Fotopoulos, Price, Steinmeyer selected as 2025 USTA Missouri Valley HOF inductees
Three standout contributors to the sport of tennis—Sam Fotopoulos, Nathan Price and David Steinmeyer—comprise the 2025 United States Tennis Association Missouri Valley Hall of Fame class. The trio will be inducted into the USTA Missouri Valley Hall of Fame on Dec. 6 at the Olathe Conference Center in Kansas as part of the USTA Missouri Valley’s Annual Conference occurring Dec. 4-6.
Fotopoulos, Price and Steinmeyer become the 148th, 149th and 150th members of the USTA Missouri Valley Hall of Fame, which was established in 1986. The recognition represents the section’s highest honor given to individuals who have distinguished themselves for making significant contributions to tennis.
Sam Fotopoulos
Lifelong tennis player Sam Fotopoulos (Prairie Village, Kan.) has been a standout competitor at each stage of his career that spans 55-plus years. Fotopoulos was a top-ranked USTA Missouri Valley and USTA national junior, and he captured a high school state singles championship in undefeated fashion.
His collegiate career included a Big Eight Conference title at the University of Oklahoma. While in college Fotopoulos represented Greece on the country’s national team, traveling the globe as a Davis Cup member.
He has been a champion in every age division of USTA Heart of America and has accumulated 12 USTA National Championship Balls during his distinguished tournament career. Fotopoulos and his daughter, Mimi, teamed up to become the No. 1-ranked USTA father-daughter duo in the nation in 2018.
Fotopoulos was introduced to tennis at the age of 5 by his father, John Fotopoulos, a former top USTA national player in his own right. Fotopoulos met his wife, Angie, while both were attending the University of Oklahoma. He taught tennis to his children, Chris and Mimi, who each went on to play collegiately for the Sooners.
Fotopoulos was named the USTA Heart of America Player of the Year in 1997, while the Fotopoulos crew was chosen as the district’s Family of the Year in 2005. Fotopoulos was previously inducted into the USTA Heart of America Hall of Fame in 2021.
Nathan Price
Former ATP Tour player and University of Arkansas standout Nathan Price (formerly Tulsa, Okla.) enters the USTA Missouri Valley Hall of Fame after previously being inducted into the Oklahoma Tennis Hall of Fame in 2016.
Price—who now lives in Lafayette, California with his wife, daughter and son—grew up in a tennis household. His father, Cliff Price, is a fellow USTA Missouri Valley Hall of Famer (1999) and put a racquet in his son’s hands at the age of 18 months.
Price captured the 2000 Oklahoma 5A state championship in high school before playing No. 1 singles and doubles for the University of Arkansas. He led the Razorbacks to the 2004 Sweet 16 for the first time since 1986.
Tennis lifer Sam Fotopoulos and Mimi Fotopoulos teamed up to become one of the most dominant father-daughter duos in the country.
Nathan Price excelled at the University of Arkansas before competing professionally against the top players in the world on the ATP Tour.
David Steinmeyer's 52-year coaching career included multiple state titles at Jefferson City High School in mid-Missouri.
- Tennis lifer Sam Fotopoulos and Mimi Fotopoulos teamed up to become one of the most dominant father-daughter duos in the country.
- Nathan Price excelled at the University of Arkansas before competing professionally against the top players in the world on the ATP Tour.
- David Steinmeyer's 52-year coaching career included multiple state titles at Jefferson City High School in mid-Missouri.
He played on the ATP Tour part-time while in college and full-time for two years from 2004 to 2006, picking up wins over several ATP top-100 competitors. Price began his career within the tennis industry at Prince Sports before joining Wilson in 2013. He helped create 100-plus new tennis racquets and collaborated with Roger Federer and Serena Williams to design and develop their Autograph-line racquets.
Price paired with his dad to capture three USTA Gold Balls and two USTA Silver Balls at national father-son tournaments from 2000 to 2012, with the duo ranked No. 1 nationally in 2012. He served on the USTA National Pro Circuit Committee in 2013-14.
David Steinmeyer
Longtime tennis coach David Steinmeyer (Jefferson City, Mo.) taught tennis for 52 years from 1956 to 2017, including a 31-year stint as a high school coach. Steinmeyer spent 23 of those years at Jefferson City High School, where his teams and players racked up state championships and produced nearly 450 dual-match victories.
He became a staple in the Jefferson City tennis community and earned the nickname “Mr. Tennis” in central Missouri. His tennis-playing grandchildren who he taught throughout their standout careers simply knew their grandpa as “Coach.”
Though Steinmeyer didn’t play tennis in high school or college and didn’t know much about the sport at the time, he was asked to coach the Webster Groves High School team soon after he graduated from college. After a decade at Webster Groves, Steinmeyer coached tennis and basketball at his alma mater of Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri.
In 1976, Steinmeyer took the reins as tennis head coach at Jefferson City High School, where he remained until 1998. His boys' and girls' teams posted a combined record of 447-107-2, a winning percentage of 80.6. The Jefferson City girls’ tennis program captured state championships in 1987 and 1993 and finished second in 1990 and ’92.
Steinmeyer built up the numbers in his tennis program in part by working summers for the Jefferson City Park Board and the Jefferson City Area YMCA. After his retirement as a PE teacher, Steinmeyer taught tennis for two decades at the YMCA. The tennis courts at the YMCA were named in his honor in 2018. Steinmeyer was previously inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2021.
Make plans to see these three individuals get inducted into the USTA Missouri Valley Hall of Fame on Dec. 6. Learn more by clicking here.
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