Talk:Arvelia Myers

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Olivia Myers (neé Cage) was born in Sunflower, Mississippi in 1927. As a teen, she married Willie Cole and from that union, Olivia Cole was born who grew to become the Emmy Award-winning “Roots” actress. From Memphis Tennessee, Myers migrated to Harlem, New York, in 1944, with her two-year-old daughter.

After eventually attaining a GED, Myers enrolled in Columbia University and earned a B.A. degree in English literature. Her work life proved just as transformative. From sharecropping in Mississippi, she moved up to factory and office work in New York, ultimately finding her way to the tennis courts as player, instructor and finally tennis entrepreneur, making her the first African-American, female, Harlem resident to earn such a distinction at the time.

Myers is quoted as saying, “A young man whom I met at the Mr. Morris Church introduced me to tennis” (Harlem Council, Inc., p. 70). That man later became her husband, and they were often seen in the Harlem community perfecting their game.

In the American Tennis Association (ATA) circuit in the 1960s, Myers rose to level three and won doubles championship honors making her mark in the tennis world.

For four generations, this businesswoman and philanthropist, used her position to teach and promote the game of tennis or to help others do so. As a volunteer with the Eastern Tennis Association of New York, she was a “gamechanger” who promoted tennis throughout the region and as founder and president of Pyramid Tennis Association (PTA), she reached out to underrepresented groups to teach the game and the discipline required for success on the courts or the classroom and provide a safe haven from the lure of street life in Harlem.

PTA Founder Myers partnered with The Young Divas, another non-profit tennis program. She provided funds and accompanied them on their inaugural team trip to the Australian Open in 1999. While maintaining her own program, Myers extended her reach tennis reach when she served as coach to City College Women's Tennis Team and to Columbia University's team. She also taught tennis at Riverbank State Park's summer program. Removing herself from her neighborhood tennis courts, she offered her services to the United States Tennis Association at successive US Open Tournaments as a representative of diversity and inclusion greeting guests at the welcoming booth.

That, she, a single, African American woman, in New York City, pioneered into the waters of entrepreneurship to start her own tennis company, in 1973, distinguishes Myers in one way. That she also was forced to develop advocacy skills and learn to navigate New York City’s political landscape to protect her program heightens her profile even more.

Myers was listed among the unsung heroes in Columbia University’s “Unsung Heroes” in their Legacy of Leadership bulletin because she made “a difference in New York City, going about [her] important work each day with little publicity. Some did notice her work however as her numerous awards for dedication and service prove: Harlem Junior Tennis Program Appreciation Award, USTA Community Service Award, Arthur Ashe Special Service Award, ATA Outstanding Service Award, No Ad Pioneer Award, Harlem Week/Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce-Community Service Award, the USTA 10-year Volunteer Service Award, the ETA Louise Cilla Award, the Arvelia Myers service award and many, many more. She was even inducted into the Black Tennis Hall of Fame posthumously in 2019.

In October 2017, Arvelia Myers died in Jacobs Nursing Home in the Bronx. Three months later after returning to her home in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, her daughter, Olivia Cole, joined her mother in death.