HARLINGEN — When longtime Harlingen High tennis coach Jerry Hirst died in March, his family knew it wanted to create a scholarship in his memory to continue helping student-athletes go to college.
It only took three months for the scholarship fund to reach its goal, and on June 21, the Hirst family was proud to award the first Jerry Hirst Memorial Scholarship to Cardinals tennis senior James Ichiro Tanamachi.
“It means a lot. It’s a great honor and I’m very thankful, especially to be the first recipient,” Tanamachi said. “It’s a big motivation for me. It means a lot that they gave it to me, and I’m not taking it lightly. I’m going to make sure to make the most of the scholarship when I go off to college. I get to honor the family, too, with everything I do in college.”
Tanamachi will be attending the University of Texas at San Antonio plans to major in biochemistry. Along with excelling in tennis and serving as the team captain, he was in the top 10 percent of his class and a member of the National Honor Society.
Hirst’s family said he valued hard work, determination, respect and honoring yourself, your team and your family. His wife, Alice, and their children, John, Katy and Steve, felt Tanamachi “embodied everything we were wanting to reward.”
“Ichiro is a student-athlete first, a leader of his team, a fierce competitor and a young man with excellent character. For these reasons and more, we believe Ichiro is most deserving of receiving the first ever Jerry Hirst Memorial Scholarship. And we know Dad would agree,” John Hirst said.
The inaugural scholarship was also special because of the connection between the two families. Tanamachi’s father, James, played for Jerry Hirst at Harlingen High and remained close with him until his passing. When James took over the Cardinals tennis program, Hirst was his motivator and mentor. The current Cardinals coach said “it’s a great honor for our entire family to have (Ichiro) as the first recipient.”
Said Ichiro, “That’s why it meant so much, because my dad and Coach Hirst had a really close bond from when my dad played for him. And when my dad first started coaching, Coach Hirst did a lot to help him. My dad’s always been really appreciative of that.”
The Hirst children got to play for and with their father during his lengthy tennis career, and Steve Hirst said it was “pretty special” to be awarding another coach’s son.
Ichiro said his proudest accomplishment from his Cardinals career was winning a district championship in team tennis and a boys doubles title his senior year. But the connections formed with teammates and the time spent with his dad throughout the years meant the most.
“Sometimes I felt like I was playing for more because I wanted to win not only for myself, but also for my team and my dad,” Ichiro said. “I felt like it brought us a lot closer together since we were always at tournaments together and he got to coach me. It helped me get to the level that I’m playing today.”
Katy Hirst said the family was “humbled by the generous support” that helped the scholarship come to be. More than 150 people Jerry Hirst impacted, including Canadian competitors from his Gordon Trophy days, contributed to the $2,500 check Ichiro received Wednesday.
“The donors, it really was a group of friends, former players and also competitors of his that he competed against, some of them for a lifetime. That was what was real special. The response was just unbelievably generous. We were astounded. It just meant the world to all of us,” Alice Hirst said.
The Hirsts are confident Ichiro Tanamachi will be the first of many Cardinals tennis players Jerry Hirst will continue to impact through this scholarship.
“Throughout his career, he wanted to help Cardinals get a college education. He helped a lot of tennis players get scholarships, but he also helped many others in football and basketball,” Steve Hirst said. “Without hesitation, we all knew the right thing was to carry his legacy forward by continuing to encourage kids to get an education. In doing so, we hope to not only change their lives, but also the lives of their families for generations to come.”
