Hanover’s Impact Elevates Local Tennis

In honor of its 100th anniversary in 2020, the USTA Missouri Valley will be recognizing 100 deserving tennis providers, players, partners and more across our section throughout the year.

Selected nominees will be given a Gold Star award, recognizing them for the contributions they are making to support and grow the game in the USTA Missouri Valley based on specific program areas and attributes. 

One of the award winners from within the USTA Heart of America this August is Scott Hanover, whose roles in USTA Heart of America tennis are nearly too numerous to list. 

Among them are his roles as Executive Director of the Stephanie Waterman Foundation, Director of Outreach at Overland Park Racquet Club and Treasurer of the National Public Parks Tennis Association.

Hanover attributes his vast successes to the hard-working cohorts that aid him in his many tennis ventures.

“With every activity I have going, there's somebody right there partnering with me to make sure we are serving our constituents,” he said. “Whether it's Skip (Span), Daryl (Wyatt) or Amy (Hatch) with the SWF, Ryan (Wilson) at WTT, Anthony (Perkins) at OPRC, Mark (Mills) at Rockhurst High School, or Brandon (Cusick) with the MV Adult Committee, there's always a partner-in-crime, who is providing me with guidance and influence. You really are only as good as your support team.”

Hanover has been an integral member of Heart of America tennis for the past two-plus decades. He accepted a job as Director of Tennis for the Plaza Tennis Center in 1996, where he remained for nearly 23 years. He spent the last half of 2019 in Dallas before returning to Kansas City to be closer to family in January of 2020 and taking on his roles at the SWF and OPRC.

“I’ve been extremely fortunate with all of the volunteer and staff opportunities that I’ve had in tennis,” Hanover said. “I’ve gotten to serve at a national level and I’ve gotten to do very local, grassroots efforts. Both are still challenging and interesting to me and I enjoy having those opportunities presented to me.”

Despite his already-intense involvement, Hanover still enjoys branching out and trying new things. His commitment to the game of tennis and to the people that he serves is apparent. 

“I get to do so many different, interesting things in tennis. It always makes for an enjoyable day, and for fantastic evenings and weekends,” he said. “I get to interact with friends and colleagues and constituents. I continue to be motivated and to really enjoy the camaraderie of tennis in the area.”