LINCOLN UNIVERSITY, PA. (September 4, 2008) – The Lincoln University of Pennsylvania men's and women's tennis teams will compete this weekend in the Robert “Whirlwind” Johnson Memorial tennis tournament at Virginia State University.
This will be Lincoln's second appearance in three years in this prestigious event. The schools scheduled to join Lincoln include Howard University, North Carolina Central University, Morgan State University, Norfolk State University, Shaw University and Virginia State University.
The tournament is named for Johnson, a Lincoln alum, who was widely acclaimed as “The Godfather of Tennis.” During the tournament, a “Breaking the Barriers” exhibit will be on display in the VSU press box. The exhibit is directly from the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport (R.I.). Nicknamed “Whirlwind” for his exploits on the football field, Johnson, who refused to wear a helmet when he played, scored eight touchdowns during Lincoln's 56-0 victory against Morgan State in 1923. In addition to playing football, Johnson was a member of the baseball team, debate team, Omega Psi Phi fraternity and the Black Hand Club, which through its motto, encouraged its members to “Do it with song and let that song be jazz.”
During his distinguished career, Dr. Johnson found it extremely important to enrich and expose African-Americans to tennis, a sport not commonly played by minorities at the time. He was a trailblazer who helped integrate and diversify tennis. As a coach, he taught etiquette, honesty, sportsmanship and self-control to his players. Dr. Johnson endowed his athletes with his four basic fundamentals in coaching and developed two of the most famous African American athletes; Arthur Ashe and Althea Gibson. He worked very close with the Executive Director of the VIA (Virginia Interscholastic Association) to start tennis as a state Championship event.
“We are very excited to participate in this tournament especially since it is being held in honor of a Lincoln alum and the mentor of tennis great Arthur Ashe(winner of the 1968 Wimbledon tennis championship),” Lincoln tennis coach Ethel Watson said. “Dr. Johnson represented philanthropy, insight, and determination to showcase the ability of African-Americans in the sport of tennis. This weekend will be a great opportunity to represent our University and compete against other HBCU's.”
Watson is bringing a formidable line-up with her to Virginia State. The top Lincoln players are sophomore environmental science major Adedotun Osho (Plainfield, NJ/Plainfield) (Lagos, Nigeria/Plainfield), junior mass communications major Elwood Simon (Philadelphia, PA/Mastery Charter) (Philadelphia, PA/Mastery Charter) and sophomore biology major Alfayo Michira (Nyamira, Kenya/Nyansabakwa) (Kisii, Africia/Cardinal O'Tunga). Osho is ranked by the Middle States Tennis Association in his age range. He compiled a 5-2 overall record last spring.
On the women's side, Watson has a solid and experienced group of players eager to get into action. Senior Alisa Davis (Deptford NJ/Gloucester Tech), senior finance and math major Sherrell Harwell (Deptford, NJ/Gloucester Tech) and junior biology major Tiffany Stewart (Queens, NY/John Adams) participated in the Robert Johnson tournament two years ago. That experience should help them this time around.
“I am looking forward to returning to this tournament because I was there the first year and it took some time to get used to the competition and the tournament format,” Stewart said. “I know what to expect this time. I received a plaque for my participation. Hopefully I'll have a better record.”
This tournament is the beginning of an abbreviated fall schedule of matches for the Lincoln men's and women's tennis teams. They will play a full schedule in the spring. The women will host Lancaster Bible College on Wednesday afternoon beginning at 3:30 p.m.
“Our teams will absolutely benefit from seeing so many African-American tennis players at such high competitive levels, bonding through this common interest,” Watson said. “This tournament will be everlasting and unimaginable, and they will see what they can do best, what they need to work on, and find role models to learn from.”
Founded in 1854, Lincoln University is the first historically black institution of higher education and its graduates include such luminaries as Thurgood Marshall, the first African American justice of the United States Supreme Court, and acclaimed poet and author Langston Hughes. Lincoln University is nationally regarded for producing African Americans with undergraduate degrees in the physical sciences.
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