Remembering Nick Bollettieri, the Hall of Fame tennis coach and game-changer

He was larger than life, and his memory will remain so. Nick Bollettieri, the Hall of Fame coach and pioneer of the famed IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., that's produced many of the game's greatest champions, died Sunday at age 91.

Born in Pelham, N.Y., just north of New York City, on July 31, 1931, Bollettieri's road to becoming a pillar of tennis started far away from the tennis courts. As a student at Pelham Memorial High School, he was quarterback of the football team. After graduating with a degree in philosophy from Spring Hill College in Mobile, Ala. (where he played just a year of tennis) in 1953, he became a paratrooper in the U.S. Army. He even spent five months in law school at the University of Miami. 

It was in Miami, though, where his personal empire had its humble beginnings: He taught tennis lessons on courts in North Miami Beach for a rate of $1.50 per 30 minutes. A stop at the Port Washington (N.Y.) Tennis Academy, which trained Mary Carillo, Vitas Gerulaitis and John McEnroe, followed, but years later, his own academy model would change tennis for good.

Over his more than 60 years in the industry, Bollettieri coached, either fully or in part, 10 players who went on to rise to world No. 1: Andre Agassi, Boris Becker, Jim Courier, Monica Seles, Maria Sharapova, Martina Hingis, Jelena Jankovic, Marcelo Rios, Serena Williams and Venus Williams. Many of those now-Hall of Fame players honed their games as children on Bollettieri's signature campus in Bradenton, which opened in 1978 as the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy and eventually revolutionzied the market for high-level sports performance for all ages.

Upon hearing of Bollettieri's passing, tributes to him from the tennis community were numerous and heartfelt. But they all shared a common sentiment: that there might never be another like him.

"Aside from being the greatest coach ever, you were so kind to me, my parents, and my siblings," Chris Evert wrote on Twitter. "That meant more to me than anything; you had a big heart and a zest for living."

In her own tribute, Billie Jean King wrote that Bollettieri was "always positive, and was able to get the best out of everyone fortunate enough to work [with] him," and Martina Navratilova said he was "an amazing coach," who "transformed how tennis is taught."

"Most of all, you were a very kind human being," Navratilova added, "[and] it was an honor to have known you."