For our sixth annual Heroes Issue, we’ve selected passages from the last 50 years of Tennis Magazine and TENNIS.com—starting in 1969 and ending in 2018—to highlight 50 worthy heroes. Each passage acknowledges the person as they were then; each subsequent story catches up with the person, or highlights their impact, as they are now. It is best summed up with a quote from the great Arthur Ashe, that was featured on the cover of the November/December issue of this magazine in 2015: “True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost.”
In an industry mired in petty politics, Kamperman keeps the peace among the game’s major players, so that all are working toward the same goal: the advancement of the sport. –Tennis Magazine / March 2000
There are few aspects of tennis that Kurt Kamperman hasn’t had his hands on. A former player and coach at Youngstown State in his native Ohio, Kamperman has served as tournament director for the Family Circle Cup, has helped design world-class tennis facilities and has consulted with clubs, resorts and tennis companies in an effort to boost revenue. He was president of the Tennis Industry Association, president of the U.S. Professional Tennis Association and is a member of the Professional Tennis Registry.
But for the last 15 years, Kamperman has turned his attention to the USTA—and in particular, recreational tennis. As Chief Executive of the USTA National Campus, he oversees the sprawling, 100-court facility that attracts top-level professionals, college players and is open to the public. He contributed his experience to the wildly successful Net Generation junior program, led by Craig Morris, the Chief Executive of Community Tennis. He also watches over USTA-U, the governing body’s initiative to raise and unify coaching and educational standards around the country.
How does Kamperman do it all? He looks around and does a lot of listening, often parking far from his office so that he is forced to walk by players coming and going at all hours of the day and night.
“Take the time to learn the trade and not just try to learn the tricks of the trade,” he says. “There are a lot of people who are passionate about a field and they sometimes think they can get a cliff notes version of it. If you try that, you’re short-changing yourself and the people you work with.”