Southwest Showcase by Jack Michalko, Executive Director, USPTA Southwest
D’Wayne Begay - A man with many talents!
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t’s not often you run into someone who excels in more than one career but D’Wayne Begay is the exception to that rule.
D’Wayne, a full blooded Native American (Navajo) was born in Albuquerque, NM. He became a Southwest Division USPTA Pro in 1996. He began his career at Tanonan Country Club in the early 1980’s. He left Albuquerque in 2012 for a position at Midtown Athletic Club in Palatine, IL. From there D’Wayne moved to California in 2014 which is his current residence and is a member of the San Diego Division of the USPTA. D’Wayne has served on many national and division USPTA committees over the years and was a supporting presenter at the Tennis Teacher’s Conference in New York City along with Luke Jensen and Tom Gullikenson. Begay also was USPTA International Championship – Sportsmanship Award winner in 2010 and received the ‘Spirit of Albuquerque Award in 2009 from the city of Albuquerque Mayor’s Office, Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce and Albuquerque Journal for his nationally recognized wheelchair program. D’Wayne has also won many USTA Southwest awards over the years. But what makes D’Wayne so unique is while he was heavily involved in a tennis teaching career he found time to become and actor and was in 9 movies, one of which was a foreign film and 2 were made for TV. Begay had a part in the 1994 film “Wyatt Earp” starring Kevin Costner as Wyatt Earp and included such household names as Gene Hackman, Dennis Quaid, and Mark Harmon. D’Wayne was a limo driver in John Carpenter’s “Vampires”, a 1998 film starring James Woods and Maximilian Schell. D’Wayne also had parts in “Santa Fe”, “Dream Keeper”, a Canadian film, and “Medicine Wind”. He was also in the 2000 film “All the Pretty Horses”, which starred Matt Damon and Bruce Dern and was directed by none other than Billy Bob Thorton! D’Wayne with Billy Bob Thorton
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D’Wayne with Matt Damon in All the Pretty Horses!
D’Wayne & the late Jack Palance in Buffalo Girl
March 2021
