The beginning

In 1986 a group of friends used to meet regularly to play tennis and socialize on the tennis courts located on Capitol Hill. Shawn Fivecoat, Quinten Welch, and Herb Millro called themselves the Broadway Tennis Club. Between 1986 and 1996 these players met and played on the courts at Cal Anderson Park. They trained and traveled for competitions and welcomed friends interested in playing tennis. At the time, cultural changes were brewing in the gay community and gay recreational sports organizations were being formed in cities across the country. Little did they imagine the group would become leaders and an inspiration to each other as they formed a non-profit volunteer organization that still breathes today.

Serve up

In 1994 Broadway Tennis Club organized its first national gay and lesbian GLTA sanctioned tournament in Seattle. It became one of thirty premier gay and lesbian tennis competitions. The Evergreen Championships were a great success in the first year welcoming over 170 players from all over the country. This was an impressive milestone at the time for the Broadway Tennis Club. Divisions for men, women, and mixed doubles competition were held along with a tournament party. The Evergreen Championships tournament success prompted the Broadway Tennis Club to incorporate as the Seattle Tennis Alliance in 1997. To better serve its members an official board of volunteers was established to oversee finances, membership, social events, competition, and communications. By the end of that year, the STA had affiliated with Team Seattle and GLTA.

Tennis, tennis, tennis

The leadership of Tony Hill and Brant Lyerla saw the club through major challenges and achievements over the following years. New offerings such as inter-city competition between Portland, Seattle and Vancouver BC in the Northwest Cup and the Pacific Cup became annual highlight events. A new singles tournament, the Herb Millro Classic, which is played annually in the fall in honor of STA founding member Herb Millro; an annual doubles championship tournament was also developed. STA members started forming USTA League Teams at several levels and compete every year locally for a chance to advance to USTA Nationals. In recent years, Team Tennis was introduced and is played for 6 weeks during the summer and ends with the End-of Season Barbecue. The Evergreen Championships tournament played every 4th of July weekend was later renamed The Seattle Evergreen in 2006 and most recently in 2009 it was renamed the Seattle Classic.

Here and now

The STA has served over 600 members in the Puget Sound Area. Currently, the organization has over 100 active local members and offers them competitive and social events, opportunities to volunteer and facility to build lasting friendships through the sport of tennis. The board meets monthly to manage and plan ways to improve and grow the club. All members are welcome and encouraged to join these meetings Board elections are held yearly offering new volunteers a chance to strengthen and improve the club.

We thank our volunteers

We hope to continue to carry forth the STA Mission our founders set forth and we thank the many volunteers who have dedicated time and effort to the Seattle Tennis Alliance; they make the STA possible.

Shawn Fivecoat, Quinten Welch, Herb Millro, Steve Scholz, Martha Davis, Sabina Hawkins, Patrick Giles, Vince Parillo, Robert Reyna, Albert Rodriguez, Jan Dequit, Ian Petry, Glenn Maarse, Gabriel Florentino, Kelly Farrell, Rey Chai, Tony Hill, Tony Peterson, Brant Lyerla, David Semrau, Claudia Diorio, Pat Solberg, Steven Champion, Kwong Yin, Tung Dinh, Tedd Romero, Ryan Phee, Tom Sparks, Lynda Wright, Gail Fitzgerald, Meade Thayer, Jon Girsch, Chris Stimpson, Diane LeBow, Bebe Burns, Chuck Pecka, Rick Miller, Steve Andryszewski, Randy Van Heusden, Mark Hanses, Bill Krekling, Tom Osmon, Gail Benzler, Edgar Longoria, Jason Herrera, Kelly Bryant, and Christine Neilson.

Presidents
1990-1994 Shawn Fivecoat; 1994-1995 Quinten Welch; 1995-1997 Steve Scholz; 1997-2001 Tony Hill; 2001-2005 Brant Lyerla; 2005-2006 Tony Hill; 2007-2008 Claudia Diorio; 2008-2011 Jon Girsch; 2011-2013 Andy Inthavong; 2013-2017 Steve Andryszewski; 2017-2021 Gary Renville; 2021-Present Ian Guenther

Ready to join in the fun?

Visit our membership page to learn more about becoming an STA member. If you have any questions or comments, please drop us a line: Contact Us