Friends of Harlem Tennis Center

Welcome to our Home Page!

(page last updated 02/15/08)

The Friends of Harlem Tennis Center (FHTC) is a group committed to saving the eight (8) tennis courts at the 369th Regiment Armory.

The purpose of this web site is not to attract new customers to the HTC, but rather to inform the public of the HTC's rich tradition and the threat to its continued existence in our tennis community.

Thanks for visiting the Friends of Harlem Tennis Center site - this isn't the official HTC site, just highlights and information updated by a FRIEND.

Enjoy your stay!

See below for:
News Briefs
Links (to Other Tennis Sites)

News Briefs

02/15/08: The HTC Doubles Hall-Of-Fame (run, as always, by Zack Davis) will be inducting four (4) new members: Betty Blake (mother of Davis Cupper James Blake), Lois Lipman, Malcolm Little, and Karl McMillan, on Saturday February 23, 2008 at 7:30 PM at the PAL Harlem Armory Center (40 West 143rd Street, NYC).
02/01/08: New tennis blog, Club Park Tennis, starts today - a great source of news for local NYC clubs playing in our public parks.
11/15/07: The A-Z Tennis Association (AZTA), under the direction of Mr. Zack Davis, is again providing men's and women's singles leagues (from 3.5 to 6.5 levels) at the Harlem Armory Tennis Center during its 2007-2008 indoor season.
05/15/07: Campbell's Soup has again donated $10,000 for the prize money events in this summer's 17th Annual Mullaly Open Tennis Tournament, beginning on July 28th and run (as always) by Zack Davis.
02/27/07: Ed Greene, long-time member of our tennis community (St. Nicholas/Haffen) has been awarded "The Umpire of the Year" Trophy by the USTA. His picture will be in next month's Tennis Magazine. Congratulations, Ed!
02/19/07: The A-Z Tennis Association is starting a 6.5 Men's singles league at the Harlem Tennis Center. The first match will be Sunday, March 4th, at 7:30 PM and features two former ATP players: Phil Williamson (2-time competitor in the U.S. Open main draw) and George Henry (currently Tennis Director at the Harlem Armory). Spectators welcome!
12/21/06: Historic Hall of Fame Doubles League restored at Harlem Tennis Center. Men's teams are scheduled to begin competition in January. Women's teams now forming. Contact Zack Davis at (866) 202-1424 (pin #9997) for further details.
11/15/06: The A-Z Tennis Association (AZTA), under the direction of Mr. Zack Davis, is once again providing men's and women's singles (4.0, 5.0 and 6.0) leagues at the Harlem Tennis Center during its 2006-2007 indoor season.
09/06/06: Ribbon-cutting ceremony for the newly renovated tennis facility at the Harlem Armory - according to Mayor Bloomberg: "The $6.4 million reconstruction project, administered by the PAL, was made possible by a combination of City, State and Federal contributions."
05/15/06: Campbell's Soup has graciously donated $10,000 for the prize money events in this summer's 16th Annual Mullaly Open Tennis Tournament, beginning on July 21st and run (as always) by Zack Davis.
04/15/06: According to a spokesperson for the Harlem Armory Project, the renovation of the drill shed floor (where the tennis courts are located) has begun, with an expected completion date of Sept. 30, 2006.
02/12/06: Promised renovations by the PAL still not started at the Armory -- tennis community still waiting for restoration of their tennis courts.
09/30/05: HTC still closed, pending start of renovations by the PAL.
07/25/05: Campbell's Soup has graciously donated $5,000 for the prize money events in this summer's 15th Annual Mullaly Open Tennis Tournament, beginning on July 30th and run (as always) by Zack Davis.
03/10/04: After several meetings with the Friends of HTC (FHTC), the PAL agreed to keep tennis as the central theme at the Harlem Armory.

The PAL will replace the eight (8) existing tennis courts with eight (8) new courts, identical in size and location to the current tennis courts.

Six (6) of those courts will be dedicated to tennis with a special tennis surface. The other two (2) courts will have a multi-purpose surface, with the predominant court markings on them being for tennis.
01/01/04: The A-Z Tennis Association (AZTA), under the direction of Mr. Zack Davis, is once again providing men's and women's singles and doubles leagues at the Harlem Tennis Center during its 2003-2004 indoor season.
10/27/03: The Friends of HTC (FHTC) learned that the PAL had been granted a 5-year lease (effective June 1, 2003) by the DMNA for the drill shed floor (where the tennis courts are located) at the Harlem Armory.
09/28/03: Tennis legend, Althea Gibson, passed away today. Ms. Gibson grew up on the streets of Harlem and later returned to Harlem to teach tennis to the children of our local tennis community at the Harlem Tennis Center. For further details on her life and passing, please refer to the recent ESPN article about her on this sad occasion.
09/20/03: GammaSports has graciously donated tennis clothing to members of our local tennis community.
08/01/03: No response to its bid for the lease at the Harlem Armory received by the A-Z Tennis Association (AZTA) from the DMNA, despite AZTA's request for feedback on the merits of its bid
07/10/03: Members of the FHTC appeared on the WBAI ( NYC - FM radio) program, "Education at the Crossroads," hosted by Basir Mchawi -- issues discussed included the proud history and current status of tennis at the Harlem Armory, as well as the contribution of tennis to all aspects of education (physical, mental, social)
02/15/03: The A-Z Tennis Association (AZTA), under the direction of Mr. Zack Davis, submitted a bid for the lease of the HTC for the 2003-2004 indoor season to Maj. Gen. Maguire of the DMNA (grantor of the lease for the eight tennis courts at the Harlem Armory)
11/01/02: HTC granted 6-month lease by the DMNA for the current indoor 2002-2003 season (Nov. 1 - April 30)
09/10/02: According to the DMNA (grantor of the lease at HTC's 369th Armory site), no lease has yet been signed for the upcoming season

HTC again sitting empty and deserted, while youth, their parents, and adult/senior players and pros await news on the fate of the only affordable indoor tennis facility accessible to them
08/25/02: no apparent progress in obtaining a lease for the 2002-2003 (Sept.-May) indoor season, despite efforts by the Friends of HTC to communicate with those parties seeking to replace tennis programming with non-tennis activities
06/25/02: HTC (the sustaining entity for all but one of the more than 30 youth and adult tennis programs at the Harlem Armory) still without a lease for the upcoming 2002-2003 indoor season
01/30/02: HTC back in business effective Friday, 02/01/02. The DMNA has granted the HTC an interim lease from 02/01/02 through 04/30/02, while it considers the HTC request for a longer term lease in the future. During this 3-month interim lease period, the HTC plans to restore as many programs as possible that were in operation during the 2000-2001 indoor season.
- Click here for a list of those Adult and Youth programs active during the 2000-2001 season.
10/15/01: HTC closed to civilians, as National Guard troops continue to respond to the World Trade Center attack of 9/11
09/07/01: HTC sitting empty and deserted, while youth, their parents, and adult/senior players and pros await news on the fate of the only affordable indoor tennis facility accessible to them
08/10/01: According to the DMNA (grantor of the lease at HTC's 369th Armory site), no lease has yet been signed for the upcoming season
08/10/01: James Blake (after defeating reigning Australian Open finalist, Arnaud Clement), took #8 seed Patrick Rafter to a tiebreaker in the 1st set, before losing to Rafter 7-6 (9-7), 6-2 in the 3rd round of the $2.95 million Cincinnati Master's 2001 tournament
08/10/01: James Blake and Levar Harper-Griffith received main draw wild card entries into the 2001 U.S. Open Men's singles championship -- both began their tennis careers as juniors at the HTC
08/10/01: The DMNA has a new Adjutant General -- effective 08/09/01, Major General John H. Fenimore retired; his successor (appointed by Gov. Pataki) is Brigadier General Thomas P. Maguire, Jr.

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