Locals Johnny Lane and Ryan Wolfington were honored by the United States Tennis Association (USTA) for their contributions to the game at the organization's annual Intermountain Section awards ceremony and luncheon held Dec. 3 in Salt Lake City.
Lane, 50, the tennis director at the Las Vegas Country Club since 1982, was presented the David Freed Lifetime Service Award, an award given periodically to an individual for lifetime service to tennis within the Intermountain Section.
This award was first introduced in 1988 and given to David Freed of Salt Lake City who served as the Intermountain Section's secretary and treasurer from 1936-1975.
Wolfington, 34, the creator of the Web site Vegastennis.com, was given the Media Excellence Award, an honor bestowed from time to time to outstanding media (print, TV, radio and electronic) associations in the Intermountain Section that go above and beyond the role of media to help promote the game of tennis. Section winners are submitted to the USTA for the National Media Excellence Award.
Lane, originally from Indianola, Miss., arrived somewhat by accident in Sin City about 30 years ago after an injury sidelined his tennis career.
"I came here with Robert Uhrich in the (TV show) 'Vega$' era," Lane said. "I was actually Robert's bodyguard of all things. Even though I'd been playing tennis on tour, I met Robert and Tom Selleck in Hawaii when they were both taking a break. Robert was just starting 'Vega$' and Tom Selleck had landed the gig 'Magnum P.I.' I was also actually his (Uhrich's) dialogue coach which makes it even funnier seeing that I have a Southern accent. Officially, I was a bodyguard but it's not something I go around and say too much. I just worked with Robert Uhrich."
Lane, who has been teaching tennis for 25 years at the Las Vegas Country Club, 3000 Joe Brown Drive, appreciates how unique it is for a pro to stay put for so long.
"It's been a great home," Lane said of the LVCC. "It's very unusual for any tennis pro to stay at any place for a good five to seven years."
The biggest accomplishment for Lane, who won the Developmental Coach of the Year Award in 2000, is the 92 and counting college scholarships he has helped tennis players in Southern Nevada earn over the years.
"The thing I'm most proud of would have to be the scholarships we've gotten for the kids. That's always been my No. 1 goal. I don't work with a lot of adults. My main objective is to work with kids and get them into college. Mainly it's because I didn't do it myself," he said.
"I had scholarships to go play tennis, but I decided to go play tennis as opposed to go to school just because of monetary reasons for my family. And it ended up that this has been my main focus with the kids, to try and get them into college whether it's a Division 1 school or anything down from there to help their parents out and help them get their education without having to spend so much money on it."
Vegastennis.com's Wolfington knows just how much money Lane has saved families in Las Vegas by both improving the players' games and educating them on obtaining valuable scholarships.
"To get that many scholarships is amazing," Wolfington said. "He saves families hundreds of thousands of dollars. Everyone that works with Johnny just loves him."
Lane has been the volunteer coach for the Intermountain Section's (Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming) Junior Davis Cup team for 16 years. He also led the No. 8-seeded intermountain team to its only win at nationals in 2000.
"I would have to say that along with the kids getting their scholarships, that would have to be one of the greatest things that's happened to me," Lane said of the championship. "By all rights we should have not won but lightning kept striking at the right place at the right time."
The list of players Lane has worked with through the years is lengthy but it includes the University of Notre Dame's Catrina and Christian Thompson, the top-ranked doubles team in the nation by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association in women's college tennis and graduates of Bishop Gorman High School; Allison Davis, a sophomore at the University of New Mexico, who won the state doubles title in 2001 and 2002 when she attended Gorman; and Allison's little sisters Jillian and Lauren Davis, doubles players from Gorman who helped the Gaels win their 12th state team tennis title in October.
Lane likes to see his students thrive at the game he loves so much.
"It makes me feel real proud," he said. "We have done so much work and for most of those kids, I started with them at age 5 and 6 and have been with them for that length of time until they go off to college and then I continue to work with them -- maybe 90 percent of them. It's a great thing. But it doesn't come easy. It's a lot of hard work but it does make you feel good when they get to that point (playing in college)."
Another guy taking a great deal of his own time, money and effort to make tennis better in Southern Nevada is Wolfington, who created Vegastennis.com in the beginning to simply try to find people to play tennis with in town.
"Four years ago I had a vision of what tennis could be -- to make tournaments more friendly, fun, glamorous and competitive," Wolfington said. "I wanted to get the news out there and get people excited by illustrating the many physical and mental benefits of competing in tennis and to try and make it available to all kids regardless of their financial situation.
"The principles that live in sports help develop children's character. For some kids, that passion is tennis, for others, basketball. And without Marty Hennessy's involvement and support in everything I do, I could have never done all this. Period. As far as I'm concerned, this award is for both of us because in tennis we are a doubles team."
Hennessy, who became the director of tennis at the Turnberry Tower's Stirling Club in 2002 after being head pro at the Desert Inn for 27 years, helped Wolfington develop the Web site and said he was impressed by Wolfington's efforts to promote the sport locally.
"In my 30 years of being around I have never seen someone do more for tennis in Las Vegas than Ryan Wolfington," Hennessy said of the Villanova, Pa., native who moved to Las Vegas in 1993.
Wolfington, who by his own admission wasn't totally accepted at first by the tennis community in Las Vegas, cited the help of people like Mike Agassi, David Pate, Gordon Hammond and Hennessy for helping him make Vegas.tennis.com evolve.
Wolfington's Web site, which gets help from its many sponsors, promotes the sport of tennis in Las Vegas and Southern Utah and has sponsored numerous tournaments, free clinics and match play events among other things and also has established a junior reporter program designed to engage junior tennis players in town to write about and promote their sport.
Vegastennis.com also has increased the number and size of tournaments in Las Vegas and has tried to make the tourney experience more memorable for its players.
"We try to treat the kids like pros with free food catered during our tournaments, a gift bag with a sweatshirt or jacket and (provide) ball boys and girls for the finals with a PA system so the chair umpire can call score on center court," Wolfington said.
Wolfington recently teamed up with Hennessy and tennis star Andre Agassi's father, Mike, to convince the USTA to bring a national tournament -- the Mike Agassi No Quit Championships -- to Las Vegas. The event will be played Sept. 22-24 at the Las Vegas Hilton, UNLV and the Darling Tennis Center.
Wolfington and Hennessy, with Mike Agassi's help, also were instrumental in getting another tournament, the Young Guns Championships designated as a national tournament for Las Vegas. It will be played Friday through Sunday at the Las Vegas Hilton, Bally's Las Vegas, Alexander Dawson Middle School and The Meadows School.
Another collaboration of Wolfington and Hennessy is Vegastennis.com's Marty Hennessy Jr. Tennis Foundation, a nonprofit group founded to change kids lives through tennis.
The duo urged real estate mogul Ian Bruce Eichner, the developer of the Cosmopolitan Resort and Casino and a tennis student of Hennessy's, to donate $25,000 worth of tennis scholarships last year to the prestigious Nick Bollettieri/IMG Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Fla., for 13 Las Vegas kids who showed significant promise and a real love for the game.
"We help the kids that have a lot of talent but limited finances. Our goal is to use tennis as a way to help kids get college scholarships, while keeping them occupied in a sport that teaches them the lessons of life," Wolfington said. "You have to love what you do, and that rubs off on the kids and then they get inspired. I don't deserve an award, I am having the time of my life."
Like Wolfington, Lane is a bit in awe for getting an award for just doing something he loves so much to help young tennis players.
"Tennis has been really good to me," Lane said. "I have a happy home here and have really enjoyed the last 25 years. It's been a very good time and I feel like I've really been blessed."
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