The Horne Family Tennis Center
Making friends, building community, and developing character through the game of tennis
Fred Horne was born in 1930 to Jean and Max Horne, who immigrated as children to the U.S. from Eastern Europe in the early 1900s. Jean and Max settled near Pittsburgh, married and eventually opened a small clothing store. When a Sears opened nearby and threatened their business in 1932, they moved to Wheeling and opened Horne’s of Wheeling, which grew to be a ladies department store. After attending college and a stint in the army, Fred returned to Wheeling to work in the store and eventually became its President and owner.
Audrey Horne grew up in New York City and Chicago and, upon graduating from college in 1955, married Fred and moved to Wheeling. An accomplished collegiate tennis player, she quickly gravitated to Oglebay’s tennis courts, where she played often and made many lifelong friends. She was known for her love of the sport, enthusiastic and competitive spirit, and unorthodox (yet effective!) strokes. Audrey was a firm believer in the benefits of a good education, and she served for 17 years on the Ohio County Board of Education and 12 years on the West Virginia State Board of Education, including terms as President of each.
Audrey and Fred’s children – Amy, Bob, David and Pam – enjoyed all that Oglebay and Wheeling Park had to offer, including the day camp, swimming, tennis, golf and ice hockey. It was Audrey’s love of tennis, however, that was most infectious, and each of the children played often at Oglebay and on their high school tennis teams. Bob won two West Virginia state high school championships, captained Harvard’s team and won the National 35’s Grass Court Doubles Championship with popular Oglebay teaching pro John Chatlak.
The Horne Family chose to support Oglebay and its Tennis Center to give back to the Wheeling community which gave all of them much happiness over the course of many years. The family’s hope is that adults and children will always have a first-class facility at Oglebay where they can play tennis, make friends, build community, and develop character through the game of tennis.
