University of Wisconsin-Stout Athletics

Not finding a women's varsity tennis team on campus when she arrived in 1976, Carol Sanders helped put the pieces together and assemble a team. Seeking the assistance of men's tennis coach Bob Smith, Smith told Sanders, along with Sue Scarseth, Mary Guberud, and Deb Weyers, if they could find enough interested players to make up a team, he would coach them. The rest, as they say, is history. Smith used bits and pieces of his men's tennis and swm team budgets to form a bare-bones women's tennis budget. Smith coached the team in its first year, followed by Donna Roe for two years. Smith resumed the helm in Sanders' senior year. Sanders, a native of Libertyville, Ill, was the team's no. 1 singles player her sophomore, junior and senior years. During her senior year, Sanders was named the team's most valuable player. With a well-established bond, six members of the 1978 team -- four from the original 1976 team -- still get together annually. Married to Gordon Hughes in 1985, -- their first date was on the tennis court -- the couple have three children, Amy, Jeff and Sam, and reside in Glen Ellyn, Ill. In addition to volunteering at her children's schools, Sanders still dabbles in tennis, playing in local leagues, and playing tennis with her children.