At last week’s IHSA girls tennis state finals, former Oak Park and River Forest High School girls tennis head coach Joyce Carlson received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Illinois High School Tennis Coaches Association.
Carlson, who led the Huskies from 1968 through 1984, guided the program to their first four IHSA state championships between 1972 and 1975. The four consecutive titles is a feat that no other school has accomplished.
Among the players Carlson coached are Susie Replogle, who won the first state singles title in 1972 as a freshman, won again in 1974 and 1975, and was runner-up in 1973; Lynne Elbert and Mary Ann Nelson, who won the 1975 state doubles title; and Janelle Barclay and Jean Barr, who finished in the top six in doubles at state from 1972 through 1975, including a pair of third-place finishes in 1973 and 1974.
Carlson was inducted into the IHSTCA Hall of Fame in 1989 and also led OPRF to a third-place finish in 1982 and a runner-up finish in her final year, 1984.