Dr. Robert Martin Screen, who ushered Hampton University tennis into the national spotlight, died Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015, in Hampton.

In more than 40 years of coaching at HU, Dr. Screen led the Pirates to two NCAA Division II tennis championships, 22 straight CIAA titles and 11 consecutive MEAC crowns.

Overall, HU won 1,068 matches under Dr. Screen.

Dr. Screen’s Pirates won NCAA Division II championships in 1976 and 1989 and were national runners-up on six occasions.

Hampton University is the only HBCU to win an NCAA tennis title, with Dr. Screen the most accomplished African-American coach in the history of college tennis. He was inducted into the Black Tennis Hall of Fame in Atlanta in 2011 and the HU Athletic Hall of Fame.

He retired from coaching in 2010.

Dr. Screen grew up in Augusta, Ga., during segregation, when no public tennis courts were open to African-Americans. He played on a clay court built by a local African-American grocery store owner. His reputation as a consistent player earned him a spot on Hampton Institute’s tennis team under Coach Herman Neilson.

Dr. Screen graduated in 1953, and returned to teach at the university after earning a master’s degree in speech pathology from New York University and a doctorate in audiology and speech sciences from Michigan State University.

Coach Neilson asked him to take over as Hampton’s tennis coach in the late 1960s. It was an honor he didn’t take lightly. The HU tennis facility, Neilson-Screen Stadium, was named in honor of Dr. Screen and his predecessor.

In addition to his work with the tennis team, Dr. Screen also served as chair of HU’s Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders, a department he founded. He co-authored textbooks titled “MultiCultural Perspectives in Communication Disorders” and “HIV, Substance Abuse and Communication Disorders in Children.”

Dr. Screen’s passion for writing was fired by his yearlong participation in the noted University of Iowa Writer’s Workshop. He has written several novels, including “The Ride to Nashville.”

Dr. Screen was a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity.

While Dr. Screen recruited internationally for talent, his former standouts included Richmond brothers Fernando and Rozzell Lightfoot from Huguenot High School.

“We always called him ‘Doc,’ ” recalled Fernando Lightfoot. “I’ll never forget the first time I saw him. It was at Battery Park during the Southeastern Open … I think I was 9 at the time.

“Doc told me that if I kept playing well, some day he’d sign me up to play for Hampton. Sure enough, he kept his word.”

Funeral arrangements were incomplete on Tuesday.