'Doc' Rylander remembered for years of service
SPORTS | The Roy Rylander Tennis Fund has been established in memory of UD’s longtime athletic trainer and tennis coach, who died Dec. 2 in Liberty, Texas. A memorial service will be held Sunday, May 3, in Newark, Del.
C. Roy “Doc” Rylander joined the UD faculty in 1946 and served as head athletic trainer from 1953 until his retirement in 1988. His 41-year tenure as head tennis coach, from 1953-93, is the longest for any head coach in University history.
A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Dr. Rylander was regarded as one of the finest collegiate athletic trainers in the nation and earned a spot in the National Athletic Trainers Association Hall of Fame. He also was a member of the UD Athletics Hall of Fame and the Delaware Sports Museum and Hall of Fame.
The May 3 memorial service will be held at R.T. Foard Funeral Home in Newark, where friends may call beginning at 2 p.m.
Dr. Rylander’s wife, Renee, died in November. With the blessing of their two children, former UD tennis player Jack Ellsworth, BE ’70, has taken the lead to establish the Roy Rylander Tennis Fund. For more information or to donate, visit www.udaf.udel.edu, or call (302) 831-6276.
