Game, Set, and Match by Jim Bayless
Daniel A. Penick, Ph.D.—“The Doctor”
The Legacy of Dr. Daniel A. Penick*
During his time as coach from 1899 to 1956 (officially since 1908), Dr. Penick’s men won all ten of the Southwest Conference team titles awarded, took 31 of the 40 individual doubles championships, and captured 26 of the 40 individual singles championships. Not only that, his teams won five national doubles championships and two national singles championships. All told, apart from Wilmer Allison, the greatest tennis players in University of Texas history under Penick are chronicled in the photo montage to the left starting with Lewis White and ending with Dave Snyder.
To understand the history and culture of the University of Texas tennis program, one must first become acquainted with Daniel A. Penick, Ph.D. Though he passed away in 1964 at age 95, when I was just 12 years old, his influence continued to pervade the program, thereafter led by Coach Allison, his foremost player who, like virtually everyone else who played at UT under Dr. Penick, respected if not revered him.
“The Doctor,” as his players affectionately called him, was a bespectacled, quiet and scholarly man of distinction—firm and forthright in manner. He was a professor of Greek and Latin, a student of Sanskrit, a Phi Beta Kappa and an elder in the Presbyterian Church. He led the UT tennis program from its inception in 1899 (formally in 1908) until his retirement in 1956, an amazing 56-year run. As coach at the university, tennis director of the University Interscholastic League, president of the Southwest Conference and president of the Texas Tennis Association, Dr. Penick was the father of Texas tennis and a key contributor to the development of the sport throughout the state.
The Doctor appeared at daily practice always dressed in a coat and tie. He instilled in his teams a strong ethic of hard work, fair play and courteousness above all, never tolerating a cross word or histrionics by his players (who, by the way, had to wear shirts). Over the years, we heard time and again from Coach Allison, and subsequently from Coach Snyder, stories of Dr. Penick and the lessons he imparted. The Penick imprint remained crystal clear, as we would come to learn over the next four years of athletics and academics at the University of Texas.
* Enshrined in the Longhorn Hall of Honor.