The USTA honored long-time volunteer Sharon Gault of Greenville, Miss. with the 2007 Barbara Williams Leadership Award. Gault was recognized at the USTA’s Annual Meeting, over the weekend in Naples, Fla. with the annual award.
The award was established in 2003 to honor the late Barbara Williams, a long-time USTA volunteer who gave unselfishly of her time and energy to promote the sport of tennis. This award recognizes a female volunteer who, through her leadership and by her example, has encouraged and inspired others to become volunteers and assume leadership roles at the community, section, and/or national levels of the United States Tennis Association.
Gault, a lifetime resident of Mississippi, has devoted much of her life to the game of tennis. She is an accomplished recreational player and an exceptional promoter, administrator and ambassador of the sport. Gault secured and opened the first Mississippi Tennis Association’s office and hired its first Executive Director in 1983. Gault also was instrumental in compiling the first “MTA Recommended Tennis Program for Tennis Coaches” booklet. For all of her accomplishments Gault was inducted into the Southern Tennis Hall of Fame in January 2006.
The first five recipients of the award were: Barbara Smith (2006), Margaret Newfield (2005), Carol Schneider (2003), Barbara A. Lawrence (2004) and Carol Schneider (2003).