When people in Boiling Springs talk about the Bulldogs tennis program there is one name that comes to everyone’s mind and that is of former head tennis coach Randy Gregory who spent many years leading the Bulldogs program.
Gregory, or Coach G as many of his players knew him by, passed away almost four years ago after a brief illness but his presence is still felt by his former players and his lessons are still being taught to the current crop of Bulldogs tennis players. “Coach Gregory was a legend around here and he’s the reason I do what I do now,” said Boiling Springs head girls tennis coach Jill Cooke. “He gave so much to the tennis program and was such a huge influence on both the boys’ and girls’ tennis teams here at Boiling Springs. He loved us like his own kids and was one of those coaches that changes your life for the better.” In recent years with renovations and the building of a new school that have caused the tennis courts he once roamed to disappear a former player of his wanted to make sure that his contributions to the tennis program wouldn’t be forgotten. “One of the guys that played tennis when I was in school asked me about when we practiced and I assumed he wanted to come hit tennis balls with my players because he is always commenting on stories about our matches of how proud he is of the team,” said Cooke. “I told him we didn’t practice on Fridays usually and he replied that he would just hook back up with us the next time he was in town.” Little did Cooke know that practicing tennis wasn’t the reason that the former player was reaching out about when the team would be practicing but it was so that he could surprise them with a sign that now hangs on the outside of the fence of the tennis courts that reads “Coach G Courts” honoring the contributions of Gregory to the tennis program over the years. “When we arrived to practice on Monday I saw this sign hanging here at the courts honoring Coach Gregory and it’s just amazing,” said Cooke. “We love it and everyone that played tennis under Coach Gregory has talked about how much they love it. He was a phenomenal man.” Cooke says that while it’s not an official naming of the courts, she has no plans of keeping the sign anywhere other than where it sits as long as she is there because the lessons he taught her are the ones that she’s still passing along to her players today. “The lessons that he taught me are the same ones I still try to pass along to our girls now,” said Cooke. “He used to tell us we have to have the ‘gonnas’ or the want to win and fight. Our girls showed that ‘gonna’ with their win tonight.” Comments are closed.
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