Management - Loving tennis

Lee Hamilton ’57 never met a tennis ball he didn’t like.

As Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer of the United States Tennis Association (USTA) since April 2003, Hamilton runs a tennis tournament each summer — not just any tennis tournament, but the venerable U.S. Open, with the largest attendance of any annual sporting event in the world.

“Putting together the Open can be overwhelming,” he admits. “But there’s nothing else I’d rather be doing.”

In addition to the Open, Hamilton oversees the USTA’s Community Tennis, Professional Tennis, and Player Development operations along with its Diversity Initiative. His responsibilities include leading the effort to accomplish the organizational mission of promoting and developing the growth of tennis.

Hamilton credits “a skilled staff and dedicated volunteers” to a recent significant growth spurt for the sport. “We were delighted to see a breakout of well over one million new players during 2005,” he says.

A former senior management official with Exxon Corp., he has a long history of volunteerism with the nonprofit USTA, at the community level in his home state of Texas and at the sectional and national levels. An accomplished player himself, Hamilton has been ranked No. 10 in the U.S. in Men’s 60 and Over Singles and No. 4 in Men’s 60 and Over Doubles.

Hamilton, a self-proclaimed advocate for the purity of the game, says, “It’s such an engaging sport, with so many pluses. I can talk forever about why people should play tennis.”

With a degree in chemical engineering from Bucknell (and an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh), Hamilton never envisioned becoming the operational head of the country’s governing body for tennis, but says his education prepared him well for the many challenges he faces daily.

“The combination of my engineering coursework and an active leadership role in student government and fraternity activities, along with intramural sports and varsity soccer, led to a management career,” he explains. “This, in turn, helped hone the supervisory and organizational skills that I draw upon today.”

Hamilton, who will celebrate his 50th Reunion in June 2007, has demonstrated his loyalty to Bucknell in many ways and served as Chair of the University’s Board of Trustees from July 1, 2001, to June 30, 2003. Despite his hectic USTA schedule, he still retains a Board seat and continues to play tennis regularly.

“Not playing is not an option,” he says.