Ruth Webb

Written by Eric Webb

Ruth Webb passed away on April 1, 2023, in Ashland, Oregon, at the age of 99. She was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

It is hard to talk about Ruth without talking about her love of tennis. She had played some tennis as a teenager. In 1967 Ruth and her family moved to Rock Hill, SC. Around 1972 she and her good friend Eva Mills both decided to take up tennis again. Needing some other players, they started dragging their four sons out of bed early to play tennis before school. From then on, tennis was a huge part of Ruth’s life. She could be found on courts around town nearly every day.  She and her husband, Ross, attended Wimbledon several times.

After Ross passed away in 2003 and with the encouragement of her coach, Renata Marcinkowska, Ruth began to travel around the country playing in senior tennis tournaments. She achieved regional and national rankings in the 80-and-over and 85-and-over age groups, and was ranked #3 in the US in the 85s in 2008. She also represented the US in the Friendship Cup senior tennis competition in Poertschach, Austria. She enjoyed the camaraderie among her fellow senior tennis players. Ruth was able to continue playing tennis into her early 90s and watched the Tennis Channel nearly every day once she “retired” from the sport.

Her coach Renata had the following to say about her: “Ruth was every coach's dream. Hard-working, disciplined, eager to learn, and someone who got better with age. She listened, practiced with enthusiasm, studied the game religiously, and at the young age of 70 plus decided to travel the country to compete against the best players in the world in her age division. She was independent, understood that winning comes from within, and that tennis is about challenges. She would learn with every match and every new trip she took. Even in her late 80's, she would hop on the plane to Florida to compete in Grand Dames events when most people would not have the courage to do so. She cross-trained for tennis with yoga, pilates, and swimming and was the only woman I know who would regularly practice serves to get better (for those of you that don't know much about tennis most women would rather have their teeth pulled than practice serving).”

Ruth moved to Oregon in 2015 to be closer to her son Eric and his family. She will be greatly missed.