Family friend, heralded tennis coach passes away

In recent years, Sue Clark sat across from my mother and played cards. My mother, now 86, was a member of a ladies' card-playing group which gathered once a month. They would shuffle up and deal and enjoy each others company.

Most of the group is gone now. In fact, my mother, Kathryn, is now the surviving member.

Clark was the youngest member of the group.

Sue passed away Saturday. She was 80.

There was a time when Clark spent her days on a tennis court. She was the head girls' tennis coach at Tucson High School and between 1958-71, Clark led the Badgers to 213 consecutive victories, 11 state championships and one state co-title.

Sue was inducted into the Pima County Hall of Fame in 2000 and was named the Arizona Daily Star's coach of the year in 1967.