110 Year Birthday Party Highlights

Laury Hammel

Laury was born in Utah and grew up at the club that his dad managed. He learned every job during these formative years and he was the first janitor at the 17th East location. He was a highly-ranked junior, played at the U, and was ranked #1 in Utah Men’s open doubles. His career highlight was on court #9 at the age of 18 when he battled the top college player in the nation, Stan Smith, to a close 6-4, 6-4 loss. In 1972 he moved to Boston and founded New England’s largest tennis instructional program which grew into the Longfellow Health Clubs. In 2013 he purchased the Salt Lake Tennis and Swimming club and dedicated his finances and experience to the revival of this important community asset. He is now celebrating his 50 years of entrepreneurship that created one of the top health and tennis club businesses in the nation.

Janie Freed Hinckley

Janie, along with Jo and Jasmine, are the exceptional tennis-playing daughters of the legendary David Freed. Janie won many junior and adult tournaments and in 1960 and 1961 she was ranked #1 in the Intermountain Girls 18 Singles. When she was at the U of U she trained with Jim Osborne and the Men’s Team because there was no Women’s Team then.

Ruby Hammel

Ruby and Lee Hammel met while playing tennis on the U tennis courts. That fateful day led to a lfe-long commitment to playing and growing the game of tennis. Lee’s tennis exploits are well known. Ruby played tennis most of her life and she became a much beloved tournament director and tennis instructor. She joined Lee in the Utah Tennis Hall of Fame in 2004. She is the matriarch of the Hammel family that won the national tennis family of the year in 2000.

Janice Romney Stevens

Janice was one of the most decorated women tennis players in Utah’s history as a junior, open, and senior player. She held far too many #1 rankings to list. Equally important she was the pool director at both the 9th East and 17th locations. Her daughter Ruthanne Stevens recently joined her in the Utah Tennis Hall of Fame.

Jim Bradley

Jim is Laury’s first cousin, life long friend, and occasional confidant during key points of his life. Jim was once the Democratic nominee for Governor of Utah and is a popular Salt Lake County Commissioner having served the county for over 20 years.

Jim Osborne

Jim is arguably the most accomplished professional male tennis player in Utah tennis history. He was an outstanding national junior player and was a collegiate All-American at the U. He played on the winning US Davis Cup team that beat Australia in the finals. As a pro he has wins over Smith and Ashe in singles and was ranked in the top ten in the US three times and ten times in doubles.

Scott Rockwood

Scott is the son of the legendary Linn Rockwood who was the first manager of the Salt Lake Swimming and Tennis club and one of Utah’s most decorated male tennis players in junior, college, open, and senior competitions. His number one rankings in singles and doubles in the Intermountain and Utah were too many to count. Scott was a top college tennis player at Utah State University playing doubles with Brad Hammel. He has been an enthusiastic player all his life and is a long-time member of our club. He currently serves as the President of Tennis & Tutoring

Laurie Lambert

Laurie Lambert has been the Executive Director of the Utah Tennis Association since 2012. Prior to that, she was the Tennis Operations Manager at the Park City MARC for 5 years and a teaching pro at the MARC for 11 years. Laurie is USPTA and PTR certified, is a Board member of Tennis & Tutoring and has been in the tennis industry for 30 years. Most importantly – Laurie believes that tennis is truly the sport of a lifetime and has found her most meaningful friendships through her years playing tennis and meeting everyone in the Utah tennis community.

Karen Kennington Jeppson

Karen is a USPTA certified tennis professional who for 22 years has shared her tennis knowledge and wisdom with our members. She played on the professional tennis circuit and is a member of the Utah Tennis Hall of Fame. Karen was also a two-time All American and she was ranked as one of the top 10 women collegiate players in America.

Ian Rothfels

Beginning in 2004 Ian worked full time as a tennis professional and carried on his mother’s tradition by becoming the club manager in 2008. He comes from an active and influential Utah tennis family–all five children grew up playing and competing in tennis. Their mother, Kathy Rothfels was a world class senior tennis player who earned numerous Intermountain and National senior rankings. Kathy served as manager for over 10 years beginning in1973.

Mike Trabert

Mike has been working at the club since 2000 and he has served as Director of Tennis and General Manager. He is an outstanding athlete having played at a high level on the tennis and basketball teams at the U of U. He was He was a nationally ranked senior player from 1992-1998 and ranked as high as #5 in the nation in doubles. Mike has won several awards including the prestigious 2009 David L Freed Award. Mike is a gifted tennis professional who has taught thousands of people how to play and love the game of tennis.

Darin Zwick

Darin’s family have been active members of our club for many years, and is the President of Zwick Construction. His company has designed and built all new construction since 2015 and the results included our transformative new fitness center and our beautiful new locker rooms. Darin’s father, craig Zwick was a highly ranked junior tennis player in Utah and was a tennis rival and lifelong friend of Laury and his parents.

Julie Tate

Julie began coaching our swim team in 2012 and has been our fantastic Aquatics Director since 2017. She has been active in swimming for many years and from 2011-2013 Julie held National Rankings in the USMS. This year our swim and dive team consisting of 241 kids won the Utah Country Club Swimming and Diving Conference Championship! Julie brings a wide range of skills to this challenging job and her leadership has created a swim program that is a popular profound part of our club life and culture.

Jaxon Knighton

Jaxon serves as our Director of Personal Training and together with our Assistant Director of Personal Training, Ross Renberg, they have created dynamic individual and small group training programs that offer a wide variety of training options all customized to the needs and abilities of our members. Their leadership has transformed our fitness center in terms of equipment, design, and training methods and techniques. All of our trainers have multiple certifications. As Jaxon says, “My goal in life is to help as many people as possible reach their athletic potential and fitness goals.”

Georgy Batrakov

Georgy was an All-American at BYU and he continues to be one of Utah’s top male players of any age. He began working at the club in 2015 and together with his exceptional team he has developed the most successful high performance tennis program in the Intermountain section of the USTA. Georgy balances a passionate strength in his teaching with a kind compassionate approach to the game of tennis.

Karen Sato

Karen has over 20 years of experience working in the club and fitness industry. She has been working at the club since 2014 and became the General Manager in April of 2017. Karen has played an invaluable role in the rebuilding and transformation of our club that was at a low point in our history. Karen’s leadership has been remarkable! She is at the Club every day dealing with day to day operations and doing everything she can to serve our members.

Karl Ward

Karl did not speak, as he had to miss the event because of illness.

Karl has been what can definitely be called a tennis fanatic–he loves to play, teach, watch, and talk tennis. Karl has introduced thousands of people to tennis and his enthusiasm and knowledge of the game is contagious. He became the Director of Tennis in 2020 and his outstanding leadership has supported our world-class team in tennis programs that are bursting at the seams. Karl continues to actively compete in team and individual events at a local and national level.