No one was more surprised by the selection of legendary Hampton University tennis coach Dr. Robert Screen to the Black Tennis Hall of Fame than Screen himself.
Despite his pioneering role in college tennis, Screen has long been overlooked for his contributions to the sport. That being the case, he never gave much thought to going into any Halls of Fame.
"I never thought that it would happen,'' says Screen, who was inducted into the Black Tennis Hall of Fame as a contributor Aug. 5 during ceremonies in Atlanta. "I never thought about it until it did happen. With my record I can see why it did happen. But in this life you do so many things and don't get credit for them or recognized for them. I've never been given much credit for what I've done. People know, but it's like a secret. God made this happen.''
Screen's accomplishments during his 41-year career at the helm of Hampton's tennis program are numerous. He has 1,068 career victories, making him the winningest tennis coach in NCAA Division I history, and he is the only African-American coach to win an NCAA tennis championship, having led the Pirates' men's team to the 1976 and '89 titles. In addition, Screen is generally regarded as the first college coach at any level to recruit internationally, a practice that is now commonplace throughout the sport.
"He's really deserving of being in the Hall of Fame,'' South Carolina State tennis coach Hardeep Judge says. "It's long overdue. He has done some incredible things throughout his coaching career. The teams he was able to build, it's just amazing - to win national championships and the big schools are afraid to play you. He paved the way for a lot of us.''
Screen led Hampton to the height of its success from 1985-94. The Pirates were ranked second in the nation six times during that period, including their last season playing at the NCAA Division II level; they competed in the NCAA Tournament championship match three consecutive seasons.
In addition to the NCAA titles, Screen has won two HBCU National Championships as well as three Virginia Collegiate Championships. Since joining the MEAC, he has led Hampton to 11 conference titles (seven men's, four women's). The Lady Pirates won their first MEAC title in 1996while the Pirates made their first NCAA Tournament appearance on the Division I level in 1999.
Hampton dominated the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) as a Division II program before joining the MEAC in 1995-96, winning 22 consecutive conference championships. However, Screen says his greatest accomplishment is that 90 percent of his players have graduated.
"When you come to Hampton to play tennis, you better get ready to go to class and do the work,'' he says. "You won't stay on the team unless you go to class and pass your courses. Education is important to me. You leave here with a degree; you don't leave with just the ability to play tennis.''
Screen is a 1953 graduate of Hampton and a former Pirates tennis player. He was an assistant coach at his alma mater before succeeding Herman Nielson as head coach in 1970.
Screen was an assistant coach when former USA TODAY tennis writer Doug Smith played for the Pirates from 1960-64. Smith advanced to the finals of the CIAA Tournament his junior and senior seasons after working closely with Screen during his freshman and sophomore seasons.
"He worked with me a lot,'' Smith says. "The main thing that he emphasized was the need to be a complete player. I see that being absent in today's coaches. In this Nick Bolliterri (Academy) era, they put them out there before they can hold the racquet. They learn the two-handed swing. They don't learn the complete game.''
Smith says Screen taught him how to play at the baseline and the net, when to come up on the ball and which shot to use, among other things.
"He made me a much stronger player,'' Smith says. "He was very demanding in the sense of making sure you understood that once you were able to understand the shot, the only way to perfect it is you have to do it again and again. So many teachers don't understand that. They teach you the shot, but you have to spend a lot of time developing it to make it yours.''
Screen began playing tennis at age 12 in his hometown of Augusta, Ga., where he lived two blocks from a tennis facility. He became interested in the game after seeing others play as he passed the tennis facility. A man who lived in Screen's neighborhood and had a tennis court in his backyard taught him the game.
Soon after Screen became head coach at Hampton, major colleges throughout the South began to heavily recruit African-American athletes, including tennis players. In 1972, one of Screen's friends introduced him to someone who had been on holiday in Brazil. That person told Screen about a Brazilian tennis player, Roger DeSantos Guedes. Screen recruited Guedes, who went on to be ranked in the top 100 players on the ATP World Tour, to play for the Pirates. Over the years, Screen continued to recruit players from Brazil - 57 Brazilian athletes have played for him. Screen soon expanded his recruiting base to other parts of the world without the help of the Internet, Facebook or Twitter. In the process, he forever changed the face of the college tennis recruiting process as other coaches followed him on the international recruiting trail after seeing the success the Pirates enjoyed.