Meet Your 2025 MS Tennis Hall of Fame Inductees!
Terrie Gooch & Walker Sahag
Terrie Gooch was introduced to tennis in junior high school physical education class by teacher Jane Coltharp on the local city courts in New Albany. From there, she asked her mother to use her S & H Green Stamps to get Terrie a racquet, and the rest is history!
After being introduced to the game at 12, Terrie soon discovered sanctioned tournaments, and became even more interested in the sport. After a recommendation from Tupelo High coach Puddy Ruff, Gooch’s parents sent her to the John Newcombe Tennis Ranch in Texas to train where she was awarded a scholarship to attend in her second year based on the promise she had shown.
After finishing as a state finalist twice in high school tennis, Terrie was offered a tennis scholarship to play at Mississippi University for Women. Terrie’s early career was prior to the Title IX legislation that required equal athletic rights for women’s sports, and the “W” was able to give athletic scholarships and opportunities that other state universities were not offering at the time (including Terrie’s beloved Ole Miss).. While at the “W,” Gooch played on one of the most elite women’s college programs in the state, and had the opportunity to play against teams such as North Carolina, Duke, Florida State, LSU, Alabama, Auburn, and many others.
After graduation, Gooch turned her attention to coaching, where she went on to spend decades teaching the game she loves. Terrie began her coaching career at SD Lee High School and Heritage Academy in Columbus, where she coached 9 high school teams to state championships and won the USPTA Southern High School Coach of the Year Award. Also during that time, Terrie received professional certification as a tennis coach through the Professional Tennis Registry (PTR) and the United States Professional Tennis Association (USPTA). Only 5% of those testing received the highest ranking of PTR Professional and USPTA P1 at the time, and Terrie was one of the 5%!
After coaching high school tennis, Gooch returned to her alma mater to coach collegiate tennis for seven years at the Mississippi University for Women, where she notably led the team to an undefeated season in 1991. While coaching at the “W,” Terrie also served as the tennis professional at Old Waverly.
Following her 7-year stint at the “W,” Gooch became the first full-time tennis pro at the Magnolia Tennis Club in Columbus where she spent 13 years in the role. One could say Gooch “retired” as a teaching pro after her stint at Magnolia, but she was not through teaching, as she finished her career by teaching elementary school physical education for 14 years at the oldest public school in Mississippi, Franklin Academy in Columbus. And just like she learned the sport, she continued to pass it on the same way, introducing tennis to all of her PE students.
Not only was Gooch just involved as a player and a coach though, as she also served in various capacities and volunteered with organizations such as the Mississippi Tennis Association and the USTA.
Terrie was a certified official, served as the MTA Officials Chairman, served as a USTA & USPTA National Schools Clinician, served as a Tournament Director for numerous USTA sanctioned tournaments, and hosted the USA Senior Mixed Doubles State Championship which won the Southern Team Tennis Event of the Year Award, and ran multiple charity tournaments for Bethany Christian Services, winning the MTA Special Event of the Year Award. Gooch was also a member of the Wilson Advisory Staff, served as a USTA League Verifier, developed a criteria for rating tennis tournaments in Mississippi that was adopted by the MTA, and was president of the Alliance of Mississippi Tennis Professionals.
Her awards are too numerous to list, but some that stand out include Mississippi Pro of the Year, Official of the Year, Mississippi’s Educational Merit Award, USPTA Top 10 Distinguished Professional for Continuing Education, and the USPTA Southern President’s Service Award.
When thinking about the impact tennis has had on her life, Gooch says, “Tennis has been my identity, my life!”
“There aren’t many days from age 14 to age 54 that I wasn’t on the court as a player, coach, running tournaments, or stringing racquets,” said Gooch. “It was always a lot of fun to be part of a team either in high school, college, or adult league play,” she added.
Gooch finished by saying, “I consider myself to be one of the lucky ones that got to continue the passion of playing into a career of teaching and coaching the sport.”
Walker Sahag, a Mississippi native, was born in Oxford and took her first tennis lessons on the Ole Miss tennis courts. After playing collegiate tennis and volleyball at Colorado College in Colorado Springs, she embarked on an illustrious coaching career that ranks near the top of any tennis coach to ever come through Mississippi.
Her teaching certifications are vast, and include certifications with the PTR, RSPA, and the USTA High Performance Coaches Program, and since 2017 Walker has participated in the development of the Level 1, 2 and 3 courses for the USTA Coaching Certification exam.
Over the past 45 years, Sahag has coached numerous players on the WTA and ATP tours including winners of all 4 Grand Slams, and 2 players who reached world #1 rankings, Monica Seles and Kelly Jones.
Sahag’s coaching career started in 1981 when she enrolled in the PTR tennis teachers course on Hilton Head Island. In 1983 she began working for Dennis Van der Meer as the Interim-Director of the PTR and also taught under Dennis in his camps on Hilton Head and became a national tester for the PTR. She also had the opportunity to coach under Coach Jim Verdeck, the winningest college coach of all time. In 1988 Walker became the Director of High Tech for the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy, now IMG Academy where she met and married her husband Ray. Walker has also been the Director of the Van der Meer World Class Tennis Academy and Director of High Tech for the Rick Macci Tennis Academy. In addition, she also spent 12 years as a researcher and presenter for noted sports psychologist, Jim Loehr.
Upon Sahag’s return to Mississippi, she spent 12 years coaching in Jackson developing top junior players from Mississippi. Some notable players that were coached by Sahag include Courtenay Chapman Middleton, Keri Wong, and Devin Britton, the latter two of whom reached top 120 on the WTA and ATP tours.
Sahag then went on to spend 14 years in Mandeville, Louisiana where she also developed numerous top players and mentored coaches also. Sahag and her husband returned to Mississippi in 2021 and they are both currently teaching at Reunion Golf and Country Club in Madison.
Players Sahag has coached have earned scholarships to Ole Miss, MS State, Southern Miss, Georgia, LSU, Auburn, Missouri, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Florida, Florida State, Clemson, Louisville, Miami, Pepperdine, Baylor, SMU, Tulane, Memphis, U Penn, and many more collegiate programs.
Sahag has served as the coach for several state and sectional teams including a national championship 16s Southern Intersectional Team, the Southern Ozaki Cup, Zonals, Mills-Redgrave, Southern Developmental Camps, and Mississippi and Louisiana Area Training Centers.
Some of her numerous awards and recognitions include PTR Louisiana Pro of the Year, USTA Southern High Performance Coach of The Year, Mississippi and Southern Volunteer Service Award, and the Mississippi Educational Merit Award. She served as a mentor in the USTA and Southern Mentor/Mentee Program, and served as an ambassador for the Ferris State PTM Program, USTA Net Gen program, and currently is an ambassador for USTA Coaching.
Sahag has presented multiple times at every major tennis conference including USTA/USPTA/RSPA International Tennis Teachers Conference, USPTR International Symposium, Tennis Congress, South African Tennis Teachers Conference, USPTA/USPTR Northern California Workshop, NBTA International Coaches Symposium, USPTA Southern Convention, and USPTA/USPTR/RSPA Louisiana and Mississippi Pro’s Workshop. She has had articles published in World Tennis, Tennis, and Tennis Match Magazines.
Sahag has even made tv appearances, as she was on CBS and USA networks during the US Open, FR3 during the French Open, 60 Minutes Australia during the Australian Open, and the WTA Magazine Show. She is currently assisting with an upcoming docu-series on Andre Agassi.
Tennis has taken her all over the world but through it all her Mississippi roots and love for her home state have stayed at the front of everything she has accomplished.
“Tennis has been my life for the past 55 years,” said Sahag. “It has taken me around the world, but more importantly it has provided the lifelong friendships and memories that have made my life so rich.”
“I cannot imagine a desk job after spending my life enjoying the outdoors every day,” Sahag added. “The most rewarding part of my career is seeing students dream and helping their dreams come true.”
