BEREA, Ohio – When athletes call it a day on their beloved sport, most will move on to another aspect of their life. For Baldwin Wallace University men's tennis coach Brian Rector '89, the opposite has transpired.
As an active member of the United States Tennis Association (USTA), Rector has continued to play the sport he loves. The USTA is the country's largest adult competitive tennis league with over 300,000 athletes. League play starts at 18-and-over and gets organized by the National Tennis Rating Program (NTRP) by age group. Top teams from local leagues earn the chance to compete in district or sectional championships and the winners advance to the USTA League National Championships.
Each year, every team plays 10 regular season dual matches in May. After the regular season the teams must compete in the District Qualifier in July, the District Championship in early August, and eventually the Ohio State Championship in mid-August. Rector's team went 15-0 enroute to winning Ohio and represented the state at the Midwest Championships. The team played well and earned a 3-1 record, and were one point away from a trip to Nationals.
When asked how he got involved with the USTA, Rector said, "I originally joined the USTA league back in 2000 as a means to stay connected to the game, meet new people, travel to different cities and stay competitively fit". The owner of the North Ridge Racquet Club at the time, Richard Hughes, recruited the BW grad to play singles. Rector has played on many different teams every year since from singles, doubles, and mixed play.
Not only does Rector compete in the annual league, he is also been an active member since his high school days back at North Olmstead. Rector has been the Brook Park Home Days Tournament Director since 1998 after taking over from a former BW grad and tennis player, Keith Fridrich.
At BW, Rector has been a catalyst for success as the men's tennis coach for the past 31 years. Not only does he have the most wins at BW, but the Ohio Athletic Conference and in all of NCAA Division lll collegiate tennis history with a 542-115 career record. Including being named OAC Coach of the Year three times, Rector has led the Yellow Jackets to three OAC regular season titles and four OAC tournament championships in his tenure.
Prior to becoming BW's coach, Rector was a four-year letterman and a four-time BW Most Valuable Player, three-year captain, and a CoSIDA Academic All-American. As a senior in 1988-89, Rector won the OAC title at second singles and set a single-season school-record for singles wins with 15.
At the time of his graduation, Rector owned all of the BW single-season and career-records for singles (46-15 with a .754 winning percentage), doubles (41-20 with a 672 winning prercentage) and combination victories (87-35 with a .713 winning percentage). Now, many of his current and former Yellow Jacket players own those marks.
Through his dedication and success over the years, Rector has been a staple in the BW community as a player, coach, and mentor.
