FLORENCE — For West Florence’s Bobby Browning, the question has never really been whether he would play college tennis, but where.
Browning has been the Knights No. 1 singles player since ninth grade, compiling a 93-9 record while helping the Knights earn two straight Class 4A state championships.
He finished last season by capturing the Class 4A individual title.
And now he’ll be playing for one of the winningest coaches in Division I.
Browning officially signed a National Letter of Intent on Friday to play for coach Paul Scarpa at Furman next season.
“I love Furman. I love the coaching staff and it just seemed like the perfect fit for me,” Browning said. “It’s really exciting.”
Browning was also considering Elon, Wofford and Clemson, but felt Furman was too good of an opportunity to pass up.
“I loved the campus, the academics and coach Scarpa is the winningest active coach in the NCAAs,” Browning said. “Every player who has gone through there has gotten better, and that was a big thing for me.”
Browning is the second West Florence player to earn a tennis scholarship for a Division I program. Mitch Sprengelmeyer played at Clemson in the mid 1990s.
“The past two years, I’ve pretty much lived a dream with Bobby and Pruitt (Williams),” West coach Charles Nelson said. “Bobby’s definitely going to break the 100-win mark this season, and he’s probably going to end up with most of the school records.”
While the individual honors have been great and well-deserved, Nelson said Browning’s commitment to his teammates has been what’s made the most difference.
“Bobby’s been really good about picking the other kids up and rallying behind them,” Nelson said. “He’s such a hard worker, too. He’s always the first one at practice.”
Browning started playing tennis when he was 10 and always hoped he’d make it to this point.
“I think I’ve put a lot of work into playing tennis, but I’ve also had a lot of support at home and good coaching,” he said.
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