How Jerry Horsford used tennis to make every opportunity count
In celebration of Black History Month taking place in February, USTA St. Louis is highlighting tennis player, coach and board member Jerry Horsford.
When Jerry Horsford moved to St. Louis, he didn’t know anyone in the city. Having left his job in New Jersey and moving to the Midwest for the first time, it took some getting used to.
“When I first got to St. Louis, I thought it was such a strange place,” Horsford said. “Back in New Jersey, there were people everywhere and houses everywhere. Here, there was no one in sight downtown.”
Almost immediately upon his arrival, Horsford called the USTA. Ironically, he had only just found out about the organization less than a year prior.
Originally from Grenada, Horsford grew up with limited access to tennis. There were some clubs and courts, but tennis was always something Horsford looked at from afar. It wasn’t until he was 36 and living in the United States that Horsford decided to try out the sport for himself. He and his cousin were back in the Caribbean, vacationing in Saint Martin, when four players caught his eye.
“They were all dressed in white,” Horsford said. “And when I saw them step onto the court and play I said to my cousin, ‘Hey, that looks pretty cool.’ And so we played, and I found out that tennis and ping-pong aren’t that much alike.”
When he returned to New Jersey, Horsford called up his cousin to start playing. At the time, they were enrolled in communications school in New Jersey where they met Sue Trethoway. Trethoway served as both a mentor and coach for Horsford and his cousin, teaching them how to play tennis on the school’s gymnasium floor.
And as the winter slowly released its grip on the Northeast, the cousins were determined to get out onto the courts and apply their skills.
“Once spring came around, we were halfway decent,” Horsford said.
But Horsford wouldn’t settle for halfway decent. Every time he stepped onto the court, he looked for ways to improve his game. For him, the opportunity came at weekly tennis parties across some of the local clubs. Horsford viewed these matches as his lab; they were where he learned from players better than him.
From there, Horsford and his cousin researched and joined USTA leagues to find new challenges.
“Wherever there was tennis, man, we played,” Horsford said. “It was such a wonderful outlet for us.”
And so when he arrived in St. Louis it seemed natural Horsford would find a community of people through tennis. He did just that, joining a team at Chesterfield Athletic Club alongside his wife.
“The friends that we made back then we still have,” Horsford said. “So that’s what made the transition from New Jersey to St. Louis so seamless for us. Had it not been for tennis, I don’t know that I would’ve stayed here.”
Horsford’s playing career hasn’t been without setbacks. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2009, which prevented him from playing tennis during and after treatment. Looking to get back in shape, Horsford got in touch with a friend from work who pointed him to an indoor soccer team.
His recovery didn’t go to plan, though. On the first day he stepped on the soccer pitch he ruptured his Achilles tendon, which left him sidelined for even more months. Later on in his career, Horsford went to the doctor with back pain. Doctors found a spinal infection, which had worked its way into his blood.
“They told me the infection was about to kill me,” Horsford said. “The doctor said he didn’t know how I was walking. Luckily for me tennis had kept me in shape, or else I might’ve died while walking down the street.”
These setbacks might have hindered Horsford’s stamina, but his mental strength shined through the adversity. With his tennis team, he competed and placed at national senior-level ITT tournaments, finishing third last year. His ambitions are to make it back to that position this year.
But what’s most admirable about Horsford is his commitment to the community. Aside from being a USTA St. Louis board member he’s the founder of Volrie Coaching, which helps advise and develop professional relationships. He also co-founded the St. Louis Tennis Collective, which has brought tennis lessons and clinics to countless adults and children in under-resourced communities.
“There weren’t a lot of Black people playing tennis in New Jersey,” Horsford said. “One of our core ideas for the collective was to bring kids from different socioeconomic backgrounds together—kids that might never cross paths otherwise.
“The relationships and opportunities that come from these sorts of things, I mean, they’re huge.”
To view more stories from across USTA Missouri Valley connected to Black History Month, click here.
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