Gaping cracks filled in by dirt and weeds cover the east-facing tennis courts at the Chicago Prairie Tennis Club in Bronzeville, but the Chicago Prairie Tennis Club is aiming to change that.
“These courts right now are totally unplayable,” said current President Jimmy Johnson.
The damage and deterioration have left the club struggling to grow its mission of encouraging young Chicagoans to pick up rackets.
“There is a big push because the interest we have right now with tennis, is not increasing it’s basically stagnant,” Johnson explained.
Leaders here said the courts are worth saving for both current players and for historical reasons.
The club opened in 1912 and was founded by Mother Seames. She opened the club to provide a safe space for Black tennis players, in a time when people of color were not allowed to play on other courts in Chicago.
Longtime member Barbara Searles knows that feeling.
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“I was like, ‘oh tennis courts that we can go on?’” she said, of learning of the club for Black players.
Searles joined in 1969 and is fighting to keep this important piece of Black history alive.
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It was on the Bronzeville courts where prominent players like Lorraine Bryant and Katrina Adams got their start.
“Of course she went on to fame, played for Northwestern and then she went pro,” Searles explained of Adams.
The goal with the club’s resurfacing campaign is to give a new generation of young people the opportunity to play.
“We could have functions and a junior development program,” former president Ronald Mitchell said. “We could have adults out here in the evening. Right now, it’s like trying to cook soup without a pan.”
Today, the club is diverse, and membership is open to all. Those in charge hope they can raise the money needed to keep the club’s legacy living on.
“We are 112 years old, and as the current president my top objective is that we do another 112 years,” Johnson added.
You can learn more about the club and its fundraising efforts by visiting its website.
