Sept. 15, 2005

Atlanta, GA - The USTA Southern Section announced today that Greenville, Mississippi's Sharon Gault, Winston-Salem, North Carolina's John Peddycord and Greenville, South Carolina's Paul Scarpa have been selected for induction into the Southern Tennis Hall of Fame. The 2006 induction ceremony is scheduled for Saturday, January 21, 2006 at the Atlanta Perimeter Marriott in Atlanta, Ga.

As one of the most successful NCAA Division I coaches in America, Paul Scarpa has amassed 760 wins and his 42 years of experience and .616 winning percentage rank among the nation's elite. He's a member of both the USTA South Carolina Tennis Hall of Fame and the Furman University Hall of Fame.

Now in his 40th year of coaching at Furman Scarpa wrote his name in the record books on April 22, 2001, when he became only the fourth coach in history to reach the 700 win plateau. He has posted winning records against top competition in 35 of his 39 seasons at Furman.

Paul Scarpa grew up in Charleston, SC where he developed into an outstanding junior player in the 1950's, winning the first 18-and-under singles title at the Palmetto Championships in Belton in 1957. That same year he was the top ranked player in South Carolina and was no. 3 in the South in the Boys' 18's. After high school graduation Scarpa attended Florida State University where he became the top singles and doubles player on the team, going on to play, and win, the NCAA Eastern Intercollegiate Championships. Scarpa also holds the distinction of being the first player to win the S.C. State Men's Championship both as an amateur and later as a professional.

Following college graduation, Scarpa, was hired as head tennis coach at Florida State and the Naval Academy. In 1966 he moved to Greenville, SC to work as both head tennis professional at Greenville Country Club and head coach at Furman University. He continued to play tennis competitively, and was a semifinalist in both singles and doubles at the National Teaching Professionals Championships, an achievement that helped Scarpa win South Carolina's Professional-of-the-Year award in 1975.

Scarpa left Greenville Country Club in 1973 to devote full time to his coaching responsibilities at Furman. He has entered his 40th year and is the only head coach to have ever led Furman's Men's Tennis Team.

Scarpa became the first coach in the state to develop a tennis camp on a college campus in 1970. This summer will mark the camp's 36th year at Furman. The camp is highly regarded and over the years has drawn some of the best young talent from across the nation.

As one of the most influential players and coaches ever produced by the state of South Carolina, Paul Scarpa's contribution to tennis at Furman University and the Palmetto state might be summed up best when he became only the eighth inductee into the South Carolina Tennis Hall-of-Fame in 1986. He has won a number of awards, including the 1990 and 2000 South Carolina Coach-of-the-Year award. He also has been named the Southern Conference Coach-of-the-Year seven times.

While Paul's influence has lefts its mark at Furman and in South Carolina, his contributions to the game have also been felt at the national level. He developed and patented Textex, a line tape used on clay court surfaces. In 1993 the NCAA began utilizing a new dual match scoring system, developed by Scarpa. Intended to shorten the length of a typical dual match, the "Scarpa System" the format specified that all matches begin with doubles point. This successfully increased overall intensity and fan interest, two elements that are the hallmarks of Scarpa's Furman program. The format has since been adopted for women's matches.

Furman has honored Scarpa in a number of ways over the years. A tennis scholarship was endowed in his name in 1986 and he was inducted into the school's Athletic Hall-of-Fame in 1994. In 1995 the University built the Minor Herndon Mickel Tennis Center and announced that the championship court would be named in his honor. Furman proclaimed April 10, 1999 "Paul Scarpa Day," and honored the coach with a special ceremony before his 1000th match at Furman.

Paul Scarpa is one of the true champions of our sport. He is known throughout the college community as a leader, a great coach, a great motivator and a true gentleman.