Barbara was the first president of the Idaho Tennis Association and 52-time host of the high school tennis state tournament.
Barbara Chandler, a San Francisco native, moved to Boise in the 1950s and immediately began cultivating a love for her sport. Shocked that the city only had tennis courts available in Julia Davis Park, Chandler successfully lobbied for every junior high, senior high and public park to have open courts.
“She’s a national gem and the patron saint for the sport of tennis in Idaho,” said former Boise State men's tennis coach Greg Patton. “She planted the seeds for the growth of tennis in Boise.”
Chandler helped found the Boise Racquet & Swim Club, and the Barbara Chandler Junior Open is played every summer at the club. Beyond tennis, Chandler and her husband Bill ran the ski lodge at Bogus Basin for 19 years allowing them to make many local friends.
But her legacy did not start in Boise. Chandler was one of the nation’s best players in her prime. Chandler was a National Junior Hard Court singles and doubles champion; the National U.S. Women’s Clay Court champion; a three-time U.S. Open quarter finalist; a member of the Wrightman Cup and Pan-Am teams; winner of the National Junior Girls Sportsmanship award, and for 15 successive years an Idaho state singles, doubles and mixed doubles champion.
In 2013, Chandler became the second player to enter the USTA-Intermountain Hall of Fame, preceded only by Andre Agassi, who was inducted in 2010.
“When you look at Barbara, she was a revolutionary, she was one of the kindest people you’d ever meet. She was a dynamic woman who earned incredible respect at an international and national scale,” Patton said.