Ned Caswell
At 18, Ned Caswell lost in the first round of the main draw in the Georgia State Qualifying tournament. He also lost in the first round of the back draw (consolations).
Four years later (1987), he was a two-time college All-American in tennis at Furman, having reached the round of 16 and quarterfinals in the NCAA singles tournament in Athens, Ga.
BY the start of the new millennium, Caswell, who currently lives on Lookout Mountain, had won age group world titles in singles 35s (1999) and doubles (1999 and 2001) and held a world No.1 ranking in 35s singlehalls.
Three months from now, the former basketball walk-on at Furman will enter the Southern Tennis Association Hall of Fame at a dinner in Atlanta. He joins Pat Devoto (Decatur, Ga.) and Jeff Gray (Mobile, Ala.) as members of the STA HOF class of 2017.
Devoto is considered the founder of the USTA Adult leagues with more than 500,000 players and Gray served as USTA Southern President in 2005-06 and USTA Alabama State president in 1978.
“It’s pretty remarkable to go from losing In the first round of the state qualifying in the 18s to now being elected to the prestigious Southern Tennis Association hall of fame,” said Caswell earlier this week who is the general manager and director of tennis of the Manker Patten Tennis Club in Chattanooga. “I am thrilled and honored with this award.”
Caswell, 52, is also the director of the nationally-recognized Baylor School tennis program which has multiple state, rotary and DeCoturf team titles, and coached Anderson (S.C.) Junior College to the 1992 national championship and was national junior college coach of the year twice.
Seven HOFers from Manker Patten: Caswell is the seventh club member to be elected to the STA Hall of Fame joining Tommy Bartlett (who passed away Wednesday), Alex Guerry, Zan Guerry, Roscoe Tanner, Bill Tym and Frank Willett.
Four Halls of Fame: Caswell is also a member of the Greater Chattanooga HOF, Tennessee Tennis HOF and the Furman Univ. Athletics HOF.
contact B.B. Branton at william.branton@comcast.net