Before becoming president of the USTA on January 1, 1997, Dr. Marmion served as first and second vice president as well as secretary of the USTA’s board of directors. The former educational consultant and college president (St. Xavier College in Chicago and Southampton College in New York) earned his undergraduate degree from Fairfield University, a law degree from Georgetown University and a masters and Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut. He also served in the Marine Corps and is a retired colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve.

Since the mid 70s, Dr. Marmion, a first generation Irish American, has been involved with the USTA, serving as North Atlantic vice-president and president of the Eastern Tennis Association. A member of the ETA’s Hall of Fame, he has been active in senior men’s recreational tennis and is a former ranked senior player in the East.

As president of the USTA, Dr. Marmion will serve a two-year term and will oversee the U.S. Open and the opening of the Association’s new USTA National Tennis Center, in Queens, New York, host of the U.S. Open.

Born and raised in Woodside, Queens, Dr. Marmion is the son of Alphonsus Marmion of Fork Hill, Co. Louth. During the Black and Tan war, Alphonsus was a captain in the Fourth Northern Army of the IRA. His unit fought in and around Armagh as part of a “flying column.” When the Anglo-Irish treaty was signed, he threw his support behind De Valera, unable to tolerate the separation of the six counties of Ulster. During the civil war that followed, Marmion was arrested, imprisoned and sentenced to death as a traitor. How he escaped prison is not certain, but according to his son, Harry, there is a hole in the wall of the jail in Dundalk with which the Marmion name is associated. Alphonsus fled Ireland and settled in New York, where Dr. Marmion now lives with his wife and three daughters.