Mary Milam Award: Debbie Southern

2022 NC Award Winners Honored at USTA NC's Community Development Workshop

This award takes the name of the USTA NC Executive Director, Mary Milam who served from 1983-1996. Mary valued the volunteer and she loved our junior tennis players. To honor her service to NC Tennis, the Mary Milam Award was established upon her retirement.

The criteria of the winners are for those who have played junior tennis in North Carolina and then given back as a volunteer to NC Tennis. This award is decided by the NCTA Management Committee.

Debbie saw firsthand what volunteerism was. She was an outstanding player in the junior ranks leading NC Tennis in most all age groups in which she competed. She then went on to play college tennis and continued her winning ways! She began her coaching career in the early 1980’s and ended it as the all-time winningest coach in Furman University Women’s tennis history. Probably a record never to be broken! Her players represent Furman in the classroom and on the tennis court with the highest standards.

As she wound down the Hall of Fame coaching career, she headed back to North Carolina to live, volunteer and play! Thank goodness. She has jumped in on the USTA NC Board, the NC Tennis Foundation boards, and committees. Learning from the best, Mildred Southern, she knows that volunteering at the local level has the greatest impact. She is now serving as the Asheville Tennis Association president.