Sept. 13, 2006
ATLANTA – Kenny Thorne, the eighth-year head coach of the Georgia Tech men’s tennis team and former Yellow Jacket All-American, will be inducted into the Georgia Tennis Hall of Fame this Saturday evening at the Olde Town Athletic Club in Marietta, Ga.
“On behalf of everyone at Georgia Tech, we congratulate Kenny on this prestigious honor,” said Tech Director of Athletics Dan Radakovich. “Not only is he a very successful coach, but he is a tremendous role model for the young men in our program.
“We’re very fortunate to now have both of our tennis coaches, Kenny and women’s head coach Bryan Shelton, in the Georgia Tennis Hall of Fame. That certainly speaks to their outstanding playing careers, but more importantly, it is a measure of their positive influence in the community.”
The honor is the highest to be bestowed on an individual in the state of Georgia, and the induction ceremony will be the conclusion to the Hall of Fame Weekend of Celebration, which begins Friday morning. Tickets for the induction ceremony are $100 apiece and may be purchased by calling Nell Long at 404.323.0625. For more information on the entire Hall of Fame Weekend of Celebration, visit http://www.robbyginepri.com/sitefiles/Hall_of_Fame_06.pdf.
Thorne, a native of Richmond, Va., first arrived at Georgia Tech in the fall of 1984 and become one of the first tennis players in school history to earn all-Atlantic Coast Conference honors when he, Bryan Shelton and Andre Simm all earned the honor during the 1984-85 season. He went on to become a four-time all-ACC honoree and was named an All-American following his senior campaign. Thorne held the record for most singles victories in a career following his junior season and his mark of 112 singles wins in a career still stands as the Georgia Tech record today.
Following a successful professional career in which he was a six-time participant at Wimbledon, the U.S. Open, French Open and Australian Open while being ranked as high as No. 121 in the world in singles and No. 67 in doubles, Thorne returned to his alma mater as the Director of Tennis and head men’s coach on June 30, 1998. Since then, he has directed the Yellow Jackets to seven NCAA Tournament appearances and a total of 111 dual-match victories. He has coached three ACC singles and two doubles champions during his tenure and has had four players named ITA All-Americans during that time.
His 2006-07 team consists of one senior, six juniors and two freshmen.
