Rich Berman, Class of 2015

A top Southern California junior tennis standout, Rich received All American Honors at Cal State Long Beach for his college play. He quickly moved into teaching — all but a handful of those years in Colorado — where he’s produced dozens of top junior players.

In 1993, Rich began teaching and coaching wheelchair tennis. He served as coach to Australia’s David Hall, and while working together, Hall dominated wheelchair tennis across the globe, finishing No. 1 in world singles rankings for six years. With Rich in his coaching box, Hall amassed an unmatched nine Australian Opens, eight US Opens and seven British Opens and won gold in Sydney at the 2000 Paralympics.

With Bill Trubey, Rich created the wheelchair tennis curriculum for the PTR — the world’s largest tennis teaching organization.

Later, in 2014, Rich teamed with Hall again to create a free online resource for wheelchair players to learn mechanics and strategy of the game.