BLACK TENNIS HALL OF FAME PIONEER VIRGINIA M. GLASS HAS DIED
Sunday, April 19, 2020
Virginia M. Glass was inducted into the Black Tennis Hall of Fame with the class of 2013 that also included John Harding Lucas, II, Bessie Stockard, Sydney Llewellyn, James "Jimmy" Smith, and Lucille Freeman.
In 1991, Glass made history by becoming the first female president of the American Tennis Association (ATA). She served as president for two two-year terms. In addition, Glass was the first woman of color to serve on the USTA executive committee. In 1969, she co-founded the Mountain View Tennis Club in San Diego, CA and was one of the original founders of the San Diego District Tennis Association. Glass’ long service with this influential organization included serving as president and at-large board member. She was also one of the original founders of the San Diego Umpires Association and served as a West Coast editor for Black Tennis Magazine. In 1988, Glass won the Women’s 60-and-over division of the International Tennis Federation Veterans Championship. In 2008, Glass received the “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the Southern California Tennis Association (SCTA) for her work with local tennis organizations and Community Development.
Glass served on the ATA’s junior development committee and as a board member of the Black Tennis & Sports Foundation. Over the last 70 plus years, she has volunteered at virtually every level of organized tennis both in the ATA and the USTA. In addition to her volunteer work, Glass was a very successful tennis parent who is the proud mother of Sidney and Luis Glass who were top junior players in the USTA Eastern Section. Sidney Glass played tennis at the University of Wisconsin and Luis Glass went on to be an All-American tennis player at UCLA. In 2010, Glass was inducted into the San Diego Tennis Hall of Fame.
Glass traveled an incredible road in life — from spending three years in World War II concentration camps in her native Philippines, where she lost her father and two sisters — to living in “America’s Finest City.”
Along the way, Glass developed a passion for tennis in all aspects — playing, coaching, running tournaments and working with many organizations associated with the sport.
“Being elected is an acknowledgement and recognition of the efforts I have made to opening up tennis to minorities.
“Our main emphasis with the club has always been on the development of junior players. The National Junior Tennis League (NJTL), inspired by the late tennis great Arthur Ashe, has been a huge help to our efforts.”
Ms. Glass died on Thursday, April 16th.
FORMER AMERICAN TENNIS ASSOCIATION EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ALBERT A. TUCKER HAS DIED
Albert A. Tucker served as Vice President of Multicultural Business Development for the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau (GFLCVB), where he was focused on ensuring that organizations and families of diverse backgrounds select Greater Fort Lauderdale as the destination of choice for conferences and family reunions. It was Tucker’s vision to expose ethnically diverse individuals and groups to Greater Fort Lauderdale so that GFL becomes the destination of choice for individuals of color.
Mr. Tucker had been the leader in the development of a Permanent Home and Training Facility for the American Tennis Association where he formerly served as Executive Director.
In addition to his public service, Mr. Tucker served on the Advisory Board of the Urban League of Broward County, Advisory Board of the 100 Black Men of Greater Fort Lauderdale and was intimately involved with the expansion of Jazz in the Gardens musical festival, which brings in more than 45,000 visitors to South Florida
.
WPLG Local 10 News stated that Mr. Tucker died suddenly this weekend. His co-workers said his death was not related to the coronavirus. A video is posted detailing the work and community appreciation for Mr. Tucker.
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