The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Athletics Department and the Office of Alumni Affairs recently announced inductees into the Class of 2009 UTC Athletics Hall of Fame.

All-American tennis player Billie Abney from LaFayette was among those honored at a recent ceremony and dinner at the Chattanooga Country Club.

With six national titles in school history, the women’s tennis program at UTC is one of the most storied of all the Mocs’ teams and Abney helped to start it all as the team captain of the first championship squad.

Abney began her college career at Marymount College in Boca Raton, Fla. as a scholarship tennis student-athlete out of LaFayette High School.

However, when she heard that Alice Tym would be coaching at UTC, she decided to return to Chattanooga.

“Candy (Reynolds) and I both played at Manker Patten (Tennis Club) and when we heard Alice was going to be coaching, we both decided to come back to UTC,” Abney said.

Their return would eventually spark a dominant, three-year championship run for the Lady Mocs.

“It was just an incredible period of time,” continued Abney. “Working with Alice was incredible. She was one of the brightest coaches and individuals that I have ever worked with. She was able to draw incredible things out of us. She could find our weaknesses and make us stronger and we didn’t even know what she was doing. The whole thing really hinged around Manker Patten and Alice Tym.”

Abney went on to be a key member of the women’s tennis program from 1974-77. She was a No. 1 ranked doubles player in the South in her junior and senior years, teaming with both Reynolds and Elisabeth Sharp. The Mocs competed in the Small College Division of the AIAW, but constantly took on and defeated teams from Division I.

“At the end of my junior year, we went down to a tournament at LSU and beat the No. 3 ranked Division I team and I remember thinking, ‘I can’t believe we just did that,” she recalled. “We beat Alabama and some of the other bigger schools. My senior year we went to the University of North Carolina for the Regionals and beat both North Carolina and Duke.”

As a senior in 1977, she led UTC to the AIAW Small College National Championship. With the score tied at 4-4 in the championship match against UC-Santa Barbara, Abney and Sharpe teamed up in the deciding doubles contest. They took down the Lady Gauchos in the clinching match for what would be the first of three-straight AIWA national titles for Chattanooga.

That 1977 squad laid the groundwork for the future of the Lady Mocs’ tennis program as UTC went on to win the NCAA Division II National Championship in 1983, 1984 and 1985.

Abney was a member of Pi Beta Phi and was on the Homecoming Court. She also played point guard on the basketball team for part of one season under head coach Grace Keith.

She graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science in Health & Physical Education and went on to earn a second Bachelor’s degree in Biology at Logan College in St. Louis, Mo. She also earned a Doctor of Chiropractic from Logan and is pursuing a Doctorate of Education through Walden University.

Dr. Abney is currently a teacher and member of the National Education Association, Georgia Association of Educators, Georgia Science Teachers Association and an award winner of the Teacher of Promise for the State of Georgia. She is also a member of the Georgia Chiropractic Association and a past board member of the G.C.A.