(Nov. 13, 2000) — Dennis Emery, the head men’s tennis coach at the University of Kentucky, will be inducted into the Kentucky Tennis Hall of Fame on Saturday,November 18, at 6 p.m., at the Seelbach Hilton Hotel in Louisville. Along with Emery, former UK tennis player Ben Moore of Frankfort will also be inductedat the reception.
Emery has headed the highly successful UK program for 18 seasons and last year coached senior Carlos Drada to the NCAA finals, where hefinished as runner-up to Stanford’s Alex Kim in an electrifying run. Emery’s Cats have been ranked in the preseason top 20 for 14 of the past 15seasons. Emery brought home his first Southeastern Conference championship in 1992. He was subsequently named the SEC Coach of the Year,an honor he repeated in 1999.
Emery also serves as UK’s Director of Tennis, overseeing both the men’s and women’s tennis programs. Mark Guilbeau coaches the women’sprogram. An accomplished player, Emery earned Honorable Mention All-American honors at Carson-Newman College in 1977 and played brieflyon the satellite tour. He began coaching at Austin Peay in 1978 at the tender age of 22, making him the youngest head coach in Division I tennis.
Emery is a member of the ITA Board of Directors and serves as tournament director for the $100,000 Fifth-Third Bank ATP Challenger, whichis held every August at the Boone Tennis Complex. Emery and his wife, Brenda, have three children: Merritt, 11, Andrew, 14, and Matt, 17, who willjoin the 2001 Wildcat tennis squad in January.
The induction ceremony marks the 16th by the Kentucky Tennis Hall of Fame. Past recipients include Dr. H.H. Downing, for whom several UKtennis courts are named, and Joe Creason. Moore, who will round out the 2000 induction class, played tennis at UK in the late 1940s and hasbecome a tennis icon in his hometown of Frankfort. He is responsible for building lighted tennis courts for the local high school teams to use andeven lends his wisdom by coaching the teams on a part-time basis.
The featured speaker at this year’s banquet is Olympic tennis coach Stan Smith. Tickets for the event are $50 per person and are available bycontacting the KTA offices at (502) 456-6682.
