By James B. Ewers Jr. Ed.D., USTA Southern Diversity & Inclusion Committee Chair
Bonnie Logan is a tennis champion and has played the game with grace and style. Her athleticism and skill propelled her to the highest levels in the sport.
Logan epitomizes hard work, toughness, character and a quiet greatness. She is in the Morgan State University Athletic Hall of Fame, the North Carolina Tennis Hall of Fame and the Black Tennis Hall of Fame.
Logan’s game and legendary wins were talked about and written about in North Carolina, regionally and nationally. Logan was a role model for girls and women and probably did not know it. Her ability to win despite the obstacles and the times is what makes her a champion for the ages.
I have had the honor of meeting this tennis legend on many occasions. She does not remember me, but I will always remember her.
If you grew up in North Carolina like I did and played tennis, you know the name, Bonnie Logan. While in college, I watched her defeat male tennis players. She made history each time she stepped on a court to play college tennis at Morgan State University, a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) in Baltimore, MD.
Here are a few of her career highlights:
- Black Tennis Hall of Fame inductee
- North Carolina Tennis Hall of Fame inductee
- Morgan State University Athletic Hall of Fame inductee
- Undefeated in singles for three years as the National Interscholastic Girls’ champion as a prep star at Hillside High School in Durham, NC.
- American Tennis Association (ATA) Women’s champion (1964-70)
- First woman in conference history to win a CIAA (Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association) men’s tennis title
- North Carolina Closed Tennis Women’s champion 1967-1969
- First Black woman to play on the Virginia Slims Tennis Tour in 1971