Treasure Oak Country Club
Ocean Springs, MS

Steve Pennington has served as Manager/Tennis Professional at Treasure Oak Country Club for over 15 years. He came to TOCC from a top 50 tennis resort Topsl Beach and Racquet Club, Destin, Florida. He held similar positions at Gulfport Racquet Club and John Newcombs Tennis Ranch in Texas.
Steve grew up in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where he earned a state ranking in both junior and adult tennis. He graduated from Millersville University with a degree in Industrial Arts Education. While in college, he played varsity tennis for four years, three of which were at the No. 1 singles position.

Upon his arrival in Mississippi, Steve jumped into the tennis scene directing programs at the Singing River Yacht Club, Moss Point Recreation, and I. G. Levy Tennis Center in Pascagoula, the later which was recognized by the USTA with an Outstanding Public Tennis Facility Award.

As a player, Steve held a MTA ranking from 1979 to 1989, achieving rankings as high as No. 2 in opens, 30s and 40 and over doubles. Steve and wife, Sheila also finished No. 2 in husband/wife mixed doubles. With various partners, he won many local events, and claimed titles at the State Clay Court Open.

Steve has been a USPTA certified professional for over thirty years. During this time, he has served as both a USPTA state and region representative. Throughout his many years of teaching experience, he has taught numerous State and Southern ranked players with a few of these achieving No. 1 state rankings and All-American status.  He has been named Mississippi Pro of the year on five occasions by either the MTA or USPTA. In 2003, Steve was named MTA Pro of the Year and received special recognition as The Southern Tennis Professional of The Year. During his tenure, Treasure Oak Country Club has maintained its reputation for excellence winning awards such as: MTA Organization of the Year, Outstanding USTA League facility, MTA Tournament of the Year.    
Steve has been married to wife Sheila for 26 years, and they have two children, Morgan and Miles, a senior at Mississippi College. The Penningtons live in Pascagoula where they have been active in community events for many years.

I am proud of our growth and achievements in the past, but with our recent improvements to facilities and the growth of our junior program I am excited about the future at TOCC.

- 2010 MTA Hall of Fame Inductee

- 2 time USPTA Mississippi Pro of the Year

- 3 time MTA Pro of the Year

-  2003 Southern Pro of the Year

Karem Graeber is an Assistant Pro at Treasure Oak Country Club.  She is from Chile and has traveled to 25 countries playing in international tennis tournaments.  Karem was a collegiate tennis athlete at the University of Mississippi and her highest ITA ranking was 69.

Among her accomplishments in tennis are a team silver medal in Mar del Plata Pan American Games, participation in the Federation Cup (Davis Cup for women) for four years, No. 58 ranking in the world as a junior and No. 174 in doubles.  Karem was the No. 1 junior player in Chile at the ages of 12, 14, 16, and 18.

In college, Karem beat Sara Ferguson (No. 50 ITA) to clinch winning against LSU as a junior at the SEC championship, won the Roberta Allison Fall Classic as a freshman and sophomore, won six SEC matches in a row as a sophomore, and many other SEC conference matches.  At Ole Miss, she received both a Bachelor\'s and Master\'s Degrees in Business Administration.

Scott Leatherman in the last 25 years has taught tennis lessons to students from 5 to 90 years of age.  He has been Camp Director/Coordinator of Instruction at Flushing Meadows, New York from 1984-2001.

For over a decade, he organized the USTA National Tennis Center's summer tennis program as its director with the camp more than doubling in size.  I am sure Scott will tell you some of the juniors he has coached (quite impressive). 

Also, he has trained overseas in different countries such as Fiji and Australia.  Scott has a bachelor's degree from Millersville University.  His other interests include photography and theatre.

Courtney Ulrich is currently an assistant pro at Treasure Oaks Country Club. She is a life-long resident of the Mississippi Gulf Coast where she attended St. John High School and was the 2-A singles champion in 2002 posting a 15-0 record during her senior year and winning the mixed doubles championship in 2000.  Courtney also helped the St. John team win the 2-A State Tennis Championship in 1999-2000.  She was selected the most valuable tennis player for three years, ranked as Mississippi's number one girls 18 tennis player in 2002, outstanding female junior tennis player, awarded the George Wilkerson Award, and the U.S. Marine Corps Distinguished Athlete Award.

Additionally, Courtney was a member of the Mississippi Junior Davis Cup Championship team, the MA Tennis All-Star (South) 2002, and the All-State tennis team for 2002.  She also represented Mississippi as one of the youngest members of the Tennis Europe program.  Courtney was awarded a full athletic scholarship to play Division One tennis at the University of Southern Mississippi.  She accomplished a 10-0 spring record her freshman year and was recognized as USM's Athlete of the Week, having the best overall record that season.  She was a President and Dean's list Scholar and was also on the Conference USA Commissioner's Honor Roll.  Courtney graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi in December 2006 and is currently employed as a Math Instructor with Gulfport High School where she was selected as the new teacher of the year by the Mississippi Power Company in 2007.