Pictured (l-r front) Jo LeBlanc, charter member; Bettye Burford, HPTA’s first president; Sandra Harshbarger, HPTA president; Rusty Jabour, former president; (l-r back) Lisa Sanner, Highland Open tournament director and former president; Wendy Parrish, former president; Debbie Klotzbach, HPTA vice president; Gary Mollere, immediate past president; and Catherine Fairchild, HPTA Secretary.
The Highland Park Tennis Association was been named a Community Tennis Hero by the Greater Baton Rouge Community Tennis Association (GBRCTA).
The honor, presented only once before to Eugene St. Martin (also a long-time HPTA member) is bestowed on those individuals or organizations that have a history of dedication to and support of tennis in the Baton Rouge area.
GBRCTA Vice President Stephen Magnon, a former HPTA president, presented the award to charter member Jo LeBlanc and to HPTA’s first president, Bettye Burford, on Dec. 11, 2014, at the GBRCTA Captain’s Appreciation Party, attended by about 200 avid tennis players.
HPTA was cited for its many accomplishments in its 38 years of existence, including:
- 2006 Member Organization of the Year by the USTA Southern Section
- 2009 and 2012, Certification of Appreciation from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (contributions to CFF from HPTA’s Highland Open tennis tournament have totaled $107,000 since 2010)
- 2011 Certificate of Appreciation from BREC for 35 years of support of BREC’s Highland Road Park
- 2012 Proclamation by the City of Baton Rouge and Mayor Kip Holden, recognizing the 30th anniversary of the Highland Open