Posted on May 31, 2023 by Heather Adams

Berks County Tennis Night of Champions Awards & Hits for Hope Tennis Tournament

by Berks County Tennis Association

Berks County Tennis Night of Champions Awards & Hits for Hope Tennis Tournament

The Berks County Tennis Association announced the honorees for the BCTA Night of Champions Gala/Awards event at the Conrad Weiser Hits for Hope Tennis tournament which is the largest tennis tournament in PA and 3rd largest tennis tournament on the East Coast of the United States. It will benefit the Gootter-Jensen Foundation helping spread awareness for the importance of AEDs and sudden cardiac arrest awareness.

The announcement includes the Berks County Tennis Hall of Fame Class of 2023 which includes 8x Berks County Champion and former Wilson standout Cara Wirth and the second time in BCTA Hall of Fame history that a family will be inducted with the Emkey Family from Wyomissing.

Wirth is the only high school player to ever with All 4 Berks County Singles High School Titles and 4 Berks County Doubles titles between 2008 and 2011. She went on to play Division 1 Tennis at James Madison University.

The Emkey Family: Dr. Ronald and Judy Emkey and their seven children have been a major part of the Berks County Tennis community for over 40 years. The Emkey Family helped start the Holy Name High School tennis program, building the courts for the Blue Jays and had their entire family play for the program as standouts with multiple county high school champions.  All 7 children were top college players at multiple levels and
divisions, as well as time spent on the professional tour for some of them. The family has been a staple in the Berks Community also owning and operating  the Spring Valley Athletic Club in Sinking Spring and hosting in recent years at the Emkey Tennis Garden the Ellesse Pro Tennis Challenge Professional tennis event benefiting underserved youth through the COR tennis program.

The BCTA will also honor its recipients for the BCTA Merv Heller Memorial Scholarship, honoring the former USTA National President from Wyomissing Merv Heller. The 2023 recipients are Ashley Retana from Reading High and Jacob Keller from Kutztown High School. The BCTA Berks High School players of the year will also be honored with Emma Perkins from Conrad Weiser winning the award for the third straight year and Teddy Snyder winning it for the second straight year.

The Night of Champions is the culminating night at the Hits for Hope Tennis Tournament which runs every day and evening June 12-18 8am-10pm. The Tournament averaged between 230-300 players each year for the last 12 years and is the largest tennis tournament in PA and third largest on the East Coast of the United States.

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