OKLAHOMA CITY (Sept. 17, 2020) – Sam Winterbotham arrived at Oklahoma Christian in the fall of 1994, just as the university's tennis program was starting to rise as a power in the NAIA. By the time he graduated, he'd established himself as one of the university's greatest athletes ever.
Winterbotham, from Stoke-on-Trent, England, also won the first of what proved to be a handful of national titles in OC tennis history, taking the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's Rolex NAIA singles title as a junior in 1996 and establishing the program's championship pedigree on a national level.
As a freshman, Winterbotham went 28-4 in singles matches and followed up with a 30-2 mark as a sophomore. As he entered his junior year of 1996-97, he figured to be one of the top players in the NAIA and hoped to make a good showing in the annual ITA/Rolex tournament, held each fall.
To qualify for the national tournament in Memphis, Tenn., Winterbotham first had to advance through a regional tournament in Oklahoma and that proved rather challenging. Crosstown rival Oklahoma City University had one of the nation's top programs, with players like Alfonso Honrado and Paulo Escalona, who would go on to face each other for the singles title in the 1998 NAIA tournament.
Adding an extra layer of challenge, Winterbotham also was recovering from a bout with energy-sapping mononucleosis. But he overcame, as he told Wes McKinzie – now an OC instructor of business and sports management – in 2007.
"The regional tournament ended up being the toughest part," Winterbotham said. "I beat the No. 1 guy in the nation in a three-and-a-half-hour marathon, then was given a 50-minute break before I played the regional final against the No. 5 guy in the nation. I managed to beat him in another three-and-a-half hour match. I remember drinking so much arctic-blue Gatorade in those seven hours that my mouth was stained for days."
Then came the national tournament, in which eight regional champions played, using a bracket format, with the champions of the NAIA, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and National Junior College Athletic Association tournaments then facing off in what was known as a "Super Bowl" of small-college tennis.
Winterbotham won all three of his matches in the NAIA bracket to earn the Eagles' first tennis national title before his run ended against juco champ Tyler (Texas) Alex Aybar, 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-2. Aybar won the "Super Bowl" bracket title.
Winterbotham ended his collegiate tennis career as a four-time NAIA All-America selection, twice making the first-team list. For good measure, he also played for OC's soccer team, and he was named as the 1998 Sooner Athletic Conference player of the year while earning another All-America honor (honorable mention) in that sport.
He remains one of only two OC athletes to have received All-America recognition in two unrelated sports and was inducted into the OC Athletic Hall of Fame in 2007. Winterbotham also became a successful coach at the NCAA Division I level, guiding Colorado for four seasons (from 2003 to 2006) and Tennessee for 11 seasons (from 2007 to 2017). He was a three-time conference coach of the year (Big 12 in 2006, Southeastern Conference in 2008 and 2010) and was picked as the ITA's national coach of the year in 2013.
He currently lives with his wife – former OC softball player Tara (McClure) – in Knoxville, Tenn., and works in real estate.
OC's program also went on to great success under coach Kris Miller, winning the university's first team national title in 2003 and taking another NAIA crown in 2012.
