In Memory of Marion Blackburn: this Juneteenth, Portland Tennis Courterly looks back on the life and legacy of Portland tennis pioneer Marion Blackburn, who passed away in April. Through his entrepreneurship, his teaching, and his character, Blackburn touched the lives of countless Portlanders. He’ll be remembered fondly and missed dearly.
Marion Ossie Blackburn was born July 31, 1939, in Huntsville, Alabama. The eldest son of Rev. Robert Lewis Blackburn and Eddie Rose Blackburn (née Davis), he attended Huntsville’s William Hooper Councill High School, where he played Varsity baseball, basketball, and football, and was also a member of the French Society and Commercial Club. Blackburn went on to attend Alabama A&M College, an HBCU in Huntsville. As a college student, Blackburn played on an upstart tennis team, and he also started a semi-professional basketball team, The Swishers.
After college, Blackburn lived in New Jersey for a period and worked for the National Biscuit Company. In the early 1960s, he moved to Portland. Following his service with the U.S. Army, Blackburn returned to Portland and resided here for the rest of his life. Although he had some exposure to tennis as a child and college student, it was in the army that Blackburn learned to play tennis at a high level. Back in Portland, Blackburn played regularly at Irving Park, where he was known to sweep off the courts with tree branches. Despite having become a formidable player who lived nearby, he was initially denied membership to the Irvington Club. But following the protests of Jack Neer, who was a pro at Irvington at the time, Blackburn and his family were admitted to the club. They were the Irvington Club’s first Black members.
Blackburn’s first act of entrepreneurship in Portland was to open a wood manufacturing business called Wood Arts. He also started another semi-professional basketball team by the same name. The team competed in both a semi-pro league in Portland and scrimmaged against college JV teams.
Blackburn’s first tennis business was in a small warehouse near John’s Landing. Under the name “Tennis Lessons Inc,” which Blackburn was to use as the parent company for all of his subsequent tennis ventures, he began offering lessons on two narrow courts. In order to retain clients and to continue being in business for himself, Blackburn soon started a full-fledged tennis club. He built the six-court facility—located at 5803 SW Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway and initially called Tennis Town—from scratch. It opened in 1977. Before long, he purchased an adjacent lot and began adding amenities. He converted one of the indoor tennis courts to four racquetball courts, which later became a full-length basketball court. He also built state-of-the-art locker rooms, an outdoor pool that was covered in the winter, as well as outdoor courts on a synthetic, grass-like surface called Omni. Blackburn renamed his business Raleigh Hills Racquet and Health Club, later shortened it to Raleigh Hills Racquet Club, and finally changed it to Portland Athletic Club (PAC). According to Blackburn, he was the only single-person owner-operator of a Black-owned tennis club in the United States who also owned the land beneath the business.
At his club, Blackburn kept the emphasis on teaching. For years, he ran a popular Sunday morning clinic with the help of his dear friend and fellow teaching pro Jack Neer, who had moved on from Irvington and come to teach at PAC. Blackburn went on teaching until just before his retirement, but he also passed the torch. Midway through his teaching career, he appointed his son, Anthony Blackburn, as PAC’s head pro. Other pros who taught at PAC include Jim Martin, Mike Nelson, Juan Padilla and Wayne Pierre.
In 1988, Blackburn self-published The Best Tennis Lesson You Ever Had, which is dedicated to his mother. Along with a stroke-by-stroke breakdown of the game, Blackburn offers a number of thoughts on his teaching philosophy, including: “error-free play is rare,” “a good player can play well against different types of players, under many conditions,” and, “group learning reinforces the instructions because students can help each other recognize mistakes, and realize the improvements.”
From 1961 to 1977, Blackburn was married to Kay Francis Kellam. They had three children together: Anthony Wayne Blackburn, Nikki Renae Blackburn-Orr and Ramon Blackburn. All three learned to play tennis at a high level.
Anthony Blackburn played for the University of Oregon Ducks Men’s Tennis team. Following in his father’s footsteps, he went on to become a teaching pro. In total, Anthony Blackburn worked at PAC for 35 years. He began as an employee of the club, then worked out of the club as a teaching pro with his own business, called Blackburn Tennis Productions. He eventually became both the head teaching pro at PAC and the club’s Tennis Director. Anthony Blackburn also created the Nike Tennis Lesson Program at Nike World Headquarters, using the courts at the Bo Jackson Fitness Center for instruction.
Nikki Blackburn-Orr is an entrepreneur and competitive USTA player in the Pacific Northwest section, with a ranking of 4.0.
Ramon Blackburn played tennis at Grant High School, then went on to become a fashion designer and entrepreneur. He is the owner-operator of Hush, a lifestyle boutique clothing store with locations in Englewood, New Jersey, and West New York, New Jersey.
Several of Marion Blackburn’s close family friends were also staff members at PAC. They include Dorothy Miller, who was first a client, and then went on to work as the club’s Office Manager; and also Thomas Davis, who worked at the club in a variety of capacities and also assisted Blackburn at home in his later years.
Blackburn’s friends who he played tennis with, often on Court 5 at PAC, were important parts of his life and community as well. They include Henry Bryant, Eric Cooley, Maureen Doherty, Bill Frantz, Mike Kohlhoff, Patricia McKinnon, Susie Moran, Mike Turner, Ruth Turner and Lenny Wofford. Blackburn was a competitive tournament player for many years and holds multiple titles in the men’s 35+ category. For the most part, he played right-handed. Following an injury, Blackburn taught himself to play left-handed, and went on to place competitively in several tournaments playing left handed at the 3.0 level.
In 2022, Blackburn was diagnosed with dementia and Parkinson’s disease. For the next three years, he received in-home care from family friend and caregiver Brenda Davis. He passed away at home on April 4th, 2025, surrounded by family members.
Blackburn is remembered for forging his own path in life and in business, for creating opportunities for his family and friends, and for helping thousands of Portlanders become better tennis players. In his own way, he redefined what it meant to be a Black teaching pro and Black entrepreneur. He inspired others to embrace his passion and love for tennis without race being the primary focus, and he used his near-constant presence at his workplace to advocate for the dignity of people of all backgrounds. According to his sister, Glenda Blackburn-Hall, Blackburn “had a quiet demeanor at times and never sought attention or publicity. This was his ‘no, no.’ Center stage was not his admiration.”
On the tennis court, whether he was teaching or playing, Blackburn’s character, sportsmanship, graciousness and respect for others were always on full display. Those who knew Blackburn well witnessed how his work ethic positively impacted his children and their family members and friends. Thanks to his expert instruction, tennis players throughout Portland improved their skills and technique, gained confidence, developed discipline, and experienced a genuine sense of community. Blackburn shaped many of his students in ways that they will carry with them for the rest of their lives—he encouraged them to keep learning and trying, and he made sure that his club was a place where all members, guests, students and staff felt welcome and supported. When not on his teaching court, Blackburn often sat in the lobby, where he enjoyed shooting the breeze and learning more about his students. He was endlessly curious, and quick with a smile and a joke. He taught tennis with love, kindness, and dedication, and he was fascinated by the back-and-forth of teaching and learning. Tennis and business were his primary but not his only vessels for example-setting and education. Blackburn had a love for multiple sports, as was apparent in both his life story and the eclectic atmosphere of his athletic club.