What do Earl Monroe, the late Arthur Ashe, David Dinkins and 2013 Scripps National Spelling Bee champion Arvind Mahankali have in common?
They all played a part in the 26th annual Mayor’s Cup All-Scholastic Tennis Championships held in Flushing Meadows last week.
More than 600 New York City students flocked to the USTA Billy Jean King National Tennis Center for the tournament, the nation’s biggest scholastic tennis event, second only to the U.S. Open in terms of the number of players competing.
The event was hosted by New York Junior Tennis and Learning, a group that, accompanied by the legendary Billie Jean King, broke ground in May on the Cary Leeds Center for Tennis & Learning in Crotona Park in the South Bronx. NYJT&L was founded, among others, by Ashe, and has had the longtime support of Dinkins, the former mayor.
At the Mayor’s Cup, Earl the Pearl, the Knicks’ legend, posed for photos with players, presented awards and helped dish out a slew of scholarships to top players at the closing ceremony, which included a surprise appearance at the Disney Kids’ Day parade by Mahankali, a student at the tennis and learning center.
More than $30,000 in scholarships were awarded to some of the tournament’s top-tier talent, including Marion Javits Scholarships worth $5,000 apiece to Helen Lee (Baruch College), Megan Basaldua (Pratt Institute), Zachary Breland (Queens College), Matthew Balilo (Hunter College), Enrique Torres (SUNY Buffalo) and Caleb Williamson (Hamilton College).
