W.E. Hester - Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame

W.E. "Slew" Hester

Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame Inductee

Administration | Tennis

W.E. Hester Mississippi Hall of Fame Inductee

W.E. "Slew" Hester Stats, Bio

Born: May 8, 1912

Hometown: Hazlehurst, MS

Year Induction: 1968

Deceased : February 8, 1993

College Career

Millsaps College (1929-1933)

  • Played football, basketball, baseball, track, and tennis

Professional Career

Won over 500 state, sectional, and national tennis tournaments (’25-’77)

Won 9 national senior championships

Runner-up in 17 national senior championships

National runner-up with son Bill Hester in father-son doubles 4 times

Southern Tennis Hall of Fame inductee (’79)

International Tennis Hall of Fame inductee (’81)

President, Mississippi Tennis Association (’54-’58)

President, Southern Lawn Tennis Association (’64-’66)

President, United States Tennis Association (’77-’79)

Executive Committee, United States Lawn Tennis Association (’64-’79)

Mississippi Sportsman of the Year by The Clarion Ledger/Jackson Daily News (’78)

With partner Dorothy Vest, undefeated in mixed doubles tournaments (’38-’57)

Did You Know?

Perhaps Hester’s greatest legacy is the National Tennis Center at Flushing Meadows, New York, which was completed just in time for the U.S. Open in 1978. Hester shocked the tennis establishment by daring to move this country’s premier tennis event from its traditional site at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, New York. His approach was typically “Slew”; personally choosing the location, overseeing all plans and construction, and proudly hosting the first tournament. The Tennis Center is today recognized as one of the finest tennis facilities in the world, and is known in tennis circles as “The House that Slew Built”.

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