Women's Tennis
Been Elected to Texas Tennis Hall of Fame Class of 2006

Former UH tennis standout John A. Been to be enshrined at the Texas Tennis Hall of Fame on November 4.

Fomer UH tennis standout John A. Been is one of four tennis players that make up the 26th class of the Texas Tennis Hall of Fame.
 
Fomer UH tennis standout John A. Been is one of four tennis players that make up the 26th class of the Texas Tennis Hall of Fame.
  
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Sept. 22, 2006

WACO - Former UH tennis standout John A. Been is one of four tennis players that make up the 26th class inducted into the Texas Tennis Hall of Fame. Been will be joined by Ben Bell, Barbara Lain Camp and Bill Lust.

Been, a native of Shawnee, Okla., earned a tennis scholarship to the University of Houston in 1953 after learning to play tennis at age 12. He won the Missouri Valley Conference singles title three times in addition to the conference doubles title four times, and was a NCAA doubles semifinalist in his senior year. As an adult player he defeated Sammy Giammalva, a United States Davis Cup player and Ulf Schmidt, an international ranked player. Along with his doubles partner Richard Schuette (a 2001 Hall of Fame Inductee), he won a total of five national doubles championships, and in 1972, ranked No. 1 nationally in the Men's 45-and-over doubles. Other highlights include playing on the United States Osuna Cup team, winning the doubles event with Howard Startzman.

Been noted that his favorite tennis memories center around the people against whom he has played tennis, including two U.S. presidents and several celebrities. Been is a successful insurance salesman in Houston, and an active part of the Houston tennis community. A 2005 Inductee of the United States Tennis Association Missouri Valley Hall of Fame, his love of the game is legendary, as is his ability to bring others to the game and encourage them to play on a higher level.

Tickets for the event are available to the public by contacting Maria VanVreede at the Texas Tennis Museum and Hall of Fame at 254-756-2307, or txtennismuseum@earthlink.net. Event sponsorships are also available.

The Texas Tennis Hall of Fame is officially overseen by the USTA Texas Section (www.texas.usta.com), which is also a sponsoring partner of the Museum. Past inductees include tennis legends Zina Garrison, Maureen Connolly Brinker, Steve Denton and Cliff and Nancy Richey.

All the proceeds from the event benefit the Texas Tennis Museum and Hall of Fame, a non-profit institution dedicated to the collection and preservation of tennis history, particularly in Texas. The goal of the Museum is to educate the public about tennis, tennis history, and Texas tennis history and to provide role models through the Texas Tennis Hall of Fame Inductees for generations to come. To this end the TTMHF collects, preserves, researches and exhibits related artifacts.

The Texas Tennis Hall of Fame contributed to this report.

 

 

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