Paul Williams

                                                    By Brad Green

Roger Federer, a 20-time Grand Slam winner, once said, “When you do something best in life, you don't really want to give that up, and for me, it's tennis.”

 Pierre native Paul Williams, who now calls Mankato, Minn. home, would likely echo Federer’s sentiments.

 Paul becomes the third person associated with South Dakota’s capital city to be inducted into the South Dakota Tennis Hall of Fame. He joins Phil Trautner (Class of 1992) and Mike Trautner (Class of 2007) as representatives from Pierre that have received this prestigious honor.

 Paul has fond memories of the Trautners and said the father-and-son duo are important pieces to South Dakota’s rich tennis history.

 “My mom signed me up for the summer tennis program when I was 10, and that’s when I met Coach Trautner,” Paul said.  “The following year he asked me to come practice with the Varsity at Griffin Park. That was a big day for me and I still remember that well.”

 “Mike has to be considered to be one of the best ever from South Dakota,” Paul added. “To play number 1 for the Gophers, that’s pretty rare.”

 Paul remembers watching the greats of the game play at a legendary tournament across the pond and wanted to emulate them.

 “I remember on our black and white TV watching Jimmy Connors, Bjorn Borg, Billie Jean King at Wimbledon,” he said. “That was always my dream pretty early on to make it to Wimbledon. I remember making a T-shirt in art class and putting a tennis court and “Wimbledon” on it. I was just so into it.”

 Paul joined Phil Trautner’s tennis team in the spring of 1984 as a sophomore at Pierre High School. He spoke at length about being fortunate to join such a special team with a great tennis tradition. Paul fondly recalls Coach Trautner’s dedication to the game of tennis and to his players.

 “He worked so hard,” he said. “I remember he would call everybody individually and get us to meet down there and practice and make each other better. He was really good at that.”

 “Having so many good players including myself to fill out the team, I was really lucky in that regard. To have all that plus a coach who already had won several state titles was very beneficial.”

 The Governors won the 1984 team championship, which was the first tennis championship for Pierre in five years since they claimed the 1979 crown. Paul contributed by teaming with Steve Cordts to win the flight one doubles title as they defeated Mike Naughton and J.J. Ochsner from O’Gorman 6-2 and 6-4. The match was the last match played in the tournament that was being held in Brookings and vaulted Pierre over Brandon Valley.

 Paul and Cordts would replicate the feat the very next spring in 1985. The duo would help the Governors to another team state championship as it was again played in Brookings. Paul and Cordts beat Darren True and Steve Morgans from Watertown 6-2 and 6-1 to win flight one doubles again. Paul himself won the flight two singles championship as he defeated Jon Matson from Rapid City Stevens 6-3 and 6-2.

 During Paul’s senior year of 1986, he was finally playing flight one singles for the Governors and the opportunity of a third straight team championship was in the back of the team’s minds.

 However, hopes ended when Paul was diagnosed with mononucleosis. Despite his diagnosis, he wanted to play the state tournament but was squashed by his doctor.

 “I was rolling along as a senior,” he said. “I hadn’t lost a match until I went to the ESD conference tournament and got beat by Ripper (Hatch) in the final. I wasn’t feeling good and went to see the doctor. I tested positive for mono but I was still determined to go play the state tournament. The doctor told me it could be life threatening if I played so I shut it down. It was one of the worst days of my life knowing I was going to miss the state tournament my senior year.”

 Later that spring, Paul graduated from Pierre and ended his Governor tennis career with a record of 116-6. During his time at Pierre, he also lettered in basketball and cross country and was selected as a two-time Prince high school All-American.

 Paul remembers spending his summers playing the game across the State of South Dakota.

 “South Dakota Open, C.C. Lee in Aberdeen, the Black Hills Open and the South Dakota Closed in Brookings were the four that I always played,” he said.

 After his graduation from high school, Paul headed west to Rapid City to attend the South Dakota School of Mines of Technology and study engineering. He played one year of flight one singles and flight one doubles tennis for the Hardrockers and was the Dakota Athletic Conference singles runner-up and doubles champions. Paul even qualified for the 1987 NAIA national tennis tournament which was played in Kansas City, Mo.

 After taking some time off, he later transferred to South Dakota State University in Brookings in 1993. Paul would study pharmacy and play for the Jackrabbits’ tennis team at flight one singles and flight one doubles. He was a two-time NCC singles champion including an undefeated season in 1995. Paul later graduated from SDSU as an Academic All-NCC honoree.

 He moved to Sioux Falls after graduation and worked at the Westward Ho Country Club under Marty Johnson (SD Tennis HOF Class of 1998) and also at the Woodlake Athletic Club.

 Paul said that one of the greatest thrills of his tennis life was when he won the Open doubles championship of the 1995 National Public Parks Tournament in a familiar tennis haunt to him.

 “That was one of the most exciting things I’d ever a part of,” he said. “The National Public Parks Tournament used to be a qualifier for the U.S. Open. It wasn’t anymore in 1995 but it was still traveling around the country. Sioux Falls happened to be the host in 1995 and it was a big deal. There were a lot of players from around the country that came. I made it to the semifinals in singles where I lost a close match to my nemesis Travis Rich who ended up winning the singles title. I played doubles with Sunil Reddy, who had played for the Iowa Hawkeyes. We won the doubles title over Neal McNamara and Gerry Perry, a former US Open Mixed Doubles finalist. I wanted that title so bad and it was extra special to win it at McKennan Park.”

 One of Paul’s proudest moments was winning the South Dakota Closed men’s open singles championship three years in a row from 1994-1996 and retired the cup trophy as he beat James Chiu, Marty Johnson and Christopher Nielsen.

 Before wrapping up his Men’s Open playing days and moving to Minnesota, Paul had secured either singles or doubles wins over 10 former South Dakota high school champions, 5 South Dakota Hall of Famers, 9 Gustavus All-American / All-Conference players, Travis Rich, Dick Schneider (who was a 2 time National Grass Court Champion), and Mitch Bridge (who played 5 years on the ATP tour).

 After his playing days were over, Paul got bit by the coaching bug.  Paul was an assistant coach at Minnesota State University-Mankato for wife Christie from 2011-2016 and later head coach in 2019. He also served as the head coach for the boys’ tennis team at Mankato East High School from 2012-2020 where he coached his son Mark, who played flight one singles starting as a seventh grader.

 After the COVID-19 pandemic subsided, Paul took the reins of the Cougars’ girls’ tennis team in 2021 and still leads the program today where he is able to coach his daughter Sam, who is playing flight one singles for Mankato East.

 One highlight of Paul’s tennis life was the opportunity he had along with his brothers to be able to play tennis with tennis greats James Blake, Michael Chang, John McEnroe and Andy Roddick as a part of the PowerShares Series in Lincoln, Neb.

 “We got to hit with McEnroe and Chang the first hour and the second hour was with James Blake and Andy Roddick,” he said. “It was one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had. It was so much fun. Just being there with my brothers and my dad came too so it was a special day.”

 Paul’s parents, Dennis and Joyce Williams, still live in Pierre. His siblings Marie, John and Chris all played high school and college tennis and Paul is proud of his siblings and the state titles that Chris won as a player and John as a coach.  Paul’s wife Christie also played #1 for SDSU and their kids Karissa, Mark and Sam played in USTA events and high school. Paul is thrilled that they chose to play tennis and loves watching them play the game that means so much to him. 

 On behalf of the South Dakota Tennis Hall of Fame selection committee, we proudly welcome Paul Williams into our ranks as a member of the Class of 2024. Congratulations to Paul!