Hall inducts CLC’s Elder

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Judy Elder liked to talk about how many of her tennis players’ pictures were hanging on the walls of Crystal Lake Central for academic honors.   

Her interest in the person as well as the athlete, and her passion for tennis made her an iconic and beloved figure in her 31 years coaching the girls teams and 21 years leading the boys teams for the Tigers.  

“She loved her kids,” said Jessica Fetzner, tennis coach at Prairie Ridge and Elder’s daughter.

“She would do anything to help them out and grow as people and tennis players,” Fetzner said.

In a fitting tribute, both mother and daughter were honored Tuesday by the Illinois High School Tennis Coaches Association. The association named Fetzner the Girls Head Coach of the Year; Elder was posthumously inducted into the Illinois Tennis Coaches Hall of Fame.

Fetzner’s girls teams have had a remarkable run finishing in the top eight at the past three IHSA state tournaments. The Wolves’ doubles teams were central to that success, starting with Jackie and Julie Schwartz’s top-eight finishes in 2007 and 2008, and culminating in Allison Murphy and Carolyn Huerth’s state title in 2009. It was the first state tennis championship for Prairie Ridge.

Perhaps Fetzner’s greatest coaching move was to allow Huerth and Murphy, her two best players, to pair up in doubles. It was a decision Fetzner weighed both from an individual and team perspective.

“I think I knew them both and knew how they felt about the sport. This was really the best decision for them,” she said. “[And] we had some really strong supporting players who could make putting them together possible.”

Huerth said her coach had a very positive impact on her and the team.

“She never is ever down,” Huerth said. “If our team is playing a good team she always makes it seem like we can beat them.”

Fetzner also is a calming influence, Huerth said. During the state tournament, when Huerth and Murphy went to tiebreakers in each set of a three-set semifinal win, Huerth said Fetzner remained calm and mellow.

“Afterwards she told us how nervous she was,” Huerth said. “She hides it really well.”

Fetzner admits that her outward appearance doesn’t always convey what’s going on inside.

“It’s a pretty good front,” Fetzner said. “I feel like if I get worked up, it causes the players to get worked up. I don’t want them to get more worked up than they already are.”

Having top-tier players such the Schwartz sisters, Murphy and Huerth doesn’t always make for a cohesive team. Fetzner said that she had been fortunate that her top players also had been team players who worked hard at making others better.

That leadership and team unity is what Fetzner counts as her greatest accomplishment.

“That’s what I’m the most proud of,” Fetzner said. “It’s a whole team. We all work together and support one another.”

Wolves athletic director Patti Hie said Fetzner was a humble but very motivating coach. Hie joked that if the IHSTCA hadn’t contacted her about the awards that she would never have found out from Fetzner.

Being named the state’s top coach was well deserved, Hie said, for someone she has observed to be dedicated, hard working and enthusiastic.      

“She’s been a real motivator and a positive influence on the kids,” Hie said. “I wish her mom was here to be a part of all this.”

Elder’s teams had 462 wins, 19 conference championships, 13 sectional titles and two second place team finishes at state. She also coached the area’s only other state tennis champions, Sandy Dunning and Katie Waters, who won the state doubles title in 1977 for Crystal Lake Community High School.

The awards will be handed out at a luncheon during the IHSTCA winter workshop at the Lincolnshire Marriott on Jan. 22.