Although the summer hard court season is in full swing, the grass of the Newport casino made headlines last weekend.

John Isner captured his third title on the grass in Newport, Rhode Island at the Dell Technologies Hall of Fame Open while Kim Clijsters, Andy Roddick, Monique Kalkman van den Bosch, Steve Flink and Vic Braden (posthumously), were inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

The primary mission of the tennis hall of fame is to preserve the history of the game and enshrine its legends. It appears that today’s youth are not familiar with and/or appreciate the remarkable on and off-court accomplishments of the Lithuanian lion–the moniker bestowed upon Vitas Gerulaitis by the equally incomparable Bud Collins.

The two would be linked again but this time tragically for Bud Collins, the legendary journalist, analyst, and commentator, was inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame just months before Vitas, age 40, died accidentally from carbon monoxide poisoning on September 17, 1994.

I began volunteering at the Hall of Fame in 1996 and had just assumed he had already been inducted. While the Hall of Fame recently amended the criteria for induction, I firmly believe that a player’s off-court contributions to the sport should also be considered.

There was a time in the not so distant past that three of the four grand slam tournaments were contested on grass. Vitas Gerulaitis, the affable and charismatic New Yorker with the flowing blond hair was highly adept on this surface having won the 1977 Australian Open (played on grass thru 1987) and reached the semi-finals at the All England Club twice, including a five-set marathon with Bjorn Borg also in 1977.

The Brooklyn-born son of Lithuanian immigrants reached a career high ranking of three in the world in 1978 during the golden age of tennis when John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors, and Bjorn Borg were dominant. Despite this elite level of competition, Gerulaitis amassed an impressive win/loss record of 522-223 with 26 titles.

In addition to his Australian Open title, Gerulaitis reached the final of the US Open in 1979, losing to fellow Queens resident and good friend, John McEnroe, as well as the 1980 French Open final losing to another close friend and six-time champion at Roland Garros, Bjorn Borg.

Vitas was one of the first players to establish a foundation whose fundamental goal was to bring tennis to inner city children. Though I was fortunate to grow up in a quiet, residential neighborhood in Brooklyn with access to clay and hard courts, I rode the subway into Manhattan to attend the first free clinic he sponsored in Central Park a mere week before the start of the 1981 US Open. Not only did he provide the racquets, he brought two of his closest friends-world #1 and 2-Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe!

Vitas retired from the professional tour in 1986 and embarked on a successful career in broadcasting as a tennis commentator for USA network where he was employed until the time of his death.

I am not alone in asserting that he had a hall of fame career and life. His enviable skills as a tennis player clearly are equaled if not surpassed by his generosity of spirit and off-court philanthropic endeavors.

Vitas Gerulaitis, a great ambassador of the sport, hopefully, will one day be enshrined at the International Tennis Hall of Fame but until that time, I hope this article will encourage others to learn more about a man who truly lived and loved life to the fullest. Now that is a legacy worthy of any hall of fame.