Hall of Fame
“I think when you go into a situation as a first-year coach with the job of reassembling a program that it’s an advantage and not as disadvantage,” Boykin said.” I knew Max from my days at Furman. I knew his daughters. I knew Anderson would be a good place to be. The support was in the community. Everyone wanted to keep the program going.”
Boykin started the rebuilding process with the two players who survived the accident – Scott Dickey and Dhiren Rathod.
“Those two guys are great stories,” Boykin said.” Scott ended up playing, but he couldn’t move around the court as well as he wanted to because of his leg injury. Dhiren played No. 2 and did a good job. He reached the quarterfinals of the national tournament and went on to play No. 1 at UNC Charlotte.”
During his 13 years at AC, Boykin was named National Junior College coach of the Year twice (1986 and 1987) and Region X Coach of the Year 12 times. In 1994, he was elected to the NJCAA’s Tennis Hall of Fame.
“We won the national championship in ’86 and ’87 with two scholarships,” Boykin added. “We had it going from ’86 to ’90. People knew who we were. We were in the top 10 every year, and I believe in ’86 and ’87 that if we had been a Division I program that we could’ve been in the top 10.”
When inducted into the Anderson Hall of Fame, Boykin was the head men’s tennis coach at UNC Charlotte.
