M Club Hall of Fame
- Induction:
- 2005
Tommy Buford, a graduate of Rhodes College, was tapped as the men’s tennis coach when the program was resurrected in 1966. Buford amassed 421 career NCAA victories and is the only Tiger coach in Memphis history to surpass the 400 career win mark. Buford-guided teams won five Metro Conference titles between 1976-1980 and in 1981 he received the Metro Conference Coach of the Year Award. That same year, Buford teamed with his son, Tiger, to win the National Father/Son Clay Court Doubles championship. Buford was inducted into the Memphis Sports Hall of Fame in 1986 after assuming both the Tiger coaching duties and the tournament director duties with the ATP annual visit at the Racquet Club of Memphis. Under his guidance, the ATP event was voted the ATP Tournament of the Year in 1991 and Buford was elected to the ATP Tournament Council in 1993. He was re-elected to the Tournament Council in 1999 and 2001 before retiring from the event in 2004. Buford and his wife Virginia now reside in Boise, Montana, where he serves as the tennis coach at Boise High School.
