MERIDIAN, Miss. (WTOK) – 15 Region 23 JUCO Championships, and nine MACJC Championships later, retired Meridian Community College head tennis coach, Wanda McPhail, has been announced as a 2024 Mississippi United States Tennis Association Hall of Fame inductee.
McPhail was the head coach of both the men’s and women’s tennis team’s at MCC from 2000-2018 before she retired.
In those years, she boasted a 543-124 record, and was named the USTA Mississippi coach of the year in 2014.
“You don’t set out to say, ‘I’m going to be in a hall of fame’,” said McPhail.
McPhail, a Union native, didn’t have many female sports options she could choose from while growing up.
“In the era I grew up in, there weren’t many sports for women, so I did basketball and track in junior high and high school,” said McPhail.
McPhail also played basketball at East Central Community College. She is also inducted in the East Central players Hall of Fame.
“At the end of the season our coach…. she said “you’re going out for tennis”. I said, “I don’t even own a racket””.
McPhail tried out for the tennis team come spring. In her second season on the team, her and her doubles partner were runner-ups in state.
McPhail instantly fell in love with the sport. She attributes her and her partner’s run to state as solely hard work put on the court in their short time together, because they loved it so much they didn’t want to stop practicing.
Growing up, McPhail wanted to become a physical education teacher. Being a head coach was never her dream.
“I never have interviewed for a coaching job in my life,” McPhail stated. “I had a young man who had given up another sport. He said, “I talked to the principal and I told them we want to have a tennis team and you could coach it,”” she finished.
McPhail was an instructor at West Lauderdale High School when she was asked by the principal to coach basketball and track. She agreed, and her plate eventually became more full, as she also became the cheerleading and volleyball head coach.
When a student expressed interest in her coaching a tennis program, she felt she had to add that to her plate, as well.
MCC’s president at the time, Dr. Scott Elliott, called up McPhail after seeing her success, and asked her to come coach at the college.
Nine Mississippi Junior College Tennis Championships later, McPhail is already inducted into MCC’s Hall of Fame, as well as the Mississippi Junior College Sports Hall of Fame. She was also named the Region 23 coach of the year 19 times, and the MACC coach of the year 16 times.
“I feel like God led me into coaching so that I can impact lives,” said McPhail.
The USTA Hall of Fame induction will take place on January 27th, 2024, at River Hills Club in Jackson.
And you know, when I came here I told Dr. Elliot that I would stay a year but I probably wouldn’t stay any longer than that.
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