Robert Hayes Ryland was an American tennis player and coach, known for having been the first African-American to play professional tennis.
15 Facts About Bob Ryland
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Bob Ryland coached some of the world's top-ranked professionals, including Harold Solomon, Renee Blount, Leslie Allen, Arthur Ashe, Bruce Foxworth, Venus Williams, and Serena Williams.
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Bob Ryland taught and coached at clubs in Bermuda, Puerto Rico, St Alban's Tennis Club in Washington, DC, and the Mid-Town Tennis Club in Manhattan.
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Bob Ryland was inducted into the Wayne State University Athletic Hall of Fame, Black Tennis Hall of Fame, and the Eastern Tennis Hall of Fame in 2002, where he received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012.
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When Bob Ryland was 10 years old, he returned to Chicago to live with his father and started playing tennis.
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Bob Ryland attended Tilden Tech High School in Chicago, and while a student there won both the Illinois State and junior ATA singles titles.
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Bob Ryland was eventually inducted into the university's Hall of Fame.
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In 1947 Bob Ryland moved to California, where he played tennis with Pancho Gonzalez.
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Bob Ryland was a player and a coach at Tennessee and twice led his team to the small college national championships.
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In 1958, Bob Ryland became the first African-American to play professional tennis when promoter Jack March brought him to the World Pro Championships in Cleveland.
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Bob Ryland later moved back to New York City and started coaching at the Mid-Town Tennis Club, where he worked from 1963 to 1990.
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Bob Ryland died of aspiration pneumonia at his stepson's home in Provincetown, Massachusetts on August 2,2020, at the age of 100.
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Bob Ryland was inducted into the Wayne State University Athletic Hall of Fame, the Black Tennis Hall of Fame, and the Eastern Tennis Hall of Fame in 2002, where he received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012.
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In 2019, Bob Ryland was inducted into the USTA-Midwest Hall of Fame.
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Bob Ryland gave lectures at the Harlem Armory, the Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis and Education and the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.