Ted McCarthy wasn't sure about Loyola at first; his older sister was already there, and he wanted to follow his own path.
That all changed when long-time Greyhound coach Rick McClure told McCarthy that if he came to Loyola and played for his tennis team, it would "make his decade."
"I perked up when I heard that. I thought it might not work out so badly," says McCarthy. "In the end, I think it worked out the way it should have worked out."
It sure worked out for the Greyhounds, who had some of their best years with McCarthy as their best player. He was the only player in Loyola's 24 years in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) to win a conference singles title, which he did as a freshman in 1991-92. He also teamed with Bob Cusack to win a MAAC doubles title that year.
The No. 1 player on the team's singles ladder in each of his last three years at Loyola, he finished his career as the program's all-time leader in singles wins.
McCarthy was small but speedy, a player who took pride in being difficult to get a ball past. He could handle huge pace from much taller players who possessed big serves, often getting great reviews on that from opposing coaches after a match.
"I always wanted it to be that the harder you hit it at me, the harder it was going to come back at you," he says.
Also a star in the classroom, McCarthy was a three-time MAAC All-Academic Team honoree and the recipient of both the Loyola Leadership and Greyhound Scholarship awards.
His contributions to Loyola tennis didn't stop after graduation. For 10 years, he served as a volunteer assistant coach, often traveling with the men's team when McClure had duties with the women's team.
McCarthy, a New Jersey native who now lives in the Boston area and works in the pharmaceutical industry, still plays several times a week.
