As a child, Sheila Milne moved around a lot, but she found her “home” in Wilson. She also moved other people around A LOT, which is what landed her in the Barton College Athletic Hall of Fame.
Milne was a sensational tennis player and student at Barton College from 1986-90, earning NAIA All-America honors three times and Academic All-America as a junior and senior (the only two years it was available). Her singles record at Barton was a phenomenal 124-15 and she dominated the Carolinas Conference and District 26 women’s tennis ranks like no player before. Upon graduating Magna Cum Laude (3.62 cumulative GPA) with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration, Milne stayed right here and went to work for the school she loves, first as an Admissions Counselor and International Student Advisor. Later, she was Coordinator of Advising and Retention and has now been serving as Barton’s Registrar.
It’s no surprise that the self-described “shy little Brit” has excelled in the international arena her entire life since her father, John Milne, retired from the United Nations. John and Irene Milne currently reside in Cheltenham, England, which was Sheila’s last stop before arriving at Barton. They have made the trip for her induction ceremony, who is not only a truly great ambassador for tennis on and off the courts, but one of the most decorated tennis players in the illustrious history of Barton’s most famous sport.
Milne was born in Edinburgh, Scotland on February 12, 1968, but her family moved to Ethiopia when she was six weeks old. Following a six-year stay there, the Milnes spent four years in Botswana and Lesotho in South Africa. It was in South Africa that Milne fine-tuned her tennis skills under the tutelage of Dan O’Connell, an American tennis coordinator with the Peace Corps. When her father was reassigned to Cheltenham in 1982, Milne said, “we had six days of school, so there was very little time for tennis. Everything was secondary to tennis.”
She didn’t have the long resume of some high school players being recruited to the United States. What she did have was a strong family and O’Connell promoting her.
O’Connell was familiar with Barton and knew of its tennis/academic history, so he felt comfortable that the school and Milne would be a good fit. In hindsight, all parties involved said it was a perfect match.
Milne had a great time her freshman season and her game helped lift the Bulldogs to their first berth in the NAIA National Championships in Kansas City, Mo. Atlantic Christian (now Barton) won the Carolinas Conference and District 26 titles and was nationally ranked. Along the way, Milne used finesse, wisdom and a tactically superior serve-and-volley attack (a rarity at any level) to earn All-Conference and All-District accolades for the first of four successive years.
Her sophomore season, Milne continued what would be a dominating run in Barton and NAIA tennis. Over the next three years, she was three-time team MVP, CIAC and District 26 Player of the Year and named to the All-American teams. She was the school’s first All-American female player in 1987-88, when she reached the final 8 of the 256-player draw. She rose as highly as No. 8 nationally in singles her junior year and reached the final 16 in Kansas City, as she also did the following year. She was the sixth seed at Nationals her senior season, when she went 4-1 in the tournament to give her a 14-5 career record in the big event. She was also the Kiwanis Female Athlete of the Year and CIAC Female Athlete of the Year her junior and senior seasons.
Milne still plays tennis regularly, and still wins a lot. As recently as 1998, she captured the North Carolina State 25 Closed Singles Championship and made the finals with her former doubles partner, Myers (’87). Milne has played on the Carolina Cup Tennis Team for three years and won doubles titles at the Cinny Bunn Memorial Tennis Tournament here in Wilson from 1995-97. She also doubled as the Wilson Country Club Singles and Doubles Champion in 1998. In 1999-2000, she held a 5.5 USTA Tennis Ranking.
“I was just in the right spot at the right time,” Milne said of her Barton career. “I relied on anticipation and I knew where to hit the ball. I think my temperament helped, too, because I didn’t let things bother me. I never got too excited, I just did what I was supposed to do: get more points than the other person.”
