Former USTA Southern President Jack Mills passes

Former USTA Southern President and USTA Regional Vice President Jack Mills passed away in Columbia, S.C., on June 8. He was 88.

An active tennis volunteer for over 40 years, he served as President of USTA South Carolina in 1977-78. He was inducted into the South Carolina Tennis Hall of Fame in 1992 and into the Southern Tennis Hall of Fame in 2009. His term leading USTA Southern spanned 1988-1989. He was a charter board member of the South Carolina Tennis Patrons Foundation and a long-time volunteer for the Southern Tennis Foundation (STF). 

Mills has a robust list of accomplishments in the tennis world. He served on the USTA League Committee, chaired the Sanctions and Schedules Committee, and the Public Affairs Committee, where he assisted in obtaining more than $700,000 in government grants as well as a pro-bono USTA advertising appearance by NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon. He was elected USTA Regional Vice President, representing four sections including Southern.

. In 1993, he was a member of the US Open Committee and chaired the US Open Project Committee during the planning and construction of Arthur Ashe Stadium and the renovation of Louis Armstrong Stadium. He represented the USTA on the International Tennis Federation Olympic Committee before and during the 1996 games in Atlanta and was an advisor to the committee that focused on the construction of the tennis stadium and complex.

In 2002, Mills received the Order of the Palmetto, South Carolina’s highest civilian award. He owned and was President of Mills Communications. He was named one of the 25 most influential sports figures in South Carolina and listed among the state’s top 100 sports figures for the millennium. 

His dedication to tennis and his involvement in NASCAR, where he has worked with many of the sport’s top celebrities, have led to other achievements in the world of sports.

Columbia’s newspaper The State wrote in 2006, “Columbia businessman Jack Mills is a well-connected person, and that has been a boon for tennis and auto racing in South Carolina.”

He has been a member of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness & Sports, a board member of PE4Life, and Chairman of the Advisory Board for the College of Hospitality, Retail & Sports Management at the University of South Carolina.

The Jack Mills Endowment Fund was established by Mills’ friends and admirers in his home state of South Carolina, the section, and the nation to recognize his lifetime of contributions to the sport of tennis. These college scholarships are distributed by the Southern Tennis Foundation and can help students offset expenses during their four years at a college or university. 

Brett Schwartz, who currently serves as USTA Southern President & CEO, said, “Jack was a beloved tennis volunteer who was highly influential in the game, not only in the South, but also around the entire country. His acumen, generosity and kindness will be sorely missed. He was a great man.”

Erin Mills, Jack's widow, has written an extensive remembrance of her husband. Click here to download.

More information about services for Mills can be found here.