The Texas Tennis Museum and Hall of Fame mourns the loss of legendary UT tennis player and coach, Dave Snyder (Texas Tennis Hall of Fame Class of 1986), who passed away this morning in Austin.
Born on December 14, 1934 in Wichita, Kansas, Snyder was a two-time state singles champion at Winfield High School. He continued that success in college, playing for the University of Texas where he helped guide the Longhorns to three consecutive Southwest Conference championships (1954-1956) and a second place finish in the 1955 NCAA tournament. He was named the captain of the 1956 Texas squad and reached number twenty-two in the United States Tennis Association’s men’s singles rankings that year.
He began his collegiate coaching career in 1959 at the University of Arizona and guided the Wildcats to a record of 161-48 in dual matches during his fourteen seasons there.
In 1972, Snyder was named the 3rd coach ever at the University of Texas, replacing the retiring Wilmer Allison. When he retired in 2000, he had won 9 conference titles— including the first three Big 12 titles. During his career, Snyder coached thirty-three All-Americans at Arizona and Texas. His combined win-loss record of 697-226 dual-matches placed him among the greatest tennis coaches of all-time.
Snyder received many honors throughout his career. In 1962, just four seasons after he began coaching, Snyder was named the coach of the U.S. Junior Davis Cup team, led by Arthur Ashe. He was named the ITCA Coach of the Year in 1985. After his retirement in 2000, he went on to win two national age-group racquetball singles championships. He was inducted into the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Hall of Fame in 2001 and the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame in 2012.
