Donna Floyd Fales
William & Mary
|
1997
A graduate of the College of William & Mary, Donna Floyd Fales (b.1940) was a highly gifted tennis student, winning her first national junior title at age 15. In 1959, at the second national collegiate tournament for women, she captured the singles crown. Fales ranked among the top international players in the last years of amateur tennis, and was admired for her keen intellect and the ‘faultlessness of her court craft.’
Competing on the U.S. Wightman Cup team in 1963, Fales went on to captain the Wightman and Federation Cup teams. Her decades of service to tennis include directorship of the Great Miami Tennis Foundation and a special commitment to the late Arthur Ashe’s National Junior Tennis League program. Fales has been honored with four top USTA service awards and was inducted into the Virginia All Sports Hall of Fame in 1997.
Career Highlights
- Ranked in USTA Top 10 from 1960-1963, 1965-1966; No.1 in the East 1966
U.S. Champion Girls’ 15 Singles 1955; Girls’ 18 Indoor Doubles 1956
U.S. Intercollegiate Singles Champion 1959
Canadian Singles and Doubles Champion 1960
Independent Tour of Africa and Europe 1962; United Arab Championship Singles and Mixed Doubles; Alexandria (Eqypt) Open Singles Champion
U.S. Clay Court Singles Champion 1962
U.S. Mixed Doubles Champion 1966
U.S. Wightman Cup Team Member 1963, 1964; Team Captain 1964
U.S. Federation Cup Team Captain 1967, 1969 (winning teams), 1972, 1974
U.S. Bueno Cup Team Captain 1996 (Womens’ 50 competition)
Tournament Director, ITF Sunshine Cup Connelly Continental Cup 1991 – present
Winner of the USTA Service Bowl Award 1967; the Sarah Palfrey Danzig Award 1989; the USTA Community Service Award 1989; the USTA Educational Merit Award 1996
Chair, USTA/National Junior Tennis League Committee 1985-1987; Vice Chair, USTA Wightman Cup Committee; founder and president, NJTL Miami Chapter 1974-1989
Vice Chair, USTA Wightman Cup Committee 1987-1990; USTA Federation Cup Committee 1996-1997; Chair, USTA Women’s Senior International Play Committee 1995-1998
Inducted into the Florida Tennis Association Hall of Fame 1987; William & Mary Athletic Hall of Fame; Virginia All-Sports Hall of Fame 1997
