Kitty Harrison (tennis)

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Not to be confused with Catherine Harrison (tennis).
Kitty Harrison
Harrison c. 1980
Full nameKatherine Gordon Harrison
ResidenceChapel Hill, North Carolina, U.S.
Born1934 (age 89–90)
Austin, Texas, U.S.
CollegeTexas (BA, MA)
Coaching career
North Carolina (1976–1998)

Katherine Gordon Harrison (born 1934) is an American former college tennis coach who was the head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels women's tennis team from 1976 to 1998. She attended the University of Texas at Austin at a time when the school did not field a women's team. She studied classics as a postgraduate at Texas and North Carolina before becoming a professional tennis instructor. She was the all-time winningest Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) women's tennis coach at the time of her retirement.

Early life and education

Harrison grew up in Austin, Texas.[1] Her father, Dr. Thomas P. Harrison, went to college at the University of North Carolina.[2][3] She took up tennis at age seven or eight and received instruction from University of Texas classics professor and longtime men's tennis coach D.A. Penick.[2][4] She played high school tennis for Austin High School and competed in local and state junior tournaments.[5][6] After a year of attending Sweet Briar College in Virginia, she transferred to the University of Texas,[6] where she joined groups such as Kappa Kappa Gamma, the Mortar Board, the Orange Jackets, and Phi Beta Kappa.[1][2] There was no intercollegiate women's tennis program at Texas at the time, so she played on a club team.[7] She majored in history and philosophy, graduating with honors in 1956.[2][8]

After college, Harrison worked as a

Hilton Head, South Carolina, and began working as an assistant instructor at the Hollow Rock Racquet & Swim Club in Durham, North Carolina.[6]

Coaching career

Harrison began coaching the women's tennis program at the University of North Carolina in 1976–77, succeeding longtime coach

Kansas coach Roland Thornqvist.[11] Sportswriter Mary Garber described her as "quiet and soft-spoken, but with a passion for tennis".[2]

Legacy

At the time of her retirement, Harrison was the winningest women's tennis coach in ACC history by dual match wins (with a record of about 360 wins, 225 losses).[a] This record was eventually broken by fellow North Carolina coach Brian Kalbas in 2017.[12] She was inducted into the North Carolina Tennis Hall of Fame in 2004.[10]

The Kitty Harrison Invitational is an annual preseason women's college tournament held at the University of North Carolina since 2004.[14] Also named after Harrison is the North Carolina women's tennis team's most valuable player award.[12]

Notes

  1. ^ Contemporary sources say 362 wins, 226 losses,[2][10] while later sources say 351 wins, 224 losses.[12][13]

References

  1. ^
    Newspapers.com
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  2. ^
    Newspapers.com
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  3. Newspapers.com
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  4. ^
    Newspapers.com
    .
  5. The Austin American
    . p. 44. Retrieved September 6, 2023.
  6. ^
    Newspapers.com
    .
  7. ^
    Newspapers.com
    .
  8. Newspapers.com
    .
  9. Newspapers.com
    .
  10. ^ a b c d e "Former UNC Women's Tennis Coach Kitty Harrison Named to N.C. Hall of Fame". University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Athletics. January 14, 2004. Retrieved September 6, 2023.
  11. Newspapers.com
    .
  12. ^ a b c "Kitty to Kalbas: Passing the Torch". University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Athletics. April 20, 2017. Retrieved September 6, 2023.
  13. ^ "Kitty Harrison Invitational Returns This Weekend". University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Athletics. September 23, 2021. Retrieved September 6, 2023.
  14. ^ "UNC Women's Tennis Hosts Kitty Harrison Invitational". University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Athletics. November 3, 2004. Retrieved September 6, 2023.

External links

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