Ginny Graybiel

Deborah Slaner Larkin, at 76, is a solid 4.5 tennis player, who enjoys playing for fun as well as in leagues and tournaments. She loves the game. Or as she succinctly puts it, “I’ve got tennis in my DNA.”

But that’s just the beginning of her partnership with tennis.

Deborah also made women’s sports – tennis in particular -- her career. She was one of the country’s pioneer proponents -- and decades later, remains a vocal advocate -- of ensuring sports equality for women and girls and extending those sports across socio-economic lines. She’s considered an expert on Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in educational programs and activities that receive federal funding. She’s a longtime board member of the National Women’s Law Center, which seeks justice for women who suffer inequities due to race, sexual orientation or income. She has testified before Congress and has brought her expertise to national TV, radio and social media outlets. 

Her message to NWTO members and to women everywhere: “They need to keep talking about how fun, how exciting, how beneficial it is for girls and women to stay active and play tennis. Women who play sports learn leadership skills. I can’t tell you how many corporations would tell me, ‘You know, Deborah, female athletes are really good employees. They know how to work hard. They have traveled so they know how to act in all kinds of situations.”

Her resume, which combines corporate, government and nonprofit leadership, is perhaps as matchless as her passion for play.

From 1986 through 1992, she was executive director of the Women’s Sports Foundation, founded by Billie Jean King in 1974. From 1994 to 2002, she was one of 18 national members of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. From 2010 to 2013, she was executive director of the USTA Foundation, the USTA charity. In 2014, she was called back to serve as the Women’s Sports Foundation CEO.

“I care deeply about tennis for everyone from the elite level down to the kids, and I’ve really done a lot of work with the at-risk kids,” she said.  

She was herself a kid when she started playing, winning her first state championship at 13 after summer camp in Maine. Perhaps most remarkably, she learned to play as a righty. “Unfortunately for me, I’m a lefty but the pro didn’t know how to teach me lefty,” she chuckled. 

Deborah, who divides her time between New York and Vermont, began her career as a Madison Avenue marketing executive. Then, in 1986, she was in the right place at the right time when the WSF began looking for an executive director. She had an undergraduate degree in recreation and park management from the University of Oregon, an MBA in marketing from the University of Maryland and work experience in marketing various products.

“It was a time when I felt that I wanted to do something that had relevance to society and where I could make a real difference, not just in selling a product but in people’s lives,” she said. “They had some rigorous interviews and, lucky me, I got the dream job,” she said.

Lucky WSF, where she relied on research, research and more research to show the relevance and legitimacy of Title IX initiatives to improve not just the health and fitness of female athletes but also their social skills, leadership capabilities and self-confidence. She also had the contacts to bring corporations and elite athletes on board to give more heft to the push for equality. Her efforts resulted in a business plan that quadrupled the endowment and doubled revenue. 

Today, 52 years after Title IX, equality is still elusive. Certainly, many more women are playing college sports and shining in the Olympics. Beyond that, Deborah noted, “If it weren’t for Title IX, women wouldn’t have the leadership opportunities in the military. They’re taking more upper-level math and science courses in high school, which help them compete in the military. And now that they take P.E. and participate in sports, they enter the military more physically fit.” But the gaps remain huge. “Do we get the number of scholarships or scholarship dollars that are mandated by Title IX? Do we get the same coaching experience? The same PR? The same basic equivalencies the guys get and have always gotten? No, not by a longshot.” She also anticipates an even steeper climb as advocacy groups divert from bread-and-butter non-compliance issues to focus on LBGTQ and trans athlete issues that require more attention. 

Just as research drove Deborah’s efforts at the WSF, so did it drive her efforts at the President’s Council on Physical Fitness. There, her greatest triumph was to spearhead a critically acclaimed report titled “Physical Activity & Sport in the Lives of Girls: Physical and Mental Health Dimensions” on the benefits of girls playing sports.

“We heard the CDC was going to do a report on sports, and I just knew the girls would get short shrift,” she said. “To have the platform of the President’s Council to deliver that research was very important and it was used by all organizations and still is.”

Along with her research, Deborah has created or promoted numerous funds. A few of them: The USTA Foundation funds the National Junior Tennis and Learning program, originally founded by Arthur Ashe and Charlie Pasarell to use tennis as a vehicle to help at-risk kids with education, nutrition and social skills. She started the Bennington (Vt.) Sports Foundation, which pays for kids to join a club or a team in which they otherwise couldn’t participate. At the WSF, she spearheaded Sports 4 Life, a national program that supports community sports organizations geared to Black, Hispanic and Native American girls.

“These are great for the kids, great for their families and really great for their communities because it gets them involved and engaged,” she said.

But one fund may stand out above others, aptly named the MARGARET Fund (May All Resolve, Girls Receive Real Equity Today) in honor of her daughter.

Margaret, now 32, ran track and cross country in college. “She remains very fit, and we play tennis, and other sports, when we get together. She’s my best friend,” her mom said.

Fittingly, Deborah is on the executive committee of the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Her work has provided her with a personal connection to many of those Hall of Famers, including Martina Navratilova, Chis Evert, Arancha Sanchez, Tracy Austin, Lindsay Davenport and, of course, King. She is co-chair of a task force to create a global program called Be Legendary to bring Hall of Famers to tennis organizations on two-day trips.

“The Hall of Famers are the greatest people to send the message to kids about the importance of sports, the importance of tennis,” Deborah said. “And can you imagine, you go to one of their programs and play with a wooden racquet with a Hall of Famer or have a Hall of Famer talk to you about resilience, working hard, what it took for them to find their greatness on the court and off the court and how it’s lasted with them through life?”

Or, if a Hall of Famer isn’t on hand, just chat with Deborah. It’s hard to beat her bold message of health, wellness, perseverance, confidence, leadership, social activism and political change.