The David Benjamin Award
A memorable day for me in New York
NEW YORK – Journalists are no doubt better suited to asking the questions than being the focus of attention, but I was touched and surprised to be this year’s recipient of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s David A. Benjamin Achievement Award.
It was the 30th anniversary of the award, which honors a person who has played varsity tennis at the collegiate level and has gone on to achieve “excellence in a chosen profession” (other than being a professional tennis player or coach).
I gave a speech on Sunday at the ceremony at the Yale Club in New York. I will post it in full below for paying subscribers. One of the perks of being the honoree was getting to spend time in the merry company of Stan Smith and his wife Margie, who both endowed the award in 2015 in honor of David Benjamin, a Harvard tennis standout and the longtime Princeton men’s tennis coach and former executive director and chairman of the board of the ITA.
Stan and Margie were college tennis players: Stan at USC and Margie at Princeton, where she was part of the first Princeton women’s tennis team in 1971, shortly after Princeton had gone co-ed in 1969.
Stan went on to win the U.S. Open in 1971 and Wimbledon in 1972, when he was the consensus world No. 1 in a time before computer rankings. Margie also competed at the Grand Slam level.
The Smiths’ family connections to tennis and the college game remain deep. Their son Ramsey is men’s coach at Duke University, where he was a two-time All American.
Stan and Margie, both in their 70s, are still brimming with passion for the sport, as is the soft-spoken Benjamin, who has played a central role in college tennis through the years as it has navigated the big shift to no-ad scoring, an end to let serves and format changes.
What also made the weekend memorable was the chance to share the moment with student-athlete award winners like Eliot Spizzirri, the two-time ITA National Player of the year at Texas, who qualified for this year’s US Open in singles. Meeting these poised, upbeat and accomplished young people along with their coaches and parents made me feel better about the future despite all the challenges ahead.
A copy of my acceptance speech is below, and I also have recorded an audio version for paying subscribers. It has been a busy time as I work on my Nadal book and juggle other commitments, but I will be back with regular pieces from the US Open in the days ahead.
Thanks for all your support of Tennis & Beyond. It has been a happy and rewarding first year!