2013 Inductee-Frank Hatten
Frank Hatten has been the Director of Tennis at Bethesda Country Club since 1976. It was his first job upon graduating from the University of Virginia, where he played four years of varsity, was captain and number 1 player on the tennis team, and won an ACC Championship at the number two singles position. In 1976 when Frank started at Bethesda Country Club, the tennis pro job at the club was a part time, summer position. The club had five hard courts, a pay phone, no tennis shop and no bathrooms. Hatten thought he would work one summer, maybe two, and then go onto law school. But as Frank says, “I just loved teaching. I just could not bring myself to walk away from the tennis courts. I have never regretted my decision.” Frank has been at Bethesda Country Club ever since.
Through the years, Frank’s job changed from the only teaching pro at Bethesda Country Club, to the individual who proposed and personally financed the first bubbles at the club in the 1980’s, to managing and overseeing the five teaching professionals and programs at the facility. With its magnificent two year old tennis house, five indoor courts, and ten outdoor courts, Bethesda Country Club is now one of the elite tennis facilities on the East Coast.
In Frank’s volunteer work in the community, he has been President of the Mid Atlantic Professional Tennis Association from 1984 to 1987, President of the Mid Atlantic Tennis and Education Foundation from 1995-2000, and President of the Montgomery County Tennis Association from 2005-2009. Presently Frank is 1st Vice President of the USTA Mid Atlantic Section.
Speaking of his 37 years in the tennis business and service to tennis community, Frank says, “ I have been proud of the work I did as President of the Mid Atlantic Professional Tennis Association in working to set up the educational forums for the Mid Atlantic Pros, as President of Mid Atlantic Tennis and Education Foundation in securing a luxury suite at the US Open that provides $50,000 in revenues for summer and after school programs for at risk youth in the region, and working with the Montgomery County Tennis Association Board as President to increase player participation from 2,500 players in 2005 to 6,000 players in 2009.
Through the years, Frank’s job changed from the only teaching pro at Bethesda Country Club, to the individual who proposed and personally financed the first bubbles at the club in the 1980’s, to managing and overseeing the five teaching professionals and programs at the facility. With its magnificent two year old tennis house, five indoor courts, and ten outdoor courts, Bethesda Country Club is now one of the elite tennis facilities on the East Coast.
In Frank’s volunteer work in the community, he has been President of the Mid Atlantic Professional Tennis Association from 1984 to 1987, President of the Mid Atlantic Tennis and Education Foundation from 1995-2000, and President of the Montgomery County Tennis Association from 2005-2009. Presently Frank is 1st Vice President of the USTA Mid Atlantic Section.
Speaking of his 37 years in the tennis business and service to tennis community, Frank says, “ I have been proud of the work I did as President of the Mid Atlantic Professional Tennis Association in working to set up the educational forums for the Mid Atlantic Pros, as President of Mid Atlantic Tennis and Education Foundation in securing a luxury suite at the US Open that provides $50,000 in revenues for summer and after school programs for at risk youth in the region, and working with the Montgomery County Tennis Association Board as President to increase player participation from 2,500 players in 2005 to 6,000 players in 2009.