Wilkinson steve

Steve Wilkinson was born in Sioux City (Iowa) ^[2] in 1941 to the family of Byron and Delphi Wilkinson. After graduating from high school in 1959, Steve entered the University of Iowa , where he consistently received a first degree in accounting, a second degree in economics and, finally, a doctorate in religious studies ^[3] .

Steve started playing tennis from the age of three, according to his own recollections, throwing tantrums when his parents refused to throw balls at him. Having mastered the game mainly on his own, during his studies at the University of Iowa, he was a leading player in the tennis team of the university for three years and in the mid-1960s, for some time he performed in cycles of amateur tournaments ^[2] . Steve met his future wife Barbara Renk in the mountains in Washington state; they were married in Hamburg in 1966 ^[3] .

In 1970, Wilkinson came to ( St. Peter , Minnesota) as a teacher of world religions and ethics ^[3] , but soon took the post of coach of the men's tennis team of this university and remained in this position for 39 years - until 2009 years ^[4] . During this time, the college team won, according to various sources, from 922 ^[5] to 929 victories ^[6] in various competitions (winning about 77% of the meetings held), which is a record figure for coaches of university teams. Wilkinson's national team won the championship of the Minnesota University Sports Conference 35-1-1 with a balance of meetings 35 times, and in 1980 and 1982 won the NCAA Team Championship (Division III). At the individual level, Wilkinson's wards, among whom was Eric Butorak , the future 19th professional racket of the world, won six national championships in the doubles and four in singles; 46 of his students a total of 87 times were included in the symbolic amateur US team. Steve himself three times (in 1982, 2001 and 2003) was recognized as the best coach of NCAA Division III and twice received this title from the (NAIA) ^[5] .

In addition to working with the Gustav-Adolf College team, Steve and his wife Barbara founded the Tennis and Life camps in 1977 ^[5] . As part of the work of these camps, tennis was combined with dancing, drama and other children's camps ^[6] . In the first year of work, 400 children passed through Tennis and Life, and later the annual number of participants reached 1500. Steve and Barbara continued to work with this system until January 2011, after which they transferred it for public use ^[2] .

Wilkinson combined coaching with the continuation of performances in amateur tennis competitions. He occupied the first line in the national ranking of tennis players in age categories over 45, 50, 55 and 60 years. Wilkinson represented the US national team in the Dubbler's Cup, Perry Cup, and Austrian Cup ^[6] and won the team veteran world championship of 1989 in Uruguay with her, in 1992 adding silver from the World Cup in Germany to this gold medal ^[5] .

Steve Wilkinson has suffered from kidney cancer for the last seven years of his life ^[3] . He died at his home in St. Petersburg in January 2015, leaving behind him a wife, two daughters and four grandchildren. Shortly before Wilkinson’s death, his memoirs “Let him Serve Love” came out ( Eng. Let Love Serve ^[5] ).

In 2007, Steve Wilkinson was awarded a joint award by the United States Tennis Association and the Intercollegiate Tennis Association for his outstanding contribution to the popularization of tennis in sports camps and youth programs. In addition, he was the winner of the International Tennis Hall of Fame award for pedagogical successes ^[5] .

In 2010, the name of Wilkinson was included in the lists of the Hall of Fame of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association ^[5] , and in 2013 - in the lists of the Hall of Fame of the Professional Tennis Association of the United States ^[4] . He was also a member of the United States Tennis Association Hall of Fame (Missouri Valley region), the Northern Tennis Association Hall of Fame and Iowa Tennis Hall of Fame ^[5] .