MTC Sportsmanship Award

Honorees cited as role models with award named for Mulcahy

THE MILWAUKEE TENNIS CLASSIC SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD is presented in honor of Charles C. (Chas) Mulcahy, who co-founded the tournament in 1975.

The award is given annually to the young man and young woman competing in the tournament who demonstrate meaningful and significant sportsmanship to serve as a role model not only for the tournament, but also for the sport of tennis.

Mulcahy has worked with members of the Milwaukee community over the past 45 years to build the Classic into the nation’s longest running invitational tennis tournament for collegiate men and women. He continues to serve as president of Milwaukee Tennis Classic, Inc., a 501(c)(3) tax exempt, non-profit, Wisconsin corporation.

Mulcahy is a former No. 1 singles and doubles player for Marquette University, where he captained the team for all three years of his varsity career (1957-59).

He was a two-time participant in the NCAA Men’s Tennis Championships. In 1959, Mulcahy received the McCahill Award, which is presented annually to a Marquette senior student-athlete who demonstrates the highest performance in scholarship, leadership and athletics.

Mulcahy was honored by the Marquette “M” Club in 1976 as the organization’s Man of the Year and in 1988 was inducted into the Marquette University Athletic Hall of Fame. In 1998, he cochaired the World Semi-final Davis Cup tie between the US and Italy and was recipient of the Joseph E. O’Neill Award of the National Sports Law Institute. The Marquette University College of Arts & Sciences in 2004 presented Mulcahy with its Distinguished Alumnus Award. In April 2007, the new scoreboard in Marquette’s Helfaer Tennis Stadium & Recreation Center, was dedicated to Mulcahy.

Mulcahy lost his wife, Judy (Marquette, 1961), ending a wonderful 59-year marriage, to Alzheimer’s Disease on February 5, 2023. Their three daughters Mary, Meg and Beth were a great source of happiness for Judy as they all played varsity tennis at Marquette when the team won two conference championships. Daughter Meg Mulcahy Ekmark won the McCahill Award in 1990 to create the only father/daughter recipients of the Award. Meg and Beth also graduated from Marquette Law School. A third generation joined the lineup in 2012 when Mary’s son, Connor Muth, served as student manager of the men’s varsity tennis team for four years, graduating in 2016.

In 2015, Mulcahy and J. Thomas Hurvis cofounded the Al Hurvis/ADAMM Education Foundation which now administers and has expanded the MTC scholarship program. Hurvis/ADAMM and MTC collaborate in presenting the tournament and community outreach programs.

For a complete list of MTC Sportsmanship Award winners, click here.