Game, Set, Match! The Perfect Partnership between ALTA and Net News BY EMMY POWELL, NET NEWS EDITOR
F Net News Publisher John Hanna (left) and New South Publishing President Larry Lebovitz.
There have only been four ALTA Net News Editors. They are: John Williams Ken Bomar Suzanne Dent Emmy Powell
1991
1995
New South Publishing Vice President John Hanna gives credit for the current magazine format to Patricia Jensen, who is best known for being the mother of former professional players Murphy and Luke Jensen. She also has twin daughters, Rebecca and Rachel, who played on the WTA tour. Hanna recalls a great story when Jensen was at the Riverside Club in Sandy Springs where the girls were taking tennis lessons. New South Publishing President Larry Lebovitz also took his kids to the same club. Jensen was reading her Net News while the kids were drilling and literally said to Lebovitz, “Larry, you’re in the printing business. Why does ALTA do this crappy newspaper instead of a nice magazine?” The magazine was born! John Williams served as the original Net News editor until 2006. He was the man who wrote the book, “ALTA—Its History, Humor & Hors D’oeuvres.” It includes details of the formation of
1995
Photos by Laura Barnard
1990
rom the thrill of victory to that first-ever big plate, some of the great moments of ALTA league play have been captured through various ALTA publications. The evolution of spreading the ALTA word began as an 8 ½ X 11 newsletter (folded and stapled) that was mailed to the membership in the early 1970’s. As you can see from these various photos, Net News was later produced as a newspaper tabloid and stayed in that format a little over a decade until the first issue of the magazine was published in 1992. Back then, the ALTA leadership wanted to develop a magazine because of the concern of the messy newsprint. The idea was to keep it from simply being thrown out and instead have it become more of a coffee table piece in the homes of ALTA members. Today, it is still the only tangible part of ALTA that members receive directly in their mailbox every two months.
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NETNEWS MAY/JUNE 2021
