Spartan Profiles: Rick Ferman
LEADING U.S. TENNIS
Some years ago, a Sports Illustrated cover asked, “Is Tennis Dying?” The sport was languishing in a two-decade long decline in participation. But in 1995, the United States Tennis Association, the sport’s governing body, named Rick Ferman, ’72, M.A. ’73, former MSU tennis player and managing partner of Lansing’s Court One Athletic Clubs, as its executive director.
Ferman, who coached pro Todd Martin and developed numerous grassroots programs in Michigan, helped to execute a plan to reverse the 20-year trend. “Every measure that we have indicates a dramatic turnaround in participation,” says Rick, who took time out during the U.S. Open at the National Tennis Center in Flushing, New York. “Sales of balls and racquets are up, TV ratings are up, and last year’s U.S. Open finals was up 117 percent. Since 1996, tennis participation has increased by 3 million players.”
Rick notes that the USTA’s $50 million, 5-year plan for growth has introduced tennis to 250,000 Americans, one quarter of them African Americans. “This is very exciting,” says Rick, who credits former MSU tennis coach Frank Beeman, his master’s advisor, with inculcating him with a “sports for all” philosophy. “What I’m doing now is to put that philosophy into practice.”
Rick played for MSU from 1968-70, then taught and coached, and eventually became an administrator and manager. As the USTA’s chief executive, he helps run the U.S. Open, select the Davis Cup, Fed Cup, Pan American Games and Olympics teams, and promote the growth of tennis from the grassroots to the professional levels with the help of more than 580,000 members and a yearly budget of $160 million. Rick is not totally satisfied with the sport’s current boom. “Our objective is to return tennis to its rightful place in sports and recreational activities,” he says, noting that worldwide tennis ranks second only to soccer. “We want people to realize the tremendous benefits of tennis as a lifetime activity.”