Reston Tennis' Conaway a Local Hall of Fame Inductee

Reston Tennis Manager Mary Conaway will be inducted into the Mid-Atlantic Tennis Hall of Fame this fall, the organization announced.

Conaway, along with Katherine Mills and Bessie Stockard, will be honored at a dinner on Nov. 23 at Army-Navy Country Club in Arlington.

The Mid-Atlantic Tennis and Education Foundation says Conaway is a leader who has promoted the growth of tennis in our communities.

Conaway has been involved in Reston tennis since 1987. She became a certified PTR instructor in 1998 and is now tennis manager for RA.

Conaway manages Reston's USTA Pathway programs, working with three-year-olds to adults and seniors. In 2000, Mary was chairperson of the Virginia District Junior Recreation Committee, and was selected as Virginia District Program Promoter of the Year.

Among her many awards: 2009 USTA Mid-Atlantic NJTL Chapter of the Year; 2010 PTR/USTA Community Service Award; 2012 Voted Best Tennis Club in Northern Virginia by Virginia Magazine; 2012 USTA Mid-Atlantic Section Organization of the Year;  and 2012 RSI Park and Recreation Agency of the Year. 

Mills has been a coach and tennis director at several spots in the Washington area, including director of tennis at Lowes Island Country Club and  teaching pro at Potomac Cub, Arlington Y Tennis and Squash, and Washington Golf and Country Club. 

She has coached at Madeira School, Mount Vernon College, and George Washington University, where she also played college tennis. She has served the USTA in a variety of volunteer capacities as well.

Stockard won 12 national American Tennis Association championships—women’s singles, women’s doubles, mixed doubles, senior women’s singles and senior women’s doubles. 

A former pro, she toured with the Virginia Slims’ Tour for two and a half years.  She was the first African American female player to integrate The Bitsy Grant Tennis Club Center in Atlanta, Ga., and the Kenwood Country Club in Bethesda, Md.  

The organization will also give a posthumous Robert Marsteller Courage Award to Howard "Howie" Grunfeld, who is being recognized for his dedication to the game.

Grunfeld was was a nationally ranked wheelchair tennis player from Montgomery County who was the President of the Nation’s Capitol Wheelchair Tennis Association in the mid 1990s until his death several years ago. He was helped get some of the top wheelchair players to participate in the wheelchair tennis tournament held during what is now known as the Citi Open.  

For more information or to purchase tickets to the reception, click here.

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