Pierce Kelley

Pierce first became involved with the YTF as a junior player in the mid to late sixties. He has remained active in the YTF ever since. Pierce was one of the better players in the state and country as a junior, earning national rankings and a full scholarship to Tulane University. He later coached the varsity men's tennis team at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., to help defray his law school education. Pierce achieved a national ranking of number 46 in the United States in the men's category in 1971 and achieved numerous national rankings in age-division play until injuries slowed his play.

In 2022, Pierce was inducted into the USTA-Florida Hall of Fame. In an interview with Florida Tennis , Pierce spoke about the success of YTF in promoting youth tennis.

In 1991, Pierce authored Introducing Children to the Game of Tennis, which has been called a perfect introduction and primer for parents of beginning players by the United States Tennis Association and Tennis Magazine. In 1995, WLRN, a PBS affiliate in Miami, produced and aired a twelve-week series that Pierce hosted and directed. The program focused on introducing children to the game of tennis and featured numerous well-known figures from Florida tennis.

Pierce is a lawyer with a private practice in Cedar Key. He is also an author and has published several novels, a collection of short stories and a legal textbook.

Pierce provided some entertainment recently at the 2024 YTF Board Meeting. See the video here!

Christopher Kelley

Chris has been a member of the YTF Board for more than 20 years. He was a highly ranked junior player and received a scholarship to play tennis at Georgia Tech, where he played for four years with Larry Turville, Chris Baxter, Bill Cantrell and many other Floridians.

Chris is a lawyer who specializes in tax and real estate matters. He lives in Miami Shores with his wife, Stephanie, and their daughter, Sarah.

Tug Miller

Tug has been a member of the YTF since 1987. He has been a tennis player since he was a young teenager. He and Pierce Kelley met as young teens and have competed with and against each other ever since. Tug achieved high rankings as a junior player and played collegiately at Principia College in St. Louis, Missouri.

Tug lives in the Tampa area with his wife. He continues to play in senior tournaments and USTA league tournaments. He and Pierce were ranked number one in the state in the over-50 category and represented Florida at national team championships in California.

Linda Williams

Linda has been a board member of the Lake City Columbia Community Tennis Association (LCCCTA) for the last four years and has served as secretary since 2022. Born in England and raised in an Air Force family, Linda grew up in a family that loved and excelled in sports including track, basketball, baseball, golf and tennis.

She played tennis throughout her childhood and went on to play in top positions on her high school tennis team. She also participated in college intramural tennis and local singles, mixed doubles and adult league events. Linda brings networking, communication, coordination, planning, organization and administrative experience to her role with YTF. Linda retired as a director from Florida Gateway College in 2015 to spend time with her grandchildren. She enjoys playing singles, teaching youth tennis, photography and travel.

Allan Kelley

Allan has been a member of the YTF for more than twenty years. He played tennis in high school and briefly on the Satellite Circuit, but he was and remains a long-distance runner. Allan was one of the best runners in his state in high school and had ambitions to compete in the Olympics while at Duke, but injuries sidelined him. He has run several marathons, including the Boston Marathon on several occasions.

Allan is a lawyer specializing in Maritime Law and is a partner with the Miami law firm of Fowler White. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Maritime Law Association and a past president of the Florida Admiralty Committee of the Florida Bar Association.

Allan and his wife, Kathleen, have six children and live in Miami Shores. He remains an excellent tennis player and continues to play league competitions when time permits.

Brant Bailey

Brant has been a member of the YTF Board for more than six years. He played his junior tennis in Largo and then at the University of Georgia for four years. He also competed overseas and on the Satellite Circuit and achieved a number 52 national ranking in 1970 and a world ranking in 1974.

Brant is a lawyer who lives in St. Petersburg with his wife and four children.

Jeff Chambers

Jeff returned to the YTF in 2021 to head the YTF's Bobby Curtis Elite Performance Program.

Jeff was a top-ranked junior player in Florida, an NCAA All-American and a three-time All-ACC player at UNC-Chapel Hill. He later played professionally and reached an ATP ranking of 325. Following his professional career, Jeff attended law school and has practiced law for the past 30 years in St. Petersburg as a Board-Certified civil litigator.

Jeff continues to play competitive tennis in USTA national events and ITF events. He has previously served on the Development Council for All Children's Hospital and has been involved with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Jeff and his wife Kristin reside in Treasure Island, Florida.

J. Webb Horton

J. Webb Horton is the former head coach of the Florida Gulf Coast University men's tennis program. Horton also served as head women's tennis coach and assistant athletic director. Horton guided the FGCU men to a 77-27 dual match record during his tenure, including two NCAA tournament berths and top-10 national rankings in the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons. FGCU advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament in 2005, its first season of NCAA postseason eligibility. Horton has also coached at Northern Kentucky University, Indiana University-Purdue at Fort Wayne and the University of Saint Francis in Fort Wayne.

In addition to coaching, Horton coordinated community relations efforts through the FGCU athletic department. Partnerships with area schools and community programs have reached thousands of elementary school children.

Horton was selected as the national winner of the United States Tennis Association / Intercollegiate Tennis Association Community Service Award in 2004. He has supported numerous community tennis programs, including First Serve, USA School Tennis Carnivals, Tennis on the Move and USA Team Tennis events.

Horton resides in Fort Myers and serves on the Board of Directors for the Lee County Community Tennis Association. He is also a member of the USA Tennis Florida Diversity Task Force and serves as the current chairperson of the YTF Collegiate Bedford Cups.

Michael Kelley

Michael Kelley is the son of Board Member Allan Kelley. He lives in Vero Beach and is the owner of a Chick-fil-A franchise there. He graduated from Wheaton College, Illinois, in 2006 with a degree in Business Administration. He is an avid tennis player and golfer.

Michael also participates in a ministry in which he and others play basketball against inmates at various prisons across the state. He has been a member of the YTF Board since 2017.

Brent Todd

Brent Todd started playing tennis in Philadelphia at the age of fifteen as part of the National Junior Tennis League (NJTL). Within two years he climbed to the number one singles position on his high school tennis team.

He spent several years coaching tennis at the Julian Krinsky School of Tennis in the suburbs of Philadelphia and also played in various tennis leagues. Brent fondly remembers the introduction to a lifetime of tennis that the NJTL gave him. He sees the Youth Tennis Foundation of Florida as a vehicle to provide that same opportunity to youth in the Jacksonville community that he now calls home. He is the author of Rafiki the Chameleon, a children's book about discovering one's hidden potential.

Bob Zipay

Bob Zipay is originally from Massachusetts, where he achieved top-20 junior rankings in New England as a USTA player. He played high school tennis at Marshfield and Sandwich High Schools, holding the number one singles position all four years. Bob continued his tennis career at Southeastern Massachusetts University, now UMass Dartmouth, where he played varsity tennis while earning his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering in 1984.

After two years working in engineering in Waltham, Massachusetts, Bob followed his passion for tennis full-time. Bob expanded his family's Cape Cod-based tennis specialty shop by opening a second location on Longboat Key, Florida. He later acquired the Englewood Tennis Club, which became his primary focus.

With more than 40 years of coaching experience, Bob has worked alongside tennis luminaries including the legendary Vic Braden. Bob earned his USPTA P-1 Certification in 1990, became a Certified Racquet Stringer in 1987 and was recognized as a Master Racquet Technician in 1994.

He also served as a member of the Wilson Gold Advisory Staff and directed USTA junior tournaments for more than 30 years. As a player, Bob reached a Florida top-10 ranking in the Men's 30s division. Bob lives in Osprey, Florida, with his wife, Rachel. Their son, Ben, was a nationally ranked junior and later played NCAA Division I tennis at Elon University.

Von Beebe

Von was a member of the YTF Board of Directors since 1987. As a younger man, he played football and rugby and did not take up tennis until his late twenties. While at Dartmouth College, where he was captain of the rugby team, his team became the first U.S. team to tour Ireland and play rugby against the Irish.

Von is a retired educator. For years he was the principal of Coconut Grove Elementary School. He authored Bilingual Education and the Miami Experience, which assisted educators across the country in addressing situations where many students did not speak English as their native language. He currently serves as an academic counselor at the Carrollton School in South Miami.

Bobby Curtis

Bobby was an integral part of the Youth Tennis Foundation for almost 40 years. He first became involved with YTF in the early 1970s while he was the director of tennis at Moore Park in Miami. He hosted the first 14-and-under State Youth Team Tennis Tournament in 1977 and was one of the first Regional Directors of YTF.

In 1979 he became the statewide coordinator of YTF, a full-time position. The Florida Tennis Association, now USTA Florida, hired him as Director of Junior Tennis in the early 1980s. Bobby remained active with YTF and regularly attended YTF meetings, providing advice, historical perspective and stories to the Board of Directors.

Read more about how Bobby Curtis was honored for his 30 years of service to USTA Florida.

Scott Harrison

Scott joined the YTF Board in 2005. He participated in several of the Board's most significant accomplishments across Northern Florida. Scott is an avid player, though he took up the game later in life. Raised in New Mexico and Alabama, he learned to play tennis during his senior year at the University of Alabama, where he attended on a band scholarship.

He has been active ever since as a player and organizer. He was a 1993 USTA Florida Merit Award winner and USTA Community Service Award winner. Scott currently referees and umpires at numerous USTA-sanctioned tournaments each year. His business supplying tennis court products to clubs and facilities throughout the South and Florida keeps him closely connected to today's junior and adult tennis communities.

Jeff Horn

Jeff was born in Miami and raised in Altamonte Springs, Florida. He attended Lyman High School, Valencia Community College and the University of Central Florida.

He has been a member of the USPTA since 1982 and has received numerous awards for volunteer service, including USPTA District V Volunteer of the Year honors and the USTA National Eve Kraft Community Service Award. Jeff has coached NCAA Division II, high school and community tennis programs and serves as Director of the Genesis Community Program for high-risk youth in Orlando.

His volunteer service includes co-founding and directing community organizations, serving on tennis committees and boards, and serving as a board member of the Youth Tennis Foundation of Florida from 2006–2016.

Bob Jagger

Bob was a member of the YTF Board of Directors for over fifteen years.

He played high school tennis at Seminole High School in Pinellas County and briefly played on the Florida Southern team before transferring to the University of Florida, where he earned both his Bachelor's degree and Juris Doctorate. Bob has achieved several state rankings over the years and continues to play and compete in league play in the Daytona Beach area.

He and his wife, Maureen, live and work in Daytona Beach with their two children, Jacqueline and Paige.

Nancy Morgan

Nancy joined the YTF Board of Directors in 2006. A native of West Virginia, she came to Florida in 1973 after earning her B.S. from West Virginia University and her Master's from the University of Maryland.

Nancy was a tennis instructor for 19 years and is PTR certified. She is a lifetime USTA member and has served USTA Florida in numerous volunteer capacities, including president from 2001–2002. She was inducted into the USTA Florida Hall of Fame in 2006 and has received numerous state and national community service awards.

Nancy has also been a freelance writer since 1983 and has frequently written for Florida Tennis. From 1986–2008, Nancy was a sports correspondent for the former St. Petersburg Times, now the Tampa Bay Times, covering local tennis, youth sports and athlete updates.

Sue Parsons Zipay

Sue Parsons Zipay was actively involved in all aspects of tennis for more than 40 years, from teaching and organizing leagues and tournaments to retail and tennis club ownership.

Born and raised in Hingham, Massachusetts, Sue played professional baseball after high school for the Rockford Peaches, part of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. She later appeared in the 1992 Penny Marshall film A League of Their Own. Sue was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown in 1989 and the Hingham High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2007.

As the mother of three young children, Sue began playing tennis in the 1970s. After attending Jack Barnaby's tennis instruction course at Harvard and Vic Braden's tennis college in California, she began her tennis teaching career in 1973. As a player, Sue achieved New England and national rankings in the 40+ division. She later established a tennis specialty shop on Cape Cod and became the first USRSA stringer in Massachusetts.

A Florida resident since 1987, Sue lived in Englewood, where she and her son, Bob, co-owned the Englewood Tennis Club beginning in 1989. She was the FTA League Coordinator for USTA Junior Team Tennis in Region 5 before becoming League Director for Team Tennis Junior League in Manatee, Sarasota and Charlotte counties. Sue also served as a board member for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Association and held numerous community leadership positions.