When Sibby Brasler tells the story of Legacy Youth Tennis and Education, she doesn’t begin with dates or titles. She begins with a stack of old invitations—hand-designed, whimsical, sometimes carnival-themed—each one a tiny artifact from a moment in LEGACY’s long and colorful history. “Every invitation was individually designed,” she says, smiling. “And all these celebrities came. It was something special.”
That’s Sibby. For more than 35 years, she has been the creative force helping transform LEGACY’s annual fundraising benefit from modest cocktail parties in private homes into one of Philadelphia’s most celebrated philanthropic events.
For longtime supporters, her name is synonymous with the benefit itself. For newer families, staff, and friends, her story offers a window into LEGACY’s past, its values, and the quiet devotion that helped shape the soul of what the organization is today. But to understand Sibby’s story is to understand something deeper than event planning. It’s the story of a woman who found her calling not in throwing great parties, but in creating opportunities for young people who deserved every chance she could help provide.
Sibby’s connection to LEGACY stretches back to the late 1980s, when the organization—then known as the Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis Center—was still finding its footing. She and her late husband, Bob Brasler, lived nearby in East Falls. Bob, an avid tennis player, joined the board. Sibby attended events, supported the mission, and, like many early supporters, believed deeply in the idea that tennis could be a pathway to opportunity for young people across Philadelphia.
In those days, fundraising was intimate and grassroots. “They would have a cocktail party in my house, your house,” Sibby recalls. “Invite people who played tennis to make a contribution so they could get racquets and balls.” The concept was simple but powerful: Philadelphia’s park system had tennis courts scattered throughout the city, but many children lacked access to equipment, coaching, or structured play. A small group of tennis enthusiasts set out to change that.
Sibby and Bob said yes to those early gatherings. They believed in the mission. And over time, the mission began to ask more of them.
As the organization grew, so did the annual benefit—and accordingly, the need for someone to guide it. A tennis friend, Sally Mickelberg, recognized Sibby’s organizational talent and recommended her for a newly created part-time role producing the benefit.
“I said, ‘I’ve never done anything like this,’” Sibby remembers. “But I’d attended the benefits for the last couple years. I knew what they did.”
She was supposed to work from December to April.
She never stopped.
What Sibby brought to the benefit was more than logistics. She brought vision. She brought taste. She brought a year-round dedication that elevated the event into something far beyond a fundraiser. “I always felt my role was to create the space,” she says. “Not to force outcomes, but to let things happen.”
And things did happen. Relationships formed. Generosity surfaced. Tennis legends showed up. “We brought Venus and Serena,” she says matter-of-factly, as if hosting the Williams sisters at ages 12 and 13 were just another day’s work. “Their parents insisted on coming with them. And they did.”
Meanwhile, the organization itself was evolving. The acquisition of a small tennis club in Manayunk—restricted for youth use only—helped expand programming year round, but demand quickly outpaced capacity. “They were sending children away,” Sibby recalls. “They couldn’t schedule everyone.”
The need for a larger, permanent home became undeniable.
What followed was a years-long effort involving city partners, community leaders, and a determined board. The result was the Ridge Avenue center in East Falls—a state-of-the-art facility built in partnership with Philadelphia Parks & Recreation, complete with indoor and outdoor courts and a new community center next door.
When the building opened in 2006, more than 1,100 people came to celebrate. “People were so anxious to see what was happening here,” Sibby says. “It was remarkable.”
By then, Sibby had become the quiet architect behind the organization’s largest annual fundraiser. Her talent for bringing people together, her eye for detail, and her deep belief in the mission helped shape the benefit—now the LEGACY Gala—into a beloved tradition that has sustained LEGACY’s work for generations of young people.
Today, the Center is an inclusive space that serves more than 1,000 youth annually through clinics, lessons, and camps; hosts tournaments, educational workshops and programs; offers adult clinics during daytime and evening hours; and serves as headquarters for a dedicated staff delivering high-quality programming throughout the city of Philadelphia.
Ask Sibby why she stayed involved for so long, and she doesn’t hesitate. “The mission,” she says. “Working for young people, no matter who they are, where they come from—that’s important.”
She lights up when she talks about the kids: the friendships formed across neighborhoods, the confidence built on the court, the coaches who grew up in the program and now mentor the next generation. “It’s a magical place,” she says. “To be even a small part of it is meaningful.”
What matters most to her isn’t whether a child becomes a tennis star. “It doesn’t matter to me that a child goes through the program from 10 to 18 and doesn’t make it into the big tennis world,” she explains. “It’s what they’ve learned, the people they’ve met, the support they’ve had. They’ve learned how to interact with people who don’t look exactly like them. And to me, those things are just marvelous.”
She has watched shy children become confident leaders. She has watched participants become coaches. She has watched LEGACY grow far beyond the walls of the building she helped open. “The scope of what we do is not just in this building anymore,” she says. “And when I learn of these things, it just makes me smile. It makes me very proud.”
This year, as LEGACY celebrates the 20th anniversary of its home in East Falls, it also celebrates the people who helped build it—literally and figuratively. That is why Legacy Youth Tennis and Education is proud to name Sibby Brasler as the 2026 Gala Honoree.
Her story is woven into the fabric of this organization: the early cocktail parties, the tennis stars who visited as children, the capital campaign that built a home, the countless hours spent shaping an event that has sustained LEGACY’s mission. Her decades of work and philanthropy, alongside Bob’s board service, helped create the foundation on which LEGACY stands today.
A few years ago, Sibby made the decision to step back from producing the Gala. It was a thoughtful, deliberate transition. Today, she remains closely connected as an advisor to President and CEO Ron Nano—offering the same wisdom, institutional memory, counsel, and steady presence that have guided LEGACY for nearly four decades.
2006 Board Officers
Mr. Robert A. Swift, Chairman of the Board
Mrs. Irene McMenamin Shabel, Vice Chairman
Ms. Sandra E. Goodstein, Treasurer
Mr. Thurman R. Bullock, Secretary
Mr. Robert J. Fossler, Operations Chair
Mr. Robert H. Hunn, Operations Vice Chairman
Mr. Thomas L. Gowen, Jr., Legal Counsel
2006 Board of Directors
Mr. Kenneth J. Adelberg
Mr. Michael Barkann
Mr. Paul Baker Bartle
Mr. Leif C. Beck
Mr. David Broida
Mr. Carl M. Buchholz
Ms. Mary Caraccioli
Mr. Robert Chiumento
Mr. Joseph J. Costigan
Ms. Lisa Detwiler
Mr. Harry ‘Skip’ Dittmann
Mr. Christopher E. Dunne
Ms. Beverly Edwards
Mr. Allyn H. Jacobson
Mr. James Johnston
Mr. Jeffrey Jubelirer
Mr. Victor I. Kasser
Mr. James Korman
Mr. John J. Kroll
Mrs. Carol Clark Lawrence
Mr. Eric L. Mayberry
Mr. Matthew McClure
Ms. Loraine E. McEvoy
Mr. Robert N. C. Nix, III
Mr. Artis T. Ore
Mrs. Phyllis H. Palmer
Mr. Mike Quick
Honorable Charles E. Rainey, Jr.
Mrs. Suzanne Schoch Rehl
Mrs. Kaye Morgan Salikof
Mr. Steven C. Savran
Mr. Won Shin
Mr. Manuel N. Stamatakis
Ms. Elizabeth J. Sussman
Mrs. Linda Swain
Dr. Janine G. Tabas
Mr. Jay Weitzman
“It may sound hyperbolic, but it is hard to think of anyone who has given more time or shown greater commitment to our children and families over the years than Sibby Brasler. She has been incredibly generous with her time, expertise and wisdom, and so many of us will always be deeply grateful to her” – Ron Nano, President & CEO
As we honor Sibby, we honor the spirit of community that built this organization. We honor the past that brought us here, and the future we continue to build—together.
This fall, as LEGACY celebrates another year of serving Philadelphia’s youth, we celebrate the woman who turned fundraising into an art form, who spent 35 years ensuring that every detail supported the mission, and who understood that you could throw the best party in town and still keep your eye on what really mattered: the kids.
Yes, Sibby is the “heart behind the party,” but she is something more. She is the heart behind the mission itself—reminding everyone who walks through LEGACY’s doors that this work is about more than tennis. It’s about belonging. It’s about opportunity. It’s about believing in young people enough to create something magical.
And after 35 years, that someone is still Sibby Brasler—still thinking, still planning, still seeing possibilities everywhere she looks.
This year’s LEGACY Gala will honor Sibby Brasler for her decades of service and dedication. Learn more about the Annual Gala and how you can support our mission through the link below.
© 2026 Legacy Youth Tennis & Education.
A 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization.
Federal Identification Number (EIN): 23-1747032.
