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Judy Dixon, far left, Toni Novack, Gwenda Ward and Liane Bryson pose with the International Tennis Federation Masters 75 & over World Team Championships trophy this past October. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO<\/p>\nHampshire County has quietly been the home to two legends in the sport of tennis, who are each still being recognized for their successes to this day. Judy Dixon recently won her sixth gold medal for her country, while Art Carrington was honored at the opening day of the U.S. Open and inducted into the Eastern Division of the United States Tennis Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n
Although they both grew up in New Jersey, Dixon and Carrington found their true homes in Hampshire County, residing in Amherst and Easthampton, respectively.<\/p>\n
Western Massachusetts helped Dixon and Carrington continue to build upon their legacies over the years. Dixon was the head tennis coach at UMass from 2002-2017, and Carrington has run the \u201cCarrington Tennis Academy\u201d at Hampshire College since 1980.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor a small area, there is a lot of good tennis players [in Hampshire County],\u201d Dixon said. \u201cI love living here. I love representing western Massachusetts for all that that means. But I am always amazed at the number of people that play tennis here, and the quality of talent.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dixon\u2019s recent gold medal victory came in the International Tennis Federation Masters 75 & over World Team Championships in Croatia, spanning from October 5-10. Dixon was the captain of Team USA, playing in the tournament for her sixth consecutive year.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s tournament had plenty of obstacles, including even getting to the location of the tournament. With matches being played on the island of Bra\u010d in Croatia, Team USA had to fly to Switzerland and then to Split with 40 mph winds, where a rough landing proved to be just the start to a difficult six days.<\/p>\n
After their first ferry to the island was delayed, Dixon and her teammates were forced to take a car ferry, finally making it to their destination after 24 hours of travel.<\/p>\n
As the team captain, Dixon was expected to play a big role for her squad. She unfortunately came down with viral pneumonia on the second day she was there, with it lasting the duration of the tournament.<\/p>\n
Even though she was sick, Dixon found a way to play one singles and four doubles matches for her country, eventually flying back home with her fifth gold medal in the last six years.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t what I was hoping to do,\u201d Dixon said. \u201cI\u2019m the number one player on the team, so I wanted to be able to play number one singles, but I couldn\u2019t. I was extremely pleased that we won the gold medal. And so happy that everybody stepped up and played well.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a former coach, Dixon still helped her team when she was sidelined, doing everything she could to help lead them to victory. She was in charge of managing the team, including deciding who would play in what match.<\/p>\n
Representing her country is something Dixon takes great pride in, with her true love being a part of a team that\u2019s all working together for a collective goal.<\/p>\n
Although it wasn\u2019t her first medal, the difficulties surrounding this one made it extra special.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s one of the highlights of my very long life and career,\u201d Dixon said. \u201c\u2026 It means so much to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Judy Dixon, far left, Toni Novack, Gwenda Ward and Liane Bryson pose with the International Tennis Federation Masters 75 & over World Team Championships trophy this past October. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO<\/p>\n
\u2018A community coach\u2019<\/p>\n
Carrington\u2019s career has been similar to Dixon\u2019s in many ways, with an early playing career leading to a long-term stint coaching the game they both love.<\/p>\n
Within just five days of each other earlier this summer, Carrington\u2019s dedication to tennis was honored on two different occasions.<\/p>\n
It began on Aug. 19, when the 38th Annual Eastern Division of the United States Tennis Hall of Fame Induction saw Carrington being recognized along with four other inductees.<\/p>\n
The ceremony helped to shed light on Carrington\u2019s impressive career, spanning all the way back to his time in the American Tennis Association, the tennis equivalent of baseball\u2019s Negro Leagues.<\/p>\n
In more recent memory, his coaching successes have been prominent throughout the nation. The Carrington Tennis Academy has seen many high-profile players come through, going on to play at the Division I college level and beyond.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had a lot of kids, and that\u2019s been the highlight of my life, the daily coaching,\u201d Carrington said. \u201cI\u2019m a community coach. That\u2019s my main thing. I\u2019ve seen world-class tennis, been around the world with tennis, but I like being in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
This year also was the 75th anniversary of Althea Gibson breaking the color barrier in tennis, and Carrington was invited to recognize his efforts at the opening day of the U.S. Open on Aug. 24.<\/p>\n
He was invited by the CEO and president of the United States Tennis Association, being honored and sitting in the president\u2019s suite and box.<\/p>\n
Having done so much for tennis players across the nation, Carrington hopes his efforts continue to allow the sport to thrive.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what I like to do, inspire people to reach heights that they never thought they would,\u201d Carrington said. \u201cI never thought I\u2019d be where I am with tennis. It never was a plan. It just was one thing led to another and another and another.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hampshire County has quietly been the home to two legends in the sport of tennis, who are each…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367270,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[180415,180416,94626,829,99,428],"class_list":{"0":"post-367269","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-amherst-ma","9":"tag-easthampton-ma","10":"tag-homecenterpiece2","11":"tag-latest-news","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367269\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}