| When Bud Schultz came to Bates he was
already an accomplished athlete, with high school letters in
basketball, soccer and of course tennis. At Bates, Bud was a
three-time All-American in tennis. He was a starter for three years
on the basketball team and was an All-New England Division III
selection his senior year. After he graduated from Bates in 1981,
he completed a year in graduate school at Boston University, and
started his professional tennis career in 1982. Over seven years as
a professional tennis player, Bud played in the French Open,
Wimbledon, and the U.S. and Australian Opens. He defeated more than
five top-10 players and had a career-high world ranking of No. 39.
He says he had “the privilege of losing” to Hall of
Famers John McEnroe, Ivan Lendl, Jimmy Connors, Boris Becker,
Stefan Edberg, Mats Wilander, and Yannick Noah. He retired at the
age of 29 to take the position of Director of Tennis and Head Pro
at the historical Longwood Cricket Club in Brookline, Mass. Bud
continued his association with professional tennis by coaching such
players as Ivan Lendl, Pam Shriver, and Greg Rusedski, all ranked
top five in the world. He completed a master’s degree in
sports management at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. As
a player, Bud competed nationally in the 35's age division, winning
two national titles in singles and one in doubles. In 2003 he was
inducted into the New England Tennis Hall of Fame. Bud is married
to Elaine Cosseboom and has three children. Bud and Elaine own and
manage the Cohasset Tennis Club in Cohasset, Mass. Bud’s work
embodies the marriage of sports and social service. In 1998, while
on the Board of the Boston Tennis Council, an umbrella organization
of small inner-city tennis programs, Bud his friend Ned Eames
created Tenacity — a citywide tennis, academic and life
skills development program that now provides tennis and academic
support to over 3,500 children in the city of Boston. In just three
years, Tennis Week magazine voted TENACITY the fourth-best urban
tennis organization in the country. Now in its eighth year, the
United States Tennis Association is using Tenacity as a model for
urban tennis programs nationwide. Carl Straub, who was Dean of the
Faculty when Bud was a student, had this to say about his friend:
“I am not surprised to learn about Bud Schultz's journey of
caring about others and their welfare. Such personal strength was
evident in everything he did while an undergraduate. His fierce
sense of integrity was always joined by a gentle and giving spirit;
his obvious competitive successes on the tennis courts were always
held in check by a deeper appreciation of what binds us all
together. I continue to remember him celebrating the many
goodnesses of life.” |
With Dana Mulholland looking on, Bud Schultz accepts
congratulations from Vice President for External Affairs William
Hiss.
|
