A huge overflow crowd attended the a very special ceremony for a very special coach Monday afternoon as the high school tennis courts at Frankfort High School were renamed in honor of Jonelle Smith, the long-time and highly successful girls’ tennis coach at Frankfort High School.
“What a great honor,” said Smith after the tennis facility was renamed the Jonelle Smith Tennis Courts. “I’m just thrilled to the moon and back. I’m humbled. It’s just awesome.”
Smith coached at least one girls’ sports per year from 1970 to 2005. She was the girls’ varsity tennis coach at FHS from 1979 to 2005. She led the Hot Dogs to 15 Sagamore Conference championship titles, 12 sectional titles, six regional crowns and coached six teams to the semi-state level. Smith retired from coaching with a win-loss record of 342 wins and 122 losses, which is one of the best win-loss percentages in the history of FHS.
“I was thrilled at the crowd,” said Smith. “There were so many people. There were family members and former players, people that had worked in the program and people I had worked with and taught with.”
Smith was named the Outstanding League Director, which is one of two awards in the United States, by World Team Tennis, she was named Indiana State Coach of the Year for Girls’ Tennis in 1999 and she was inducted in to the Indiana High School Tennis Hall of Fame in 2003.
Smith also received the USTA/Midwest Tennis Association 25-year service award in 2013 and was USTA/Midwest Board of Directors President in 2012-2013. She received the USTA/Midwest Mel Bergman Award in 2018, which is the highest award in the region for a volunteer. She also received the USTA/Barbara Williams Award in 2018, which recognizes a female volunteer who through her leadership and by her example has encouraged and inspired others to become volunteers and assume leadership roles in the community. This national service award was presented at the USTA semi-annual meeting.
“She touched the lives of so many,” said Community Schools of Frankfort school board member and former FHS tennis player Kristin Beardsley, who was the Master of Ceremonies for the event. “She gave her time and passion and I am so thankful to be a part of your story.”
Smith talked about the program she built.
“We had a lot of success,” she said. “We started with a city program that the kids came up through and they learned the basics. Then, they went into the team tennis as a middle-schooler and then they went into the high school. It was a wonderful way for the kids to come up through the program. They would often bring their parents in to participate in our adult team tennis as well.”