NEWS

Laurie Hissey, part of the legendary McAvoy clan in the Philadelphia area, passed away earlier this month from cancer. Laurie was chosen as the 2025 APTA Service Award winner before her latest diagnosis; it is with a heavy heart that the APTA will not be able to celebrate her achievements in person. What you should know about Laurie is that her reach in the paddle world was all-encompassing—from Masters to Juniors, League leadership to National competition, umpiring to fundraising.  

She was the Director of Platform Tennis at Radley Run Country Club, where she encouraged management to build platform tennis courts 13 years ago. Laurie enjoyed teaching players of all ages and abilities, but truly threw herself into Juniors programming, as a tournament director for dozens of Junior events, as a 20-year member of the APTA Juniors Committee, a coach for high-school paddle teams, and as a volunteer extraordinaire at Junior Nationals. She took great pride in seeing her players compete, and often win, at Junior Nationals.  

A surprisingly intense competitor behind a big smile, Laurie played in paddle tournaments far and wide—the pinnacle may have been winning two 50+ Masters Mixed Nationals with her brother Tim McAvoy. As he declared, “She is a beautiful warrior.”

This was not Laurie's first bout with the disease. Typical of Laurie, though, she made something positive out of her experience as a patient in 2017, and created a MAPTA paddle fundraiser for SHINE (a volunteer-based organization offering free services to cancer patients), which is now in its 8th year and has raised over $200,000. She also helped her local high-school players create a fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity. Laurie had limitless energy and compassion.

The APTA sends its warmest regards to the Hissey and McAvoy families, friends, and paddle players around the country who had the privilege of knowing Laurie. 

More on Laurie from MAPTA.