Pam Shriver

Union Mills Homestead chose one of its own to open its bicentennial celebration yesterday.Pam Shriver, six generations from the original founders of the mill and an international tennis star, is serving as the honorary chairwoman of the 200th birthday party.As Shriver gave the audience a brief history of the site, a restored water wheel whirred softly through the stream running along the brick building."As a direct descendant of the brothers who originally cranked the mill, Pam connects history to today," said Barbara Beverungen, director of the county office of tourism.

It will be 200 years next month since brothers Andrew and William Shriver began building a house and grist mill along Big Pipe Creek on Littlestown Pike.Their sixth- and seventh-generation descendants plan to mark the bicentennial of Union Mills Homestead with a yearlong celebration.The Union Mills Homestead Foundation will hold a news conference at 2 p.m. Wednesday to announce its bicentennial plans. The Carroll Commissioners and tennis champion Pam Shriver, the honorary chairwoman of the Union Mills bicentennial celebration, will attend.

Open Pam Shriver's front door and meet her housemate, a black Labrador retriever who sits patiently in the foyer, a relentless look on his face and a jaunty red kerchief around his neck."

Three years ago, neither Monica Seles nor Mary Joe Fernandez was sure she'd find her way back to professional tennis.Seles' ordeal was a public one: She was stabbed in the back during a changeover at a tournament in Hamburg, Germany, in April 1993.Fernandez's struggle was a private one: In August 1993, she underwent surgery to find out what had been causing searing abdominal pain for six years.Fernandez remembers her last thought on the way to the operating room as, "This could be it. I may never play tennis again."

The inaugural Howard Head Memorial Tennis Tournament was a tribute to the memory of the man who invented Head Skis and Prince Tennis Racquets. It was held last Sunday at Head's club, the Baltimore Country Club, (BCC) with 20 teams playing men's doubles on BCC's beautiful grass courts. Even more people watched and stayed for the crab feast. Head's widow, Marty, flew in from her home in Vail, Colo., to give trophies to the winners of the tourney. Before his death, the Heads had a home in Baltimore.

Orioles center fielder Brady Anderson had only one thing on his mind yesterday when Pam Shriver announced the lineup for her 11th Signet Bank Tennis Challenge."

Pam Shriver has been on the women's pro tennis tour for 17 years, and for 10 of those she has masterminded a charitable tennis event here that has raised more than $1.6 million.Given that, it is not a surprise to find Shriver the recipient of this year's "Player Who Makes A Difference" Award" that goes to the Corel WTA Tour player who makes exceptional contributions of time and energy to worthy causes.Shriver is the fifth winner of the award, joining Zina Garrison-Jackson, Martina Navratilova, Andrea Jaeger and Chris Evert.

"Among Schoolchildren" by Tracy Kidder. It's about the difference a good teacher can make in a child's life, indeed, in society. A fellow teacher gave it to me. I'm also reading "Passing Shots" by Pam Shriver and Frank DeFord and Dick Francis' "Decider." My aunt gave it to me. There are interesting parallels to the racetrack situation now in Maryland. It's a great book.-- Gerry Brewster, new teacher at Chesapeake High School, Eastern Baltimore County

Union Mills Homestead Foundation will celebrate its 1997 bicentennial with a newly restored look, paid for by a $100,000 state grant.The nonprofit foundation will use the money to install new roofing, paint interiors and landscape gardens, said Esther L. Shriver, executive director of the foundation.Mrs. Shriver and her son James M. Shriver III announced the award at Wednesday's meeting of the Carroll County Tourism Association yesterday."I really commend you," said Barbara Beverungen, administrator of the county Office of Tourism.

Maury Schwartzman, a tennis pro whose lessons about the game and about life reached a long list of champions during his 60 years of teaching on the courts, died of congestive heart failure Sunday at St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson. He was 81."Maury was probably the most underrated pro in the country. I think he was one of the best," said Steven Krulevitz, a former All-American, Davis Cup competitor and Schwartzman protege now coaching at the Greenspring Racquet Club.Of Baltimore's four top professional tour players -- Mr. Krulevitz, Elise Burgin, Andrea Leand and Pam Shriver -- Mr. Schwartzman had an early hand in the training of all but the last.