From staff reports

Vicksburg native Linnie Wheeless, a standout tennis player, was inducted into the Sewanee University Hall of Fame on Sept. 12.

Wheeless and her doubles partner, Kristen Ialacci Crane, were among six individual players to be enshrined. Former Vicksburg resident Bob Potts, a football player from Carr Central, was part of the 1958 football team to be enshrined.

The doubles team won the 1993 national doubles championship in the International Tennis Association’s college division. They became the first, and only, national champions in any sport at Sewanee. They competed against a field of more than 500 players.

To win the championship, Wheeless overcame perennial powerhouse Washington and Lee University to win in three sets. They lost the first set, then rallied to win both the second and third sets.

Wheeless earned all-conference honors for three straight years and had 100 career victories, 53 of those coming in singles play.

Wheeless played tennis and softball at Warren Central High School. During her high school career, she won two Class 5A state doubles championships and played in the Mississippi All-Star Softball game her senior year.

She lives in Los Angeles.