Wiedmer: Guerry at home in Hall

Zan Guerry was 10 years old the first time his tennis talents led him to Athens, Ga.

Trouble was, his mother, Louise, wasn't comfortable with a boy of that age staying in the University of Georgia dormitories, which is where the participants in the Crackerland junior tourney were housed.

"She called me and asked if Zan could stay in my home," said Dan Magill, the legendary former UGA tennis coach on Wednesday. "I said, 'Of course he can.' I'm not sure, but I think Zan may have gone on to win the 12-unders that year."

On May 26th, the 61-year-old Guerry will become a permanent resident of another home Magill helped build in Athens -- the Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame. Magill is the Hall's curator and one of the biggest reasons it exists.

"It's a very exciting and very important award," said Guerry, who was a three-time All-American at Rice from 1969 through 1971, as well as the winner of 20 U.S. national titles.

"Those were great years at Rice. We had a wonderful team. We were in the top three in the country my last three years. I had some great friends on those teams. A lot of good memories."

He also has a lot of good memories of Magill, though he admits he doesn't remember if he won the Crackerland 12-under in the summer of 1959.

"But if Dan Magill thinks I did, I probably did," said Guerry. "What I remember more was playing matches against some of his Georgia players when I was at Baylor (School) and playing father-son matches with my dad (Alex) against him and Ham (Hamilton)."

Magill remembers losing most of those matches.

Said Guerry diplomatically, "We may have won, but they were very close."

Guerry's entry into the Hall of Fame with nine others in the class of 2010 isn't a close call. In addition to all those national titles he won in age groups 12, 14, 16, 18, 35, 40 and 45, he was also a five-time winner of the Southern men's singles crown, the first when he was 15.

By 1978 he was ranked 105th in the world, but left competitive tennis soon after that to focus on Chattem, the family business he ran from 1990 following the death of his father until it was sold to Sanofi-aventis in December.

"Zan's certainly one of the most worthy inductees we've ever had," said Magill. "In fact, the whole Guerry family has been so important to tennis in this part of the country. They've given so much to the game."

Guerry points to friendship and exercise as the chief reasons he still plays today. But asked to reflect on his favorite accomplishments, he quickly turned to an event he won this past fall.

"I'd always wanted to win a national father-son tournament as the father instead of the son," said Guerry, who won two father-son national titles with his father in 1967 and 1971. "In December, my son Jeff (27) and I did it. We won the Senior Father-Son in Sarasota, Fla.

"A friend of mine said that probably meant more to me than seeing my stocks go up 50 percent, and he's probably right."

Because even when you've just sold your family's company for nearly $2 billion, some moments between a father and son are priceless.

E-mail Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com