The Hargrett Library and the ITA Men’s Tennis Hall of Fame will cohost a panel discussion about the history of the NCAA tennis championships in Athens. The talk will be held May 3 at UGA’s Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries.
When the NCAAs return to Athens for the 29th time beginning May 18, it will mark the 45th anniversary of the championship’s first appearance at Georgia’s tennis facility, now called the Dan Magill Tennis Complex. Georgia men’s tennis coach Manuel Diaz was a UGA freshman playing for Magill when the NCAAs first arrived in 1972; he’s now in his 29th season as the tennis team’s head coach and has won three of his four national championships on the home courts at UGA.
Diaz will be joined on the panel by longtime Georgia women’s coach Jeff Wallace, who played for UGA in the early 1980s before beginning his tenure as the head coach of the women’s team, as well as Jack Frierson, a former UGA player and assistant coach under Diaz. An Athens native, Frierson grew up serving as a ball boy at the NCAAs for many years before going on to play and coach in the event a few blocks from his childhood home.
As coaches, Diaz and Wallace have won NCAA team titles on their home courts—Wallace’s Lady Dogs won in 1994, the first time the women’s championships were held in Athens—and Frierson was Diaz’s assistant when the Bulldogs won here in 1999.
The panel discussion is being held in conjunction with the exhibit A Championship Tradition: The NCAA Tournament in Athens,which will be on display in the rotunda of the Russell Building through May 30.
The exhibit explores the teams and players who have shaped the rich tradition of collegiate tennis in Athens through photographs and objects relating to the NCAA tournament, using materials from the archives of the UGA Athletic Association, which are housed in the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
Open free to the public, the panel discussion will be held from 5:30-6:30 p.m. The exhibit will be open before and after the event, which also is on display weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 1-5 p.m. The Russell Building is located at 300 S. Hull St., across the street from the Hull Street parking deck.
Moderating the discussion will be John Frierson, curator of the ITA Men’s Tennis Hall of Fame. Like his older brother, Frierson was an NCAA ball boy for many years, before later covering the event for the Athens Banner-Herald and numerous other news outlets.