Tim Heckler was elected USPTA president in 1980 and subsequently served as USPTA CEO for 30 years from 1982 to 2012. He previously served on the USPTA executive committee and board of directors. He was a Master Professional and was awarded USPTA Professional of the Year in 1979.
As CEO, Heckler guided the Association through a period in which it increased its membership 5-fold and its annual income 10-fold, established the USPTA as the foremost organization of teaching professionals in the world, and revolutionized USPTA's operations through computerization.
While attending Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas, on a tennis scholarship, he played the international circuit, including Wimbledon in 1959 and 1961, and the U.S. Open in 1960. Heckler assumed a full-time tennis-teaching position in 1970 at Houston's Westwood Country Club, and was elected president of USPTA's Texas Division in 1974. In 1973 he was the consultant to and tennis director for the Bobby Riggs vs. Billie Jean King "Match of the Century" held in the Houston Astrodome.