Bethany College held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its new tennis facility, the Dr. Emory Lindquist Tennis Center, on October 19 in Lindsborg, Kansas.

 

Dr. Lindquist, former president at Bethany College, played tennis at Bethany before going on to become a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford. Named in her honor, the new site has six courts with covered seating for optimal match-viewing opportunities. 

 

The brand new facility is now one of the best-in-class of its conference and the local area. The new facility accurately pays homage to 130 years of tennis history intertwined within this small Swedish town nestled in the Kansas heartland.

 

The town is no stranger to building tennis greatness, boasting dozens of high school state champions coached by famed Lindsborg Smoky Valley Head Coach Ron Dahlstein. The Bethany College tennis team has 64 Kansas Conference Championships—the highest number for any sport of all schools in Kansas. 

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The project to raise money to build the new facility at Bethany College began when two Bethany women’s tennis players each donated $50 of their own money to bring awareness to the need for a new facility upon their graduation. This got the ball rolling for a group of tennis aficionados that included former players, coaches, and tennis community members to come together to donate any resources to assist the project. 

 

These donors generously donated time and gifts in order to show their appreciation for how tennis in Lindsborg has impacted their lives and the desire for others to have equally wonderful engagements with the sport. 

 

The ribbon-cutting ceremony was held during the Svensk Hyllningsfest celebration and Bethany College’s homecoming week, and was attended by many distinguished guests. Some of these guests include Dean of Athletics Laura Moreno, Vice President of Advancement David Earle, and Interim President Beth Mauch.

 

Grassroots tennis legends were in attendance as well, including Bill Guilfoil, one of America’s oldest teaching professionals, and over 250 other guests there to celebrate the victory of a tennis dream six years in the making. 

 

Dr. Bryce Young, former Bethany College tennis player and head coach, led the ceremony. 

 

Dr. Young won four Conference Championships as a player and ten as a coach at Bethany.  Dr. Young was instrumental in building the tennis community in Lindsborg through his work with the college and Bethany summer tennis camps that taught well-known players like Mike Goss, former player at Kansas State and current Chair of the International Tennis Hall of Fame. 

 

Beth Lindquist, daughter of Dr. Emory Lindquist, presented the official opening of the facility. 

 

This wonderfully modernized facility represents a town full of historic tennis greatness and hardworking people with miles of heart and a sport of which its community is not bound by time or territory, but rather the memories made between the lines.

 

“Lindsborg and Bethany’s tennis traditions truly make Lindsborg an American tennis town,” says Dr. Bryce Young.