Memorial Funds
Colorado Youth Tennis Foundation
Memorial Funds
The Colorado Youth Tennis Association administers 12 Memorial Funds, which were established to benefit our state’s youth and to honor those who have contributed so much to the sport of tennis.
Proceeds from these funds help us introduce Colorado kids to our wonderful sport each year.
The Memorial Funds remember and recognize individuals whose lives were shaped in large part by this sport. We have a lot for which to be grateful and we’re fortunate the representatives of these Funds care so much about youth and tennis in Colorado.
Each year the CYTF hosts a doubles charity event that benefits these funds, called the Punk-Relic.
Memorial Funds
Roger B. Elton, Jr. Memorial Fund
Floyd Harberts / Dong Ngo Memorial Fund
Maude Miller Knudsen / John W. Knudsen / Jody Riser Knudsen Scholarship Fund
Devin S. Shaffer Memorial Fund
Andy Anderson Memorial Fund
C.H. “Andy” Anderson was a devoted husband for more than 50 years. He worked for the Gates Rubber Company for 31 years, including 12 years as manager of the Gates Factory Store.
Andy was a regular player and a longtime member at the Denver Tennis Club. He may best be remembered for his devotion to the courts and his beloved gardens there, which he created and then nurtured for many years.
Although a plaque commemorating his garden was commissioned several years prior to his death, Andy refused to have it put in place, preferring to allow the flowers to flourish in anonymity. After his passing, his wife Esther delivered the plaque to the DTC, where it now celebrates Andy’s dedication to his garden. Each year, the Andy Anderson Memorial Fund provides scholarships for tennis lessons for under-served boys and girls in Colorado.
Debbie Boose Memorial Fund
Debbie Boose lived her life with commitment and passion. A resident of Loveland, she was a dedicated volunteer and community leader. She had incredible energy, and was passionate about helping people. Debbie served on the Board of Trustees for the Colorado Youth Tennis Foundation where she was instrumental in the reformation of the organization. She was also an active volunteer for other causes she believed in, like her church and Hospice of Larimer County. As a paralegal, Debbie’s pro bono work helped women in abusive marriages obtain divorces and helped low-income senior citizens gain access to their legal rights. Through her actions, she was relentless in her pursuit to make the world a better place for everyone.
Debbie was an avid tennis player herself and played on the same USTA league team with friends for twenty years. Debbie died tragically in an automobile accident on April 4, 2001. Just three months after her death, her family and friends honored her memory by organizing the Debbie Boose Memorial Tennis Tournament in Loveland, benefiting Hospice of Larimer County. The CYTF’s Debbie Boose Memorial Fund provides tennis opportunities to kids needing financial assistance.
Jon Cox Memorial Fund
Jon Cox attended Cherry Creek High School, where he won two state doubles titles. Tennis was Jon’s life, and he worked unceasingly to improve.
Jon lost his life in an auto accident in June 1989. A scholarship fund was set up immediately in his name, and the Cherry Creek tennis program has annually awarded a $500 scholarship to a deserving member of the Cherry Creek team.
Since 1991, Jon’s parents have run the Jon Cox Memorial Tournament in his honor. Held every June, it is one of the largest, most recognized junior tournaments in Colorado. In 1998, the Cox family set up the Jon Cox Memorial Scholarship Fund in order to provide tennis opportunities to juniors and junior programs in Colorado.
Harry Drummond Memorial Fund
Harry Drummond was born in Scotland in 1952. An extraordinary athlete gifted with great quickness, Harry grew up playing soccer, then learning to play tennis at age 16. In the early 1980s, Harry was ranked in the top three in Colorado State Doubles, earning a No. 1 ranking with Jeff Sheets in 1983.
He moved to Dallas and continued to play tennis. When Harry read an ad about tryouts for the professional Dallas soccer team in the local newspaper, he jumped at the chance. It was never the intention of the club to actually select anyone from the tryouts. The sole purpose of the ad was to create interest and promote the team. But once they saw Harry, they knew he was something special. He played for the team for two seasons.
In 1989, Harry’s health began to fade, and in June 1992, Harry lost his battle to a rare form of cancer. Prior to his death, a tennis tournament was held to raise money so that his parents could fly over from Scotland to be with him before he passed away.
Since 1991, Denver area USPTA professionals have kept his spirit alive by hosting a yearly mixed doubles tournament in his honor, the proceeds of which are used to help juniors in tennis.
Roger B. Elton, Jr. Memorial Fund
Roger B. Elton, Jr. lived in Colorado since he was seven years old. He began playing tennis at the age of ten, and was the first student to graduate from Overland who lettered in tennis all four years. Roger attended the University of Colorado after graduating from high school.
Roger was an avid fan and participant of many sports, but tennis was his passion. The Roger B. Elton, Jr. Memorial Tennis Scholarship Fund was established by his family in tribute to Roger to benefit juniors who might not otherwise have the opportunity to be involved in tennis.
Floyd Harberts / Dong Ngo Memorial Fund for Junior Tennis
Floyd Harberts loved people and loved the game of tennis. Organized tennis always gave him the opportunity to meet people: old friends (of which he had many) and new acquaintances alike. For decades, he played tournament tennis and benefits, but also enjoyed the casual “hit and giggle” game, bringing a competitive spirit and good humor to the courts.
Floyd lost his battle with Acute Myeloid Leukemia in 2005 after a four year battle. That competitive spirit and a zest for living were much in evidence as he continued to ski and play tennis in between chemotherapy treatments, raising a glass and flashing that smile, outlasting his prognosis by more than three years.
Dong Ngo was a teenager when he became a pilot for the South Vietnamese Army. He fled Vietnam in 1975, and landed in Denver where he spent nearly 25 years as a bicycle builder and salesperson at Denver Spoke. He developed a large group of devoted clients ranging from Olympic medalists, professional athletes and recreational riders.
Bicycling was a means of transportation and a passion, but for pleasure, Dong played tennis. A competitive player for many years he was eager to share his lefty brand of shot making. At Washington Park, where he was known by nicknames “Slam” and “Dongman”, he was always ready for a match of singles, doubles or a lively hitting session. He always greeted everyone with his own special invitation of “Hey Bud! Wanna hit?” Dong passed away in 2006, at the age of 52.
Herzog Memorial Fund
Joel Herzog was a 1972 graduate of Pueblo South High School, and a 1976 graduate and top tennis player from the University of Northern Colorado. He owned a popular store in Colorado Springs, Total Tennis. Joel and his wife Nancy Saltzman had two children, Adam and Seth. Both children were excellent tennis players and fine ice-hockey players as well.
On September 24, 1995, while returning from watching a Davis Cup match in Las Vegas, Joel, Adam and Seth were killed when the private plane in which they were traveling crashed into a mountainside.
The Herzog Family Tennis Fund, in memory of Joel, Adam and Seth Herzog, provides tennis opportunities for junior tennis players in southern Colorado who, without financial assistance, might not have these opportunities. Fund contributions have been made to individuals for racquets, lessons, camps and tournaments, as well as school programs, public parks, and organizations that help young players.
Maude Miller Knudsen/John W. Knudsen/Jody Riser Knudsen Scholarship Fund
Maude Miller Knudsen was a University of Northern Iowa college singles and doubles champion in the 1930s. She spent 10 years as a physical education teacher in Spencer, Iowa, where she was a junior tennis instructor with the parks & recreation department.
John W. Knudsen was introduced to the sport by his mother, Maude, and was an avid player all of his life. John was member of the Board of the Colorado Youth Tennis Foundation from 1998-2006, and also served as the chairperson of the disbursement committee, where he distributed scholarships and grants that gave juniors in need the opportunity to play tennis. John passed away in September 2006.
His wife, Jody Riser Knudsen, is a current league and tournament player from Estes Park, and has been a ranked Colorado player in women’s doubles and in mixed doubles. She has served on the Colorado Tennis Association Board of Directors, and was the CTA Volunteer of the Year in 1988 and again in 1989.
Established in 1993, this fund benefits junior players in Parks & Recreation programs.
Marilyn Neale Memorial Fund
Marilyn Neale lived much of her early life with few opportunities. She chose to broaden her horizons by moving from Minnesota to Denver in the 1960s, got married, had children, and began building a life.
Her tennis life was born in the 1970s when she organized tennis tournaments at her church. The core group of people from those tournaments soon realized that they had a special thing going, and built and maintained an informal tennis club that is still active today.
As well as her family, tennis was a key to her happiness, and it was something she excelled at, always playing with consummate finesse and strategy. Her love for tennis was shared with her family, and she found tremendous joy in watching her young grandsons scurry around the court with racquets which were often larger than them. One of those boys is now a member of the junior varsity tennis team in high school.
This fund will help young people learn and love the game as she did.
Joe Ryan Memorial Fund
Joe Ryan was passionate about tennis. His parents would drop him off at the City Park courts where he would stay for the entire day playing one pick-up game after another.
He attended Southwest Baptist University in Missouri on a tennis scholarship. Throughout his college days and for a period of time afterward, he shared his love for the game by teaching summer tennis camps around Colorado and Missouri and as a tennis professional at Meadow Creek. At SBU he coached the women’s tennis team and taught tennis as part of the physical education curriculum.
Joe gave his heart and soul to tennis. In return, tennis gave him an education, self-confidence, a sense of purpose and endless hours of enjoyment. The Joe Ryan Fund was established to help provide juniors with the opportunity to learn to play the great game of tennis.
Devin S. Shaffer Memorial Fund
Denver native Devin Steve Shaffer earned a degree in economics, finance and public policy and management from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. After graduating, Devin completed a master’s degree from St. John’s College (University of Chicago) in philosophy and classical studies. He later served in the Peace Corps, teaching English in Turkmenistan. Despite the onset of cancer, Devin served as a law clerk to the 10th US Circuit Court of Appeals after he earned a law degree from the University of Denver.
Tennis played a major role in Devin’s life. He captained his high school and college tennis teams, served as head Men’s and Women’s coach at DU, taught tennis at Meadow Creek, Green Gables and the Arthur Ashe National Tennis Center in Washington, DC, and played a summer on the US and European professional tour circuits.
The Devin S. Shaffer Memorial Fund provides opportunities for at-risk kids who might not otherwise have the chance to experience the positive benefits of tennis.
Tom van Fleet Memorial Fund
Tom van Fleet truly loved the sport of tennis – not only as a competitive outlet, but mostly for the sheer joy of playing the game. He first picked up a racquet as a young boy, and tennis became a lifelong passion.
After college, with wife Joyce, Tom began his mining engineering career with Union Carbide in Uravan – on to Rifle and eventually Grand Junction, where he was instrumental in establishing the Grand Junction Tennis Club. Tom was transferred to the east coast, but tennis was, as always, still in the picture in Connecticut, where he and Joyce (and by that time three daughters) chose to live. Tom and family returned to Colorado in 1980. He became involved in the tennis program in Boulder and in his neighborhood of Devil’s Thumb and continued to play tennis, hike and ski into his later years.
Tom passed away on February 5, 2001, leaving his wife of 52 years, Joyce, and daughters Vicki, DeeDee and Robin. A memorial fund was established in tribute to Tom’s lifelong passion for tennis.