Ray Benton is CEO of the Junior Tennis Championship Center (JTCC) in College Park, MD. Andy O calls him Mr. Tennis. By the end of this interview you’ll see why. Tennis is the central theme in Benton’s life. Everything he has done during his adult life has included playing, teaching, and/or promoting tennis. He worked his way through college as a teaching pro. After hours, while serving in the United States Army during the Vietnam War as a legal clerk in Alabama, he worked as a Tennis Pro at local country clubs and schools. He even played on the third Army team. After Army service, Benton created his first tennis tournament, The Lang Cup, while in graduate school at Wharton. Its purpose was to promote the first plastic tennis racket created by Bob Lang’s company. Benton had been Lang’s tennis instructor. During the promotion of that tournament, Benton met Donald Dell, then Davis Cup Captain for US. They formed ProServ and worked together for many years to bring pro tennis to Our Town and around the world. Benton’s work includes the Washington Star Tournament, the Nuveen Tour (as a partner with Jimmy Connors), and the Virginia Slims Circuit. He opened The Smith Center one year to Virginia Slims tour and became the tournament director for every tournament thereafter. He has worked with some of the biggest names in tennis, Ashe, Smith, Lutz, Pasarell, Tiriac, and Nastase and King, Richey, Casals, Court and Evert. Now, he is at the helm of the JTCC which provides training and opportunity for any hard working kid of any demographic to earn a college scholarship. In the last 6 years JTCC kids have earned $8,000,000 in tennis scholarships. The JTCC has also turned out young tennis stars such as Tiafoe and Kudla. Benton loves what he does and, no wonder, given his background. Take a listen and enjoy!The entire transcript for this podcast episode can be found on our website here:
https://ourtowndc.com/ray-benton-jtcc/ A special thanks to Our Town sponsors GEICO, as well as Attorney Mike Collins, Tony & Joe's Seafood Restaurant and Nicks Riverside Grill, and Living Health Integrative Medicine Regenerative Medicine.