Phillips’ love for tennis clearly shows

When Sally Phillips attended Donora High School, the attitude toward girls sports was almost as if organized interscholastic sports had a sign proclaiming “NO GIRLS ALLOWED.” Title IX was still several years away from being enacted.

So, Sally just played one sport, volleyball, the only sport available for her. As an adult, she has only coached one sport. That’s because her area of expertise is tennis, and she continues as the girls coach at Ringgold High School.

Phillips’ DHS volleyball squad featured team captain Alberta “Birdie” Littleton who would later become the mother of Ken Griffey Jr.

Phillips recalled, “Another way we girls got to play sports was scrimmaging with the Saint Nicholas Russian Orthodox girls basketball team in the Sixth Street School gym.”

She said back then the girl athletes were pioneers. “Pretty much girls could either be cheerleaders or majorettes,” She likened girls’ sports events of her era to “glorified intramurals.”

Things changed drastically by the time she became Ringgold’s girls’ tennis coach in 2010.

Phillips traces her tennis proficiency to a college gym class.

“After that,” she said, “I was hooked. I played in the Pittsburgh Tennis League and I taught tennis for many years for Community College of Allegheny County and at the South Park Courts. My grandfather, Stephen ‘Beanie’ Huhra, was quite the tennis player. The used to have tennis tournaments in Donora in the ‘20s and ‘30s and he won a lot of them.”

Phillips has many fond recollections of her days coaching her girls. “The ‘Gifted Team’ was the tennis team that was made up mainly of my former gifted students that I taught in the middle school.”

One particular star stands out in Phillips’ memory, Olivia Warner, a 2016 grad. As early as the day she was entering ninth grade at the age of 15, she was nationally ranked. She was even No.1 for her age group in the Allegheny Mountains region.

“I remember when Olivia was in sixth grade at the middle school. I would always say to her, ‘I can’t wait until you’re old enough to play on the tennis team. You’re going to be the big starn’” she said.

She was correct, Warner was good enough to play at the college level at Slippery Rock.

Looking back now, Phillips commented, “If we would’ve been playing in AA instead of AAA when Olivia played, she probably would’ve won the whole thing. There’s a big difference.”

More recently, Rams co-captains from the Class of 2022, Julia Corey and Rebecca McIntosh, also played college tennis, Corey for Waynesburg University, and McIntosh for Allegheny College.

With Phillips being blessed with such talent, the Rams won section titles in 2019, 2020 and 2021.

Phillips said that her 2019 squad was one of her favorites.

“They were always having a good time on and off the court. Serious players, but they loved having a good time,” she said. “They organized bowling outings, picnics and swim parties. They all got along.”

She is also proud of what her players accomplished after graduation. She said some have become scientists, dentists” and more.

“Tennis is a game for a lifetime. It’s kind of hard to get a bunch of old women to play a regulation game of basketball, but you just need to have a partner to play tennis.”