National

Richard & Eleanor Brenner posthumously honored with NJTL Founders’ Service Award

April 01, 2025

Thirteen advocates for the sport of tennis at the grassroots and local levels were honored with national awards at the 2025 USTA Annual Meeting and Conference in Carlsbad, Calif.

 

WATCH: Richard and Eleanor Brenner posthumously honored with the National Junior Tennis & Learning (NJTL) Founders' Service Award

Richard and Eleanor Brenner, co-founders of First Serve New Mexico, were posthumously honored with the National Junior Tennis & Learning (NJTL) Founders’ Service Award during the 2025 USTA Annual Meeting & Conference in Carlsbad, Calif.

 

First Serve New Mexico, located in the city of Santa Fe, is one of over 250 chapters of the USTA Foundation’s NJTL network, a nationwide group of sports-based community organizations that use tennis as a tool to prepare young people from under-resourced communities for the challenges and opportunities that life brings. 

In addition to having been a tennis family, the Brenners wanted the young people of New Mexico to learn a lifelong sport that could help them build confidence and feel a sense of belonging. First Serve New Mexico’s unique program combines academic tutoring, life skills coaching and tennis instruction to create a robust curriculum that prepares student-athletes for the world.

 

“The Brenners were staunch supporters of tennis and education, and they believed in the powerful impact the combination of the two can have in a young person’s life,” said USTA Foundation CEO Ginny Ehrlich.

 

“Thanks to their vision, thousands of students in Santa Fe have been able to access programs that can help them excel in school and sports and inspire them to strive for excellence in all areas of their lives. The Brenners’ legacies will be felt in the Santa Fe community for generations to come.”

Chris Slakey poses with a trophy for the NJTL Founders’ Service Award given posthumously to Eleanor & Richard Brenner during the 2025 Annual Meeting & Conference. Photo by Fred Mullane/USTA.

Established in 2010, the NJTL Founders’ Service Award recognizes an individual who has demonstrated a longstanding commitment to positive youth development through tennis and education, delivers outstanding service to children from under-resourced communities with free or low-cost tennis, and provides education and life-skills programming. The NJTL network serves as the flagship program supported by the USTA Foundation.

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