Keri Phebus, Millennium Hall of Fame

With a strong faith, Keri Phebus survived the wars of the world on

the her globe-trotting tennis mission, and with a great forehand and

role-model spirit, her lasting impressions could almost move mountains.

An advocate of doubles and team play, the former Corona del Mar High

and UCLA standout served up the most successful career of any female

tennis player to grow up and play juniors in the Newport-Mesa community.

A two-time CIF Southern Section singles champion as a freshman and

sophomore, Phebus led Corona del Mar to back-to-back CIF 4-A team titles

in 1988 and ‘89, then bypassed her junior and senior years and graduated

early in December 1991.

The highest-ranked woman ever signed by UCLA, Phebus was the nation’s

No. 1-ranked junior in the girls 12s, 14s and 16s and was No. 2 in the

18s.

Then at UCLA, she reached the NCAA singles final as a sophomore in

1994, and won the singles and doubles national championships as a junior

in ‘95, becoming only the second woman in history to capture both NCAA

titles in the same season (following Stanford’s Linda Gates 10 years

earlier).

A three-time All-American in singles, Phebus went 55-4 in 1995 and

turned down about $50,000 that summer, opting to remain in school and

play her senior year at UCLA.

In 1995, she was UCLA’s Female Athlete of the Year, the Pac-10

Conference Player of the Year and Tennis Magazine’s Player of the Year.

“I just loved UCLA, and anything associated with that 1995 year was

the best of my life, tennis-wise and life-wise,” said Phebus, who

recently returned from a honeymoon in Hawaii, after getting married Oct.

16 to Steve Olson.

Phebus, who reached the top 100 in the world in singles, played 2 1/2

years on the pro tour after graduating from UCLA in 1996. She experienced

some of her toughest moments that year following a split with her

longtime coach (the late Myron McNamara), the disappointment of not

repeating as NCAA champion and an agonizing struggle with foot problems

that lingered into the summer as her pro career started slowly.

“I expected to get right out of school and shoot up the rankings and

get (endorsement) contracts offered to me, but (the difficulty on the pro

tour) has been good for my character,” Phebus said on Sept. 27, 1996,

after her first pro summer.

Phebus, also helped on her way to NCAA titles by tennis coach Rance

Brown and personal trainer Ken Roycroft, found the road less traveled in

college much easier than the international grind of the women’s satellite

and challenger circuits.

In one season off the tennis courts, she was handcuffed by Texas

troopers, robbed, almost killed and hospitalized more than once.

She was once late for a plane and caught speeding through Alice,

Texas, a one-stoplight town, in an old clunker rent-a-car. “All of the

sudden, my car was surrounded by state troopers, and they actually

released tacks on the road to pop my tires,” Phebus said Aug. 19, 1997,

toward the end of her first full season on tour.

The troopers slapped handcuffs on her for reckless driving (she was

reportedly doing 90 mph in a 35 zone) and she spent her last dime posting

bail.

She once fell asleep in a subway station in Europe and had a bag

ripped off. “Actually, I was lucky -- it was one of the smaller bags,”

she said. “Just tennis outfits.”

Phebus played the ’96 NCAA Tournament with planter warts, which are

caused by a virus, on the bottom of her feet. “They became excruciatingly

painful, and they kept coming back,” she once said. “It was like stepping

on bee stings.”

In the humidity at Tallahassee, Fla., site of the NCAA Tournament,

they were at their worst. “They seemed to explode in that heat,” said

Phebus, who had foot surgery in June 1996 for plantar warts.

She rallied, however, to win two singles tournaments and three titles

in doubles, despite totaling her car while returning from practice in

Palm Springs with another player. “It was a miracle that we were OK,” she

said.

Phebus, who once filled in as an amateur for the Newport Beach Dukes

in World TeamTennis, officially retired from the game in October 1998.

Phebus, long devoted to Athletes in Action, a Christian sports

ministry, said “the pinnacle” of her career was winning the two NCAA

titles in 1995.

“I loved college so much,” she said. “The pros were just so tough -- I

don’t have a lot of fond memories, but it was a great learning

experience.”

Phebus, who lives in Laguna Beach with her new husband, has been

giving tennis lessons and plans to become a school teacher. “I love

teaching kids,” said Phebus, the latest honoree in the Daily Pilot Sports

Hall of Fame, celebrating the millennium.

“I was so driven and so focused for so long, I don’t miss (playing

competitive tennis),” she added. “It was great. I loved that I did it,

because (having a pro tennis career) was the greatest experience and I

wouldn’t change anything about it. It’s been a fun ride and tennis gave

me so many opportunities that I otherwise wouldn’t have had.”