When Avis Hilfinger died in July 2004, her friends decided to establish a tennis scholarship fund in her name to help pass on the “Avis spirit.” Avis was a champion tennis player who inspired many others to play and enjoy the game of tennis. She had a passion for tennis and encouraged and helped others to enjoy the benefits of this life-long sport. She also had a passion for making a variety of opportunities available for youth.
The primary purpose of the Avis Hilfinger Junior Tennis Scholarship Fund, established at the Illinois Prairie Community Foundation, is to provide scholarships for financially disadvantaged McLean County residents to participate in Junior Tennis Excellence Programs provided currently solely by Evergreen Racquet Club and/or for related educational purposes as determined from time to time by the Foundation.
Criteria for the scholarship award recipient are as follows:A selection committee consisting of Amy O’Connor, Bloomington-Normal Tennis Association Board and HEROH Sports University, Jim Boswell, NCHS boys and girls varsity tennis coach, and Deva Morgan, longtime BNTA member and friend of Avis Hilfinger, will review eligible youth each year.
This year’s scholarship money will be used to send one youth through Evergreen Racquet Club’s winter junior excellence tennis program. The participant will attend class once a week from November through March, at a cost of $198. This fee does not include Evergreen Racquet Club membership fees, as those have been waived per Karen Owen and Ben Snyder. This participant will be sent through the program, along with four other youths who received scholarships from grant money awarded for the BNTA/HEROH Tennis Clinic in 2004 by the Midwest Section of the USTA.
Avis’ husband, Dean, and daughters, DeAnne and Sharmon, were thrilled with this memorial. “She supported many causes during her lifetime,” said Sharmon, “but this scholarship is something special, something just for her.” Gifts from forty-one friends and relatives, totaling $4,200 as of October 20, 2004, have established this permanent fund which will provide scholarship assistance far into the future. Additional gifts to the fund are welcome. They should be sent to Illinois Prairie Community Foundation, PO Box 423, Normal, IL 61761-0423. For further information, call IPCF at 309/ 862-1642 or Amy O’Connor at (309) 662-3117.