South Carolina Tennis Family Benefit provided aid in time of need

It’s been more than 35 years since Ronald Reagan stated, during his first inaugural address, “Those who say that we’re in a time when there are no heroes, they just don’t know where to look.” We discovered heroes in every state, starting with the determined 69-year-old who won a match at an ITF Pro Circuit event earlier this year in the Alabama town of Pelham, and culminating with the coach who has overcome multiple sclerosis to build a winning program at the University of Wyoming. Their compelling stories of courage, perseverance and achievement demonstrate that the message delivered by our 40th President rings as true today as it did then.

In October 2015, middle-school counselor and longtime USTA League player Marlene Neal was scheduled to go to a wedding reception in her hometown of Lexington, SC. But when she turned on the news, she realized that she wouldn’t be going anywhere for days.

The steady rainfall that weekend had turned into historically treacherous flooding. Her house was fine, but the severity of the situation sunk in when she spotted one of her tennis friends on the news, floating on chairs with her five children outside of their underwater house, trying to get to safety.

“It was very frightening,” Neal says. “I felt very helpless seeing all of these things happening.”

But Neal didn’t sit idly by for long. A few weeks later, she recognized that there was an opportunity for the tennis community to make a difference. After a few calls and emails to other players in her league, the South Carolina Tennis Family Benefit was born.

Just a couple of weeks later, 80 men and women from all over the county showed up to compete in the friendly round-robin tournament. Neal charged a $20 entry fee, and there was a silent auction featuring donations that Neal and other volunteers had worked nonstop to collect. As a special treat, the University of South Carolina tennis team made an appearance.

In total, the event raised $3,872 for Harvest Hope and the American Red Cross.

The money was desperately needed. Overall, 20,000 South Carolinians were displaced by the floods, 500 roads and bridges were shut down, and 19 people lost their lives. Neal says the damage is still evident all across the state.

“It wasn’t just tennis that brought us all together,” Neal says. “It was just that feeling of, ‘How do we give back?’”