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LANCASTER, PA -- Franklin & Marshall College Senior Associate Athletic Director, Senior Woman Administrator, head women’s tennis coach and assistant women’s squash coach Patty Epps will receive the 2006 Richard T. Green Community and Tennis Service Award at the Lancaster County Tennis Hall of Fame ceremony on April 29 at the Lancaster Tennis & Yacht Club.
Epps will be honored for her continuing role in promoting tennis at the college level as well as her involvement as a board member of the Tennis After School Education Strategy Program, also called ACES. The program, which is run in partnership with the Lancaster Tennis Patrons’ Association, the F&M Ware Institute, the School District of Lancaster, Lancaster Recreation Commission and the United States Tennis Association, offers summer programs to more than 200 inter-city participants. Appointed women's squash and tennis coach in 1978, Epps was promoted to assistant director of athletics in 1993, associate director in 1996 and senior associate director in 2004. An active participant in athletics at J.P. McCaskey High School in Lancaster and at Cornell University where she graduated with a B.A. degree in history, Epps also attended West Chester University for a teaching certification and graduate studies in health, physical education and coaching. Under her direction, the F&M women's tennis program has been nearly undefeatable with four consecutive Centennial Conference titles from 1997 through 2000, 11 conference crowns and seven bids to the NCAA Division III championship tournament. Overall, 15 of her players have been selected to compete in the NCAA singles or double championship tournaments. A legend in the sport of squash, she served as head coach of the Diplomats from 1979-2001 compiling a record of 201-164 in 21 seasons. A former member of the U.S. Squash Racquets Association (USSRA) Board of Directors, she was presented the first Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999. She served as chair of the NCAA Division III Tennis Committee for the 1999-2000 academic year and is a member of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Board of Directors and the South Atlantic Region NCAA Advisory and ITA Ranking Committee. A three-time selection as USPTA Middle States Division "Coach of the Year," she volunteers her time to a variety of campus communities and sports associations. Before coming to F&M, coach Epps was co-director of the Chase Tennis Camp at the Westtown School, where she coached the girls' team. Epps has served as a tennis clinician and speaker at numerous professional, scholastic and intercollegiate conferences.
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