UGA tennis teams plan to honor Magill with play

For the first time since Georgia hosted its first NCAA tennis championships 42 years ago, Dan Magill won’t be physically present for the proceedings, which begin Thursday. But the presence of the Bulldogs’ legendary figure will be felt everywhere for the next 11 days, most tangibly in the office he occupied for more than two decades next to the complex that bears his name.

UGA has made certain that, other than regular cleaning and dusting, nothing has been touched in Magill’s small office inside the Intercollegiate Tennis Hall of Fame. So all the pictures, all the papers, even the pens with which he stroked his many daily notes and letters, remain right in the place he left them when he last occupied the space.

“His desk has not been touched since his last day at the Hall of Fame building,” said Georgia athletic director Greg McGarity, who played tennis for Magill in the 1970s. “We left everything intact, in its original state. It’s done with the highest respect for him.”

Magill, 93, retired from UGA in 1995, but he remained as curator of the ITA museum he founded in 1984 and continued to be involved with the tennis program in various capacities — including director of the NCAA tennis championships that once were played annually in Athens — until two years ago. He now resides in an assisted living facility in Athens.

Magill was a singular force in luring the NCAA championships to Athens for the first time in 1972. Once they arrived, he refused to turn them loose. The Dan Magill Tennis Complex, as it’s now called, has played host to the event 30 times. Magill was present for all of them, but his health won’t allow him to be on hand this time.

“It’s tough,” Jeff Wallace, Georgia’s women’s tennis coach, said. “I’m trying not to think about it because it’s tough to not have him here. With everything he’s done, you just want to have him sitting up there above the Hall of Fame building yelling, ‘tie it up, tie it up!’”

As ever, life moves on, and both the Bulldogs’ men’s and women’s team believe there’s a fitting tribute to be made for Magill during this week’s competition. Both teams are considered serious contenders to win another national title.

The Lady Bulldogs, who have two national championship trophies in their display case, enter as the tournament’s No. 1 seed. Georgia (23-4) will square off against No. 16-seed USC (18-7) in the round of 16 at 4 p.m. Thursday. A win would send the Bulldogs to the quarterfinal round against either No. 8-seed Florida or No. 9-seed Vanderbilt at 4 p.m. Saturday.

After losing late-season matches to Vanderbilt and Alabama, the Bulldogs beat both teams on their way to the SEC tournament title in Columbia, Mo., two weeks ago. Georgia punched its ticket to the round of 16 with a pair of 4-0 wins over Elon and FSU this past weekend.

“We’ve definitely had a strong finish to the year,” said junior Lauren Herring, who plays No. 1 singles and doubles for the Bulldogs. “I think we’re peaking at the right time. … A national championship has been our goal from Day 1. We talked about it on the first day.”

Coach Manuel Diaz’s men’s team, which has won six national outdoor championships, also is considered a threat to win it all this year. But it hasn’t been an easy a road getting to this point, as the 10th-seeded Bulldogs (18-7) face seventh-seeded North Carolina (26-5) at 4 p.m. Friday.

Adversity has been Georgia’s constant companion. Wayne Montgomery of South Africa, who would be playing at one of the top positions in the lineup, was denied his freshman eligibility in January. The Bulldogs had to play a match in the national indoors with only four players because of an injury and a suspension. Even this past weekend, junior Nathan Pasha of Atlanta had to be pulled out of a match because of what was thought to be a season-ending knee injury. Later examinations proved Pasha can play without risking further damage, and he’ll be in the No. 2 singles spot as usual.