They shared a pure passion for the sport they loved playing, fearlessly fought for their core beliefs and had the intelligence, imagination and ingenuity to
see the transformative power of tennis to enact positive and sometimes powerful change.

Those are some of the qualities that connect 1989 French Open champion Michael Chang, the late Tennis Week founder and publisher Gene Scott and the late IMG founder Mark McCormack and today the trio who comprise the International Tennis Hall of Fame's Class of 2008 was inducted into the Newport, Rhode Island-based Hall.

Carl Chang, Michael's "brother, coach, former doubles partner and best friend" praised his younger brother for providing an inspiration to "live a dream...and realize the impossible is possible."

Calling "dedication, faith, family, unity and love" as the foundation his family provided him, the 36-year-old Chang, a Hoboken, N.J. native, thanked his family for their unwavering support that strengthened him to "make it easy to reach for the stars and dream big dreams" without a "fear of failure."

The five-foot-nine Chang became the youngest Grand Slam men's singles champion when he won the 1989 Roland Garros title at the age of 17 years and 3 months and ended a 34-year drought for American men in Paris.  Hall of Fame President Tony Trabert, who introduced Carl Chang, was the last American man prior to Chang to win the French Open.

Playing the starring role in tennis' David vs. Goliath saga staged on the red clay of Roland Garros, against Ivan Lendl, Chang fought off crippling cramps and a powerful opponent with a memorable underhanded serve, he now describes as the stone that helped slay Goliath. In a stunning upset, Chang beat Lendl 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 then proceeded to overcome a derisive French crowd and a determined Stefan Edberg in the final with a historic 6-1, 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory that made him the youngest Grand Slam champion at 17 years, three months.

The counter-puncher had knocked out champions with an inspiring series of victories.

Chang believes he was empowered by a higher power at a time when violence was and says he feels his French Open victory was a symbol of hope at a tumultuous  time in China when violence was erupting in Tiananmen Square culminating in the horrific Tiananmen Square massacre.

"I think what made those two weeks magical was not just the fact that I won it at 17, but even more so knowing that God's purpose for allowing me to win the French was not so much for me, but was more so for the fact that He wanted to bring a smile upon Chinese peoples' faces during a time when there wasn't a lot to smile about," Chang said. "Obviously, the situation in Tiananmen Square was going on and it was a very down time for Chinese people all over the world. I know that that's the reason for God allowing me to win."

In a career spanning 16 years, Chang reached a career high world ranking of No. 2 and was ranked in the World Top 10 for seven years. He captured 34 singles titles while also reaching 24 tournament finals

Chang’s tremendous tennis tenacity earned him the support of fans eternal respect from his life-long rivals.

"In my opinion, he's been one of the greatest competitors sports has ever seen," eight-time Grand Slam champion Andre Agassi said of Chang. "Michael put his heart on the line every time he's on the court. It's amazing. It doesn't matter how long it's been since you've played, you look across the net and it's so familiar. ... For me, there are a lot of times I wish I didn't have to look at the ball and could watch him."

Chang was the first of his generation of that accomplished class of American Grand Slam champions — that included Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras and Jim Courier — to win a Grand Slam. Courier told Tennis Week Chang's triumph in Paris was a pivotal moment for all four of the rivals: Chang's unwaveringly strong sense of self-belief, conviction and commitment to the cause cascaded to Courier, who would realize his own major dream in Paris by claiming consecutive French Open championships, the first coming two years after Chang's title triumph.

"Michael took the lid off of the jar, at least for me, by going the distance in Paris," Courier told Tennis Week. "I looked around and realized that my dreams were within reach and that new found belief helped me get there. I would think Pete probably felt the same way. Andre was 'closer to the basket' at that time so he may have already realized the big goals were within his grasp before I did."

Chang said the rivals brought out the best in each other.

"I think for us to be able to get through the juniors and be able to play professionally, be able to push each other, be able to inspire each other, I think that played a big role in the whole scheme of things," Chang said. "I’m positive that after I won the French Open in ’89, the other guys were saying ‘Shoot, we’ve grown up playing with Michael. If this little squirt can win a Grand Slam, why can’t I?’ From there, the Grand Slam titles started to come."

Chang reached three other Grand Slam singles finals (the 1995 French Open final and the 1997 Australian Open and U.S. Open finals) and was runner-up at the 1995 ATP season-ending championships.  Chang competed with the familiar heart-felt intensity of a man whose sheer refusal to lose made him such a great winner for so many years.

"When it comes down to it, sports is sports, but you use it as a vehicle to touch lives and inspire people," Chang said. "That’s what sports is really all about. You want people to be able to walk away and feel good about that and be able to inspire them to do great things in their own life. It’s nice to be able to know that through tennis or through your person, you’re able to touch a life. It’s nice to know that a lot of lives have touched mine."

Hall of Famer John McEnroe provided a heart-felt, humorous and at times, hilarious, induction speech for his long-time friend and former doubles partner Scott. Commenting on Scott's ability to analyze issues so thoroughly it could leave his head spinning, McEnroe said with a bemused smile: "I didn't always agree with him. Half the time, I didn't even know what the hell he was talking about."

"If Gene was alive today no doubt he'd be passing around the latest issue of Tennis Week and we would have turned to Vantage Point to see how he described the Wimbledon final," McEnroe said.

Prior to Scott's passing, the two friends had discussions about McEnroe joining Scott in a publishing partnership and working together in running Tennis Week.

"We started having discussions and he had definite opinions, which is definitely the way I think and I often thought we should have been partners and done something together with his magazine and later on we did discuss this and sadly it didn't happen," McEnroe said. "We didn't get to that point and I think we would have made a good team as far as giving each other a little extra cachet. He really gave his heart and soul to that but he was a good player and there were a lot of other things that he did, pretty much everything you can do as a tennis player from promoting to writing to playing to being an agent to commentating. He gave everything a shot."

Recalling the first important amateur title he won at age 15 came with Scott as his doubles partner, McEnroe said Scott had "a well-earned reputation as a tennis renegade" in taking on the tennis establishment and recalled how his friend served as both his mentor and practice partner.

"He mentored me in a way I didn't really understand until later," McEnroe said.

When McEnroe was still a student at Stanford, Scott, a tournament director for more than 200 tournaments, gave his fellow New Yorker a wild card into a tournament in the Bahamas. A jet-lagged McEnroe go through to the noon final, but overslept and was awakened by a familiar voice on the phone.

"Gene said 'Are you ready to play?' " McEnroe recalled. "I said 'What time is it?' (He said) '12:30'. He didn't default me."

Scott was a 12-time national champion and four-time former world champion in Court Tennis.

"He was one of the world's top (court tennis) players," McEnroe said, pausing for effect before adding. "He was also one of the world's only court tennis players."

Speaking with eloquence about how her husband devoted more than 40 years of his life to tennis and made his family the central focus of his life, wife Polly Scott, accompanied by daughter Lucy and son Sam, spoke eloquently about her husband's deep love for tennis.

"He cared very deeply about tennis and every aspect of the game," Polly said, adding her husband was driven by some "embedded moral compass giving the needle whenever and wherever he thought it was needed."

Speaking fondly of her the tournaments when she partnered her husband in mixed doubles, Polly Scott said the former U.S. National semifinalist practiced "tough love" on court.

"He wanted me to pull my own weight on court, to go back for the lobs and 'For God's sake get your first serve in,' " she said of her husband's on-court coaching. "He didn't suffer faults easily let alone double faults."

Monica Seles gave the induction speech for McCormack, calling the legendary executive who essentially invented the field of sports marketing that was rooted in his hand-shake deal with golfer Arnold Palmer, "the most loyal friend...he stood by you no matter what."  

Tennis became one of McCormack's favorite past-times as became a passionate recreational tennis player shortly after he began dating former pro Betsy Nagelsen. McCormack and Nagelsen, a two-time Australian Open doubles champion and Wimbledon doubles finalist,  were married in 1986. The couple often played tennis with Mary Joe Fernandez and her husband, IMG agent Tony Godsick.

 In her acceptance speech on behalf of her late husband, Betsy Nagelsen McCormack recounted her how husband enjoyed inviting friends and players to their Orlando home where he'd often engage the guests in early-morning matches. When a then 15-year-old Maria Sharapova faced McCormack playing his brand of tennis that feature a handicapping rule in which the pro got one serve, could not lob and had to hit the ball within McCormack's reach she quickly fell behind 0-3. At 5-5, McCormack and Sharapova engaged in an argument  "a large argument", Mrs. McCormack remembered, adding "Mark won the argument, but Maria won the match."

"(He) valued people, friendships and relationships above all else, "Mrs. McCormack said.