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WHITE PLAINS , N.Y. , January 13, 2010 – The USTA announced today that Bev Taylor of Houston, Texas was selected as a 2010 USTA Eve F. Kraft Community Service Award recipient. She will be honored along with Helen Petersen of Indianapolis, Ind. during an awards banquet before more than 600 community tennis leaders at the annual USTA Community Tennis Development Workshop held January 22-24, 2010 at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina in San Diego, Calif.
The USTA bestows the Eve F. Kraft Community Service Award upon individuals who perpetuate Kraft’s selfless mission to bring the game of tennis to everyone who wants to play. Eve F. Kraft was a tennis pioneer whose ability to touch people’s lives exceeded the boundaries of the tennis court. As a teacher, coach, author, USTA staff member and volunteer, Kraft was a lifelong champion of recreational tennis in the United States until her death in 1999. She introduced thousands of young people to the game of tennis, particularly in disadvantaged communities.
Since its beginnings in 1990, Bev Taylor has worked with the Houston Tennis Association (HTA) to promote the National Junior Tennis & Learning (NJTL) as part of the expansion of the Community Tennis Association. She has overseen a successful partnership with the Houston Parks and Recreation Department, resulting in free youth programs that include tennis fundamentals and educational components that develop life skills. With Taylor’s guidance, educational programs were added to tennis classes where students learned to express themselves and develop creative abilities through art, writing and reading projects. An after-school enrichment program including tennis was also launched in 45 schools.
Taylor’s uncanny ability to raise money for scholarships and programs has been at the center of her contributions to the HTA. She has worked tirelessly to raise funds for college scholarships for young people participating in NJTL programs in the public parks, personally raising more than $1 million. Taylor served as the coordinator for volunteers from 1990-1994 for a WTA event, providing 400 volunteers each year to the event in return for a $4,000 annual donation to the HTA. From 1995-2000 she was the volunteer executive director for the Linda Lorelle Scholarship Fund where she organized tennis charity events to provide college scholarship money to low-income, multicultural youth. During her tenure, more than $872,000 was awarded. Taylor recently hosted a party to launch a new fundraising and expansion program for HTA/NJTL and successfully raised $10,000 to get the ball rolling. The goal is to help fund a state-of-the-art tennis facility for the City of Houston and expand the educational component of HTA/NJTL.
"Bev Taylor’s tenacious efforts to provide free tennis and educational opportunities for low-income, multicultural youth truly exemplify the spirit of the Eve Kraft Award," said Kurt Kamperman, Chief Executive, Community Tennis, USTA. "We honor Bev’s decades of dedication to tennis and her community with this award.”