Last week, Bowie High School announced Dayna Boothe as the new head tennis coach.
Along with the news, it also was revealed Bowie would embark on its first fall season, at least in recent history, of team tennis to make it a full-year sport like it is at larger schools.
Athletic director Tyler Price made the choice to devote someone who knew the game and had the schedule to coach it both in the fall and spring seasons which is unlike every other sport.
“We were able to bring someone in here who was passionate about tennis and knew the game,” Price said. “She can devote all her time to it since she won’t coach any other sports.”
It is a homecoming for Boothe.
Her grandparents owned Mac’s Grocery and another, Carl Turpen, was a longtime clerk at Boyd’s Auto Parts.
She grew up and graduated from Bowie High School in the early 1990s where she played tennis before going on to play two years at Midwestern State University in 1994-95.
A part of coming back also is the restoration of her first marriage.
“My husband (H.C. Boothe) and I were high school sweethearts,” Boothe said. “We were married from ages 21-25. Unfortunately we divorced at 25, but we got remarried to each other on Aug. 14, 2021, exactly 28 years to the day from when we got married the first time. Coming back to Bowie involves the restoration of that relationship and us coming back to build a life together here.”
After her own playing days were over, Boothe was involved with her daughter’s tennis career her whole life at Weatherford before she went on to play college tennis. Along with fostering that love from the start, she eventually became a junior high tennis coach at Weatherford.
She admits she has been called a drill sergeant by her son in terms of her coaching style, but likes to think of herself differently.
“I’m tough, but I’m out there to have fun too,” Boothe said. “I’m pretty driven and competitive and I want kids to do their best, but we also are going to have fun. If we aren’t enjoying ourselves, we are not going to put our heart and passion into what we are doing.”

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.