Peter Howell

Howell has over forty-five years of both playing and teaching tennis experience that include holding the #5 national ranking by the USTA for six consecutive years and being named the Georgia Pro Tennis Player-of-the-Year four times. The men’s tennis team he guides at Oglethorpe University has been ranked regionally in the Atlantic South Division among NCAA Division III schools for many seasons. Peter was head coach of the Stormy Petrels from 2003-19 at Oglethorpe University.

In 1977 Howell founded the Georgia Professional Tennis Association, a grass-roots formation of tennis professionals in Georgia dedicated to improving the standards of tennis in the community. Since its creation, the GPTA has grown to over 300 members and has become the model for similarly founded organizations across the country. A graduate of Vanderbilt University, Howell starred for three seasons for the Commodores on the tennis courts before injury sidelined him for his senior year. As a junior, Howell was named captain of the team and earned Most Valuable Player honors.

Peter has been inducted into the Georgia Tennis Hall of Fame, the Georgia Professional Tennis Hall of Fame and the Oglethorpe Athletics Hall of Fame. He was named the SAA Men's Tennis Coach of the Year by his peers in 2013. Howell comes from a family steeped in tennis tradition and, in 1964, the Howell family was selected as the Tennis Family-of-the-Year by the Southern Tennis Association. His brother, Richard Howell, was inducted into the GA Tennis Hall of Fame in 1993 and his mother, Caroline Howell, who was inducted in 2000.