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Princeton University Athletics
Gengler, Granville Selected For ITA Women's Hall Of Fame Class Of 2026
May 20, 2026 | Women's Tennis
Of the five inductees at this coming fall's ceremony, there will be two who made a huge part of their impact at Princeton. Louise Gengler, a pioneering early Tiger athlete from the Class of 1975 who went on to coach the Tigers for 25 years, and Laura Granville, who coached at Princeton from 2012-22 and won six Ivy League championships iin that time, will be honored Oct. 10 at an event to be held at William & Mary.
Gengler, one of three sisters who dominated the early years of Princeton women's athletics, was the 1975 von Kienbusch Award winner as the top female senior athlete. Granville was a two-time NCAA singles champion while a player at Stanford.
From the official release:
Louise Gengler Thomas, Princeton (coach)
Louise Gengler Thomas, widely recognized as one of the most impactful figures in the collegiate game, spent 25 years as the head coach of the Princeton women's program before her retirement in 2004.
Under her guidance, the Tigers won seven Ivy League Championship titles and tallied more than 300 wins. The longest-tenured female coach in Princeton Athletics history, Gengler Thomas was twice named the ITA's East Region Coach of the Year (1994, 2000). She also led the Tigers to six appearances in the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) and NCAA national team championships. Committed to bettering the game across all levels of the sport, Gengler Thomas served on the NCAA National Tournament Committee for six years and was a member of both the ITA Board of Directors and ITA Women's Operating Committee for over 20 years. In 1989, she became the first woman honored with the ITA Meritorious Service Award.
Considered a pioneer in the evolution of women's athletics, Gengler Thomas was a three-sport athlete in the early days of women's sports at Princeton. She first arrived at Princeton in 1972, just two years after women were first admitted. She played tennis, ice hockey and field hockey, winning the school's 1975 C. Otto von Kienbusch Award as the top senior sportswoman on campus. Her sisters, Marjory and Nancy, also played at Princeton, continuing the family tradition of athletic careers at Princeton set by their father, uncle and grandfather. The Gengler sisters remain among the greatest women athletes in Princeton history.
Away from tennis, Gengler Thomas, an avid baseball fan, started her Take Kids Out to the Ball Game foundation, aimed at bringing underprivileged children to baseball games while weaving in academic experiences.
Laura Granville, Stanford (player)
Laura Granville played just two seasons in college at Stanford (1999-2001), but both ended with NCAA Singles Championship titles. During a pair of seasons as a Cardinal, Granville won an NCAA-record 58 consecutive singles matches, and paired her individual singles crowns with one NCAA team title and two ITA Indoor singles titles. A two-time ITA Player of the Year award winner, Granville went 93-3 in college.
Following her sophomore season, Granville turned to the professional tour, where she achieved a career-best ranking of No. 28 in singles and No. 47 in doubles in addition to nine ITF titles. Recording wins over Grand Slam champions like Marion Bartoli, Martina Hingis, Mary Pierce and Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, Granville reached the round of 16 at Wimbledon on two occasions, and also advanced to the third round at the US Open, French Open and Australian Open.
After nine years as a professional, Granville returned to Stanford to finish her degree in history in June 2012.
