RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - A Richmond native defied the odds during segregation to become a star in the tennis world, and soon he will be inducted into the Black Tennis Hall of Fame .

It was on the Byrd Park tennis courts that Junie Chatman discovered his passion for tennis.

“Byrd Park, I mean, it’s the heart of Richmond, the heart of Richmond tennis,” Chatman said. “And my dad and mom lived across the pond in Maymont. When I was 10 or 11, my cousin and I were coming this way to play softball over the field, and we saw all these kids playing tennis. And we thought, oh, we’ll take a whack at that.”

But there were not many Black tennis players at the time.

Chatman, 69, recalled how his father used to drive him to a morning tennis program at Westwood Club, but his father was forced to stay

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