Above: Delaware’s Laura LeRoy. Photo courtesy DSHOF.
By Chuck Durante
Laura Travis is the rare athletic star who reached similar heights as a coach. University of Delaware’s greatest tennis player became its most successful coach. She will be honored for her play, coaching and advocacy for the sport on May 29 at the Chase Center on the Riverfront when she will be among nine new inductees into the Delaware Sports Hall of Fame.
At every level, she was dominant. As Laura LeRoy, she played first singles for Tower Hill starting in eighth grade, leading four state championship teams, herself becoming state champion, meanwhile captaining the Hillers’ 1982 field hockey title team.
The Blue Hens’ top player from the day she matriculated, she led Delaware to four conference crowns — three times winning the singles championship. She added a doubles title, was named to the regional all-academic team all four years and received University-wide recognition for leadership. She was the clear choice as Delaware’s top senior female athlete in 1988.
By her mid-20s, she became coach, and lifted the Blue Hen women to consistent success, at or near the top of the conference for 26 years, including a 42-match winning streak. For 21 of those years, she double-timed, as one of the few women to coach a major-college men’s team. Five times the conference’s coach of the year, she led a men’s team with no scholarship support to the 1997 league title.
Travis advanced the sport year-round. She instructed students, advised the UD club team and led summer programs, including Tennis in the Street for Wilmington youth. She also provided organizational leadership, serving as president of the U.S. Tennis Association Mid-Atlantic District.
Travis is competing again. Watch for her in age-group competitions, including on the national level.
— Founded in 1976, the Delaware Sports Museum and Hall of Fame is located on the Wilmington Riverfront at 801 Shipyard Drive on the first base side of Frawley Stadium. Sports fans can tour the museum for free each Saturday from 10am to 1pm and for two hours before every Blue Rocks home game.
