Arkansas Hall of Fame 2023 Inductee
Mel Collazo
Dr. Mel Collazo and his family have a long history of love and dedication to the game of tennis at all levels. He has been a major sponsor of numerous junior, adult and professional tennis tournaments. Mel has also sponsored many university and high school tennis programs in Arkansas. He was the former Head Tennis Professional at Pleasant Valley Country Club. He also served as Chairman of the St. Vincent professional tennis tournament. In 2007, the Collazo family received the Arkansas Tennis Family of the Year Award.
Mel also has an outstanding and impressive record as a player. As a junior, he reached the finals of the Texas State doubles championship, where they lost on the deciding point (5-4) of a third set tiebreaker to a future U.S. Open doubles champion and Australian Open singles finalist. Mel later played #1 singles and #1 doubles for the University of Arkansas-Little Rock before playing on the professional tennis tour. One of his best collegiate wins was over the SWC doubles champions from TCU.
During the “tennis boom” years, Mel was the #7 ranked Men’s Open singles player in the South. He also attained several #1 rankings in mixed doubles in the South and later played in the U.S. Open mixed doubles qualifying draw.
Mel was selected several times to be a member of the esteemed United States Gordon Cup team. In 2010, Mel was also selected to represent Team Southern and they won gold medals at the National Intersectional Championships.
In 2015, Mel and his doubles partner, Sal Castillo achieved the #1 U.S. National ranking and ended the year ranked #3 nationally.
Mel is also the proud recipient of (3) prestigious U.S. National Championship Balls.