice Metcalf Cromer holds the distinction of being the first woman to play on the men’s team at the University of Redlands, helping lead the team to NAIA national championships in 1973 and ’74. Two-time national intercollegiate singles champion, Metcalf also captured six other national titles while in college, including three straight USTA Amateur Clay Court championships from 1971–73.

Metcalf turned pro after receiving her B.A., earning a ranking among the top 40 in the world. Retiring in 1977 because of injury, Metcalf earned an M.S. from California State University at Fullerton in 1980. She went on to coaching and teaching positions at Southern Methodist University and the Claremont Club, and since 1990 has enjoyed a longtime career at as tennis coach and teacher at San Dimas High School in California.

Alice Luthy Tym established the women’s tennis team and served as its captain while an undergraduate at the University of Florida from 1960–64. A Ford Foundation fellow, she received Phi Beta Kappa honors and earned an M.A. from UF in geography in 1966. From 1964 to 1970, she played on the international circuit, winning titles on five continents and securing a world ranking as high as No. 13 in 1969

As head coach at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga from 1974 to 1978, Tym started the varsity women’s program and guided her teams to two AIAW Small College National Championships. Appointed director of tennis at Yale in 1978, she coached the nationally ranked women’s team for four years and won the Ivy Championships in 1981. Tym returned to UT-Chattanooga in 1982 to become a faculty member in the geography department, a position she still holds today.

Wendy White Prausa is the only women’s tennis player to turn pro during college and graduate on time. A standout junior player in her native Georgia, White was awarded the USTA’s Girls’ Sportsmanship Trophy in 1978. As a Rollins sophomore in 1980, she captured the intercollegiate singles title and won the Broderick Award as National Female Collegiate Athlete of the Year in Tennis. Joining the professional tour in the summer of 1980, she rose as high as No. 22 in singles and No. 18 in doubles.
Receiving her B.A. with honors in 1982, White continued to compete as a professional until 1992, scoring wins over some of the game’s legends, including two wins against Billie Jean King. Continuing to stay active in tennis after leaving the tour, White served as a USTA area training coach and was named Player of the Decade in 2000 by the U.S. Professional Tennis Registry.

The ITA Women’s Hall of Fame was established in 1995 and honors outstanding collegiate players and coaches, as well as players who attended college and later had a significant impact on women’s tennis. The Hall of Fame is located at the College of William and Mary’s McCormack-Nagelsen Tennis Center, named for the late Mark McCormack, founder of sports marketing giant International Management Group, and his wife, former tennis pro Betsy Nagelsen.