by Dahlia Karey

The Mark Reilly Tennis Center was recognized this Tuesday with the prestigious 2024 Outstanding Facility Award from the United States Tennis Association (USTA) at the U.S. Open in Queens, NY.

The Mark Reilly Tennis Center is named after the former Jeffersonville High School tennis coach and teacher, who has also been inducted into the Indiana Tennis Hall of Fame. This award is in the Large Public Facilities category, one of the five offered.

The 12-court facility serves the community in a variety of ways, including programming like youth camps, tournaments, and promotion of tennis in the community. These factors pushed the Mark Reilly Tennis Center past other nominees to win the award.

Current tennis coach Jerid Inman said, “We have implemented year-round clinics for elementary through grade school students, launched an elementary tennis initiative to introduce tennis to 5000 elementary students, hosted numerous high school and college tournaments, and have continued to build the facility into one of the best in the nation for high schools.”

Principal Pam Hall traveled with Reilly, his family, and athletic director Larry Owens to New York this week to accept the award and said that it was an honor.

“I can’t think of a more iconic place to celebrate than on the hallowed grounds where the greats of the sport, Billie Jean King and Arthur Ashe, won open championships,” said Hall. “What an amazing day to be a Red Devil!”

Inman said, “A huge thank you goes out to the Jeffersonville Tennis CTA, the city of Jeffersonville, Jeffersonville High School, and the USTA for supporting the tennis program.”

The award will be displayed at the Mark Reilly Tennis Center.