G Profile: One Love

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One Love

Lucy Garvin looks surprisingly fresh for someone who’s just traveled back from a week in Brno, Czech Republic. She’s logged 22 hours and multiple plane changes in the past two days, but the president of the United States Tennis Association (USTA) is as bright-eyed and charming as though she’d spent a week at a spa rather than representing the association at the Fed Cup matches, the premier team competition in women’s tennis.

When the phone rings for the third time in a space of ten minutes, she simply shakes her head, smiles, and goes on to discuss upcoming college tournaments played closer to home—at Furman and Clemson. For that, Garvin is grateful.

“I had a good night’s sleep,” she admits. “You should have seen me yesterday.”

After more than three decades serving in all capacities at the local, regional, and national levels of the tennis association, Garvin is no less the tireless advocate of the sport than when she first got involved, a fact that was no doubt a big part of what cinched her the top spot on the USTA board.

Made up of a diverse collection of board members including former NYC mayor David Dinkins and several former professionals, the organization is 760,000 members strong with chapters all across the country. As she professes how easy it is to love all-things tennis, her candor and enthusiasm suggest what she really is: a die-hard fan who firmly believes that grassroots efforts are still the best way to drum up support and future professional players for this elite game.

“I stay involved because it is very valuable to have a hands-on connection to running the junior circuit,” which means pitching in and helping out, right down to small details such as coordinating food and beverage service. “It’s a little unusual for the president of the USTA to be doing that,” she admits.

Trim and tanned and trotting around wearing a lemon-yellow v-neck tee, black athletic pants, and immaculate tennis shoes, it’s easy to imagine a time when Lucy Garvin played professionally, though she never did. “I started playing when I was 30,” she offers with a rueful smile.

By occupation, Garvin was a registered nurse who came to the sport while she was engaged in another volunteer activity: president of the Junior Women’s Club in Barrington, Rhode Island. Citing a fitness directive from then-president Kennedy, she asked the club’s vice-president, a British-born tennis enthusiast, to teach the sport to the club’s couple hundred members.

It was love at first serve, and Garvin “played ferociously” until her family moved to Greenville in 1973, when husband Bob was transferred to the local office of National Starch and Chemical. Garvin continued to play at Holly Tree and then at the newly established Racquet Club (now Sportsclub) and got her two children playing, as well. “Greenville has a great tennis community,” she says. “It just became a way of life for us.”

Eventually both Bob Jr. and daughter Nadine played competitively at J.L. Mann High School, then at Furman. Bob Sr. played at the club level, as well. From playing doubles herself and shuttling her young players to practices and matches, Garvin made the transition from participant to volunteer when Wilton McKinney (Greenville Country Club’s longtime director of tennis and a founder of the South Carolina Tennis Association) took her to her first SCTA meeting in 1974. Volunteering at the Belton-based Palmetto Championships—the national qualifying event for junior players statewide—followed, which had her working alongside USTA Southern Section past presidents Rex Maynard and Jim Russell. She even went on to become a certified referee. In this way, Garvin moved up to become president of the SCTA, then held committee and board positions in the USTA before landing at the helm of the organization in January.

“I ended up giving so much time,” says Garvin without a hint of complaint. The ultimate sportswoman, she states emphatically that she didn’t set out to be president, but rather, “just wanted to make the sport better for other people.” She’s already doing it, not only by serving as the USTA’s third-ever female leader in over 100 years, but by furthering the group’s “Quick Start” initiative. Geared to introduce those aged 6-11 to the sport, the games use foam balls, small racquets, and small courts so children are able to rally and have fun right away.

It is plain to see the initiative is near to Garvin’s heart, as her eyes stray to a wall of framed pastels of her seven grandchildren. She points out the youngest, Justus, who is just getting his chops at age 7. “We also want to develop world champions,” Garvin explains of the system led by Pat McEnroe to set up training centers. And it’s already working she says, noting this recent Fed Cup’s “glorious victory with a very young team.”

Garvin does point out that mentoring volunteers is just as important as grooming players. “My mission is to make sure it starts with people like me who say ‘I’ll give some time.’” And that is the biggest part of her role as president. She hasn’t missed a U.S. Open since 1979, has brought her granddaughters to Paris and Barcelona for tournaments, and it looks as though the next two years are going to be heavily scheduled with events both here and abroad: from Spain and Australia to Mexico and Russia.

The good news is that Bob, now retired, is along for the ride. Their 48-year marriage has certainly weathered the vicissitudes of spending time apart, but now they get to travel together. His staunch support is clear as he hovers nearby, fielding phone calls, collecting photos, and proffering information on the finer points of the division of the national organization.

Of the woman he first met when they were both in seventh grade he says, “I think her time as a nurse served her well. She’s always positive and patient, and she has great instincts.” Lucy gets quiet for a moment considering his praise. When she collects her thoughts she offers up a final nugget. “There is a lot of integrity in this sport. You have to be honest, fair, and respectful of your opponent. Then do your best. That is all you can expect.” Words she lives by every day.

Lucy Garvin

Hometown: Bristol, Rhode Island

Family: Husband, Bob Sr.; son, Bob Jr., and daughter, Nadine

Position:
President, United States Tennis Association

Favorite up-and-comer:
Melanie Oudin

Favorite Travel Destination:
Prague. “A city not destroyed by war, with architecture from the 1400s and wonderful people.”

Most interesting person met through the USTA:
Billie Jean King. “A pioneer for women in the sport with a great sense of humor.”

Fantasy Tennis Matchup:
Played between John McEnroe and Serena Williams

Awards:
South Carolina Tennis Hall of Fame, 1998; USTA Southern Tennis Hall of Fame, 2005