RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) – A Richmond native defied the odds during segregation to become a star in the tennis world, and soon he will be inducted into the Black Tennis Hall of Fame.
It was on the Byrd Park tennis courts that Junie Chatman discovered his passion for tennis.
“Byrd Park, I mean, it’s the heart of Richmond, the heart of Richmond tennis,” Chatman said. “And my dad and mom lived across the pond in Maymont. When I was 10 or 11, my cousin and I were coming this way to play softball over the field, and we saw all these kids playing tennis. And we thought, oh, we’ll take a whack at that.”
But there were not many Black tennis players at the time.
Chatman, 69, recalled how his father used to drive him to a morning tennis program at Westwood Club, but his father was forced to stay in the parking lot because Black people were not allowed inside.
“You know, as a child — 11, 12, 13 — you don’t really understand stuff,” Chatman said. “Over at Westwood, I was there on a Saturday after the program, having lunch with some of the kids, and the general manager asked me to leave because I was black.”
Chatman said playing against mostly white tennis opponents on the Byrd Park courts never bothered him because he wasn’t paying attention to their skin color, just their ability.
“I was always the only Black out playing, and so to me, it was no big deal,” Chatman said.
Byrd Park is where he really honed his talent.
“For me, all the best instruction was here at Byrd Park,” Chatman said.
President-elect of the Richmond Tennis Association, Irv Cantor, was one of Chatman’s early tennis mentors.
“I’ve known Junie for almost 60 years. We met when Junie was probably 11 years old on these courts,” Cantor said. “He was the only black you’d ever seen on these courts. But his personality… immediately everybody warmed up to Junie, and all the kids that were playing loved him.”
“We didn’t care about color. We only cared if you could hit a forehand, backhand and win,” Cantor added.
“We just played tennis, tennis, tennis, like all day long, from sunrise to sunset,” Chatman said.
It was not long before Chatman started making a name for himself on and off the court.
He was the first African American to win a full scholarship to play tennis at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, where he won four ACC titles.
“Once I graduated there, went on to the pro tour with one of my college classmates, and then did well in one of the tournaments, got some ATP points, and then I just played for the next six years,” Chatman said.
Chatman said fellow Black Richmond tennis legend Arthur Ashe was also a mentor of his.
“When you’re a kid, you have all these dreams. And I would go right over there to the backboard and just hit. And other kids have said the same thing, you just hit. And you’re always thinking, okay, this is for the finals of Wimbledon,” Chatman said. “Although that didn’t happen, I ended up playing the qualifying of Wimbledon, the qualifying of the French Open. So I traveled all over the world.”
Chatman reached the top 200 in singles and the top 100 in doubles, facing legends such as Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe.
Chatman was the first African American to win the Richmond City Tennis Championship in 1978. He then made history again by winning the state tennis title.
While he still has skills as a player, Chatman has spent the past 40 years coaching the next generation of tennis stars.
“He’s coached a multitude of people. I can’t tell you how many lives he’s touched,” Cantor said.
Chatman has coached more than 65 nationally ranked juniors, many of whom went on to play collegiate tennis.
“I’m extremely honored,” Chatman said.
Chatman will be inducted into the Black Tennis Hall of Fame on Saturday, Sept. 20.
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