Duane Garver
Significant Contributor to DPS Athletics
Inducted 9/16/2022

Duane Garver

Decatur's "Mr. Tennis," Duane Garver taught tennis in Decatur for more than 60 years and was a teacher at Johns Hill.


A 1932 Decatur High graduate who played on Stephen Decatur’s 1931 state championship basketball team, Garver went on to graduate from Millikin and serve in the Navy in World War II, then returned to Decatur and became a longtime tennis instructor.

Garver, known as "Mr. Tennis," was a teacher and coach at Johns Hill for 30 years, coaching tennis in his spare time. As a tennis instructor, he gave lessons in Decatur for 60 years, teaching 25,000-plus students with 100 nationally ranked players, including Decatur greats Lornie and Chuck Kuhle.

Garver became a member of the Millikin Hall of Fame in 1972, and the Decatur Athletic Club renamed its tennis courts “Duane Garver Tennis Pavilion” in 1998.

In 1977, at age 65, Garver made the trip to Wimbledon as part of the American Super-Seniors team, which was invited to play the British Super-Seniors team — the teams split 6-6, with Garver winning a singles match and splitting a pair of doubles matches. Garver, through the years, won several times on the Senior Olympics and Super Seniors tennis circuits.

Garver died in 2007 at age 94. He had five children, 10 grandchildren, 16 great grandchildren and five great-great grandchildren.