The Elliott family has been a driving force behind the thriving tennis scene in Grand Junction, Colorado since 1958. Four of the Elliott children are local tennis coaches. Carol is the head coach at Grand Junction High School, Sandra is an assistant coach. Julie was also an assistant coach at GJHS. Ron runs the middle and high school leagues during the summer.
Kathy and Sandra also give drills to adults, and if you’ve been lucky enough to drill with them you know how much they care about the tennis community. After a drill you not only feel better about tennis, you feel better about yourself. Thank you, Elliotts!
Lena Elliott at Colorado Mesa University. Photo courtesy of The Daily Sentinel.
Lena Elliott: Serving up aces
The Daily Sentinel, Sunday, March 6, 2011.
There is no such thing as halfway effort with Lena Elliott.
There isn’t a powerful ear she won’t bend, an event she won’t coordinate or a decision she won’t chime in on if she’s passionate about something. And two of the things she’s been most passionate about since moving to Grand Junction in 1957 have been tennis and education.
She learned to play tennis so she and her husband of 49 years, Carter, could play doubles as a team. Their 11 children — John, Kathy, Sharon, Ronald, David, Robert, Patricia, Sandra, Carol Ann, Steven and Julie — also fell in love with the sport, and the family played on a court in their backyard.
The Elliotts were named Family of the Month by the U.S. Tennis Association in 1986, Lena played with daughter Sandra at the U.S. Open’s Equitable Tennis Challenge in 1979 and again with daughter Julie in 1987, and she has directed the Grand Junction Tennis Club Board of Directors, the Boys and Girls State Tennis Meet, and the Western Colorado Junior Tennis Tournament, to name a few accomplishments.
One of Elliott’s first contributions in town came one year after she arrived, when she hosted the inaugural Western Slope Open. Taco Bell was later added to the front of the name.
Elliott, 77, uses proceeds from the tournament for local programs and scholarships as well as tennis supplies, and organizes 100 volunteers for the yearly event, which now attracts over 1,000 entrants of all ages and abilities.
Read entire article at http://www.gjsentinel.com/portrait/articles/lena-elliott-serving-up-aces.
Kathy Elliott, photo courtesy of Dean Humphrey, The Daily Sentinel
Kathy Elliot to receive award from Colorado USTA for contributions to tennis community
By Tim Harty, The Daily Sentinel
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Kathy Elliott did her darnedest to get USTA Colorado to reconsider the action it was going to take.
Alas, her plea fell on deaf ears.
Like it or not, she was told, she’s done so much for tennis over the years in the communities she’s served that it’s about time that she be recognized for it.
So, tonight, as part of USTA Colorado’s annual Colorado Tennis Hall of Fame Gala, Elliott will receive the Bud Robineau Award for contributions to the tennis community. It is an honor recognizing longtime service to the tennis community.
Elliott should have known her argument would be futile, but like the competitive player and coach that she’s been most of her life, she had to try. So, upon learning she’d been chosen for the Robineau Award, which USTA Colorado Executive Director Fritz Garger said is the most prestigious award it gives, Elliott immediately crafted a note to Garger.
“I wrote him, ‘No way are you giving me this award,’ ” Elliott said. “I said, ‘Here’s a list of people who deserve this award,’ and I came up with every name in the universe I could think of.”
Read entire article at http://www.gjsentinel.com/special_sections/articles/kathy-elliott-to-receive-award-from-colorado-usta.
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