By the time Randy Snow won the first NEC Wheelchair Singles Masters men’s title in 1994, the charismatic Texan had long-since cemented his place in wheelchair tennis history.

The first ITF Wheelchair World Champion in 1991 became the sport’s first ever Paralympic gold medallist in both men’s singles and doubles a year later in Barcelona, achieving the latter alongside Brad Parks, the founder of wheelchair tennis.

Injured in a hay baling accident at the age of 16, former state-ranked tennis player Snow first met Parks in the late 1970s when competing in wheelchair track races, and would go on to become ‘a student of wheelchair tennis’ after Parks invited him to a wheelchair tennis clinic in 1980. Later that year he contested his first US Open Wheelchair Tennis Championships, finishing runner-up to Parks before returning to Irvine, California in 1981 to win the first of ten titles.

“I believe Randy was one of the all-time best players to play wheelchair tennis, and the greatest to play from the 1980s through to the mid-1990s,” says Parks.

“We wanted to play doubles at the first US Open but felt we would be too dominant and it would be better to play with other partners. Later, we became so competitive we only wanted to beat each other, so playing together was not an option.

“Fortunately, the opportunity to play doubles arrived at the Paralympics in 1992 and we could not wait to play together,” Parks adds. "We played once again after the Paralympics, during World Team Cup, but lost to the French team we beat in Barcelona.

“We both loved playing doubles, but I think we loved playing against one another more. He loved beating me and I loved beating him. Randy always had great mobility and he had a slice backhand that gave me a lot of trouble.”

Snow’s 10 US Open singles titles, at the event we now know as the US Open USTA Wheelchair Championships, were among 22 majors he won during a career in which he was also part of victorious USA World Team Cup teams on seven occasions between 1986 and 1995. The ITF has renamed the men’s World Team Cup trophy, which is now known as the Randy Snow Trophy in his memory.

“I believe he contributed more to the sport in the years after he stopped competing,” says Parks. “He and his coach Bal Moore developed a set of teaching techniques and drills, wrote the instructional manual, ‘Wheelchair Tennis: Myth to Reality’ and developed a series of Randy Snow Wheelchair Tennis Camps. Undeniably, this changed the way the sport was played and taught.

“I am not sure I fully appreciated what they did and accomplished for the sport until years later, when I attended the World Team Cup in 2010 and then the Paralympics in 2012. Around that time I met a player from Nigeria who helped me with a clinic in Minnesota. He also was teaching from this book. I was completely blown away at how internationally acclaimed their techniques had become.”

Bal Moore was a college tennis coach when he first met Snow in the 1980s, and went on to coach him for 12 years: "Randy was one of the best players I ever coached and one of my best friends," he said. "He was a great sport on the tennis court and was very friendly to everyone. But beyond all this was his love of the sport and his ability to teach all levels of wheelchair players.

"Within a year of our first meeting, Randy had put together a schedule of wheelchair tennis camps across the United States. We had a staff of six pros and each camp lasted three days. At last count we had traversed 20 states, and even did several camps in Europe and Japan.

"Randy was like the pied piper - everyone loved and respected him. He continued to employ certain new innovations in tennis grips, strokes, serves, and overall net play all the while incorporating wheelchair mobility.

"I feel his greatest contribution is what he did for wheelchair tennis, be it coaching, writing, speaking, playing, or instructing players of all ages and abilities. My life was enhanced by my long friendship and player-coach relationship with Randy."

Former ITF Wheelchair Tennis Manager Mark Bullock said: “Randy was one the guys who inspired me the most. I still refer to ‘Myth To Reality’ in a lot of presentations. The sport has become a reality far beyond what Randy thought possible. We used to have quite heated discussions, but then we were also best mates. Randy once said to me: ‘Mark, wheelchair tennis will never be on TV’. In that case he was proven to be wrong, but his energy and his passion were second to none. He inspired players and coaches just by his energy levels.

“When I started working for the ITF as Development Officer, everywhere I went people knew of Randy. He connected with everyone and everyone got a piece of his charisma. He was one of the first real celebrities in wheelchair sport.”

While terms such as ‘legend’ and ‘superstar’ are often over-used, with regards to Snow they were wholly appropriate. He transcended wheelchair tennis and it was not only on the world’s tennis courts that Snow would achieve success. He won a medal in the first ever 1500m wheelchair exhibition at an Olympic Games in 1984 and at the 1996 Atlanta Paralympic he won a bronze medal as part of the USA men’s wheelchair basketball team.

He became the first Paralympian to be inducted into the US Olympic Hall of Fame in 2004 and in 2011 Snow was posthumously awarded the Paralympic Order, the highest accolade within the Paralympic Movement. A recipient of the ITF’s Brad Parks Award in 2002, in 2012 he became the second wheelchair tennis player, after Parks, to enter the International Tennis Hall of Fame, inducted by his father Tom.

Among the countless people inspired by Snow, USTA Head of Wheelchair Tennis Jason Harnett said: “Randy was one of the most genuine characters that I have ever met. He had the gift of making you feel as though you were the only person in the room. His energy and passion for life and wheelchair tennis were evident to everyone who met him, without ever having to mention his athletic career, which was Hall of Fame level in multiple sports. 

"Randy was the right person at the right time for becoming the first superstar of wheelchair tennis,” says Harnett. “The charisma, the charm, the kindness, the humanity. He emboldened all of it. His effect upon all of us who crossed his path will forever be changed for the good.”

Former USTA National Manager of Wheelchair Tennis Dan James added: “Simply put, Randy Snow was one of the biggest influences in my life. While Randy’s tennis record is etched in history it is far more difficult to capture the legendary human being he was.  While winning a record ten US Opens, Paralympic Gold, and numerous other tennis tournaments around the globe he was also inspiring a world to embrace wheelchair tennis. 

“While accumulating a cache of tournament wins Randy hosted wheelchair tennis camps across the nation teaching players and coaches alike. Randy always wore many hats, but to me he was tennis legend, teacher, and friend.”

Snow’s boundless kindness, humanity and infectious enthusiasm were seen to no better effect than when he was conducting numerous wheelchair tennis clinic and development trips in the USA and around the world. On behalf of the ITF he visited Brazil, Bolivia, South Africa and conducted clinics across Asia.

Snow died 11 years ago today, 19 November 2009, while on an ITF Development visit to El Salvador, while the 2009 NEC Wheelchair Singles Masters was taking place in Amsterdam. A permanent memorial to Snow has since been erected at the Federacion Salvadorena de Tenis, and a court named in his memory.