| School: Grant | Graduation Year: 2005 |
Year Inducted: 2018
Sports Played: Tennis
High School Honors: 4 Tennis letters, PIL Singles Champion all 4 years, undefeated in PIL competition. State runner-up in Sophomore and Junior years.
Post High School Career: 4 Tennis letters at Santa Clara with wins over national and world ranked players. Played 2 years on The Futures Professional Tour, reaching top ranking in the Pacific NW and one of the top-ranked Junior Tennis players in the US. Coached nationally ranked players in the San Francisco Bay area. Has held executive sales positions at companies like LinkedIn, Oracle DocuSign, and others; presently serves
as Territory Sales Manager for Ecobee, a Smart Home Automation company in the Bay area.
Commentary:
I’d especially like to thank my parents for allowing me the opportunity to travel far and wide across the United States (Hard-court Nationals in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Clay Courts in Washington, DC, The Easter Bowl in Palm Springs and The US Winter National in Arizona. Furthermore, they enabled me to compete in National Events in Florida, Ohio, Texas, Michigan, South Carolina, Colorado, and many other places. Through their support I was able to reach the top ranking in the Pacific Northwest and become one of the top-ranked Junior Tennis players in the United States.
I grew up watching and playing Tennis at the Irvington Tennis Club in Portland, Oregon. I remember early morning lessons with great tennis pros like Mike Tammen and Carolyn Lumber. My biggest influence was the Head Men’s Tennis Coach at the University of Portland, Aaron Gross. He ran and still runs one of the most prominent Junior Tennis Academies in the Pacific Northwest. My dad took me to 7:00 AM lessons twice a week to work with Aaron. After school, my mom would take me to the Junior Academy held at the University of Portland.
Aaron Gross taught me to never make excuses, to find positive opportunities through adversity and to outwork the competition. Essentially, you are always accountable for how hard you work, and you always need to be growing and improving each and every day.
I had a fantastic career at Santa Clara University and clinched many singles match wins over schools like University of Oregon, Harvard, UC Santa Barbara, University of San Francisco, Saint Mary’s, Princeton, San Diego State, and many others. To this day I hold wins over notable world ranked players who are still competing to this day.
The lessons I learned from my parents, Aaron Gross and my experience as Santa Clara have converted well since. I’ve held Sales Executive positions at companies like LinkedIn, Oracle DocuSign, and others. To this day I still play all the time, love running, and will never forget the amazing times I had during my time at Grant High School from 2001-2005.