A chance family vacation at a spot with
courts was all it took for Dallas to abandon football, basketball, and baseball
for his new sport, tennis. While playing with Dad and siblings Dallas
found out his father had been a collegiate tennis player in addition to playing
basketball and running cross country. Both sisters and his mother became
recreational players and his younger brother later played in Florida receiving a
full-ride offer from Flagler College in St. Augustine.
After taking a few lessons at the local
racquet club in Anderson Dallas spent hundreds of hours on courts at the local
park. This determination led to playing in the NJTL program in
Indianapolis as well as participating in the North Central summer tennis camp.
Dallas continued to play and also took weekly lessons from Ed Brune who is
currently general manager and tennis director at the Indianapolis Racquet Club.
Dallas found that tennis offered to a
student at a small school the opportunity to be successful on an individual
basis - there was no requirement to field a large team to win competitions in
this sport. Dallas played in the 7-up Qualifier. As a teenager with cable television
cameras and lights, Dallas played and won the doubles finals of the ABC
tournament in Anderson. Dallas always competed well in the junior
tournaments such as the Westerns,
Jasper's Straussenfest tennis tournament, Terre Haute McDonalds tournament, the
Indiana State Closed tournament as well as tournaments in Vincennes and
Evansville.
Many of Dallas's students have gone on
to play collegiate tennis at University of Southern Indiana, Vincennes
University, Southern Illinois University, Memphis State, University of
Evansville, DePauw, Wabash College, Rose Hulman, Marian College, Xavier, and the
University of Illinois. As a coach at Terre Haute South Dallas's
teams have gone as high as second in the state and several boys and girls
doubles teams have finished in the final four winning several sectionals,
regionals, and a semi-state. Dallas's outstanding students include the
Card sisters, Molly and Betsy, who began playing in grade school at Lost Creek.
Dallas points out that their dedication and hard work paved the way for them to
become dominant players in high school and college with Molly becoming a
teaching pro in Indianapolis after finishing college..
