Lori McNeil was born in San Diego, California and moved to Houston when she was 11 years old. She spent all of her formative years on the tennis court at MacGregor Park alongside her close friend, Zina Garrison, guided by American Tennis Association champion John Wilkerson. McNeil attended Oklahoma State University on scholarship where she became an All-American collegiate player with three Big Eight Championship titles.

McNeil captured 12 WTA tour singles titles, 40 career doubles titles, including the mixed doubles championship at the French Open. Lori scored a stunning first-round victory over defending champion Steffi Graf at Wimbledon in 1994, eventually reaching the semi-finals.  Lori was ranked as high as #5 in the world during her career.

Retiring from the tour in 2002, after a 17-year successful professional career Lori went on to be the Assistant Coach of the U. S. Olympic Women’s Tennis Team in 2004 and 2008, was awarded the WTA Mentor Appreciation Award in 2006 and served as coach for the women’s team in the World University Games in 2005. McNeil was inducted into the Texas Tennis Hall of Fame in 2000, and in December of 2012 NcNeil was also inducted into the Texas Black Sports Hall of Fame. In addition she coached tennis star Amanda Coetzer from 2001-2004. Lori worked as a High Performance Coach for the United States Tennis Association from 2004 until 2012. In July of 2012 McNeil joined the Zina Garrison Academy as Director of Tennis and will continue to coach, mentor and inspire future generations of tennis players.