Little Rock Athletic Club
The Little Rock Athletic Club |
The Little Rock Athletic Club is located at 4610 Sam Peck Road in the Piedmont neighborhood of west Little Rock. The club has a current membership of 4,000 and 200 staff members.
The club is one of four owned by Riley's Health and Fitness Centers of Little Rock and North Little Rock. Riley's created the club in December 1985 when Pat Riley Jr. acquired the Westside Tennis Center. The Westside Tennis Center had been established in 1973 by his father Pat Riley Sr. as the first indoor tennis facility in the state. Riley Jr. reformed the center as an aerobics facility patterned after the plan of the Dallas Aerobic Center founded by Dr. Kenneth Cooper. In 1988 Bill Grantham, who had served as general manager at Cooper's Aerobic Center and helped with the planning of the Little Rock Athletic Club, moved to Little Rock and became the full-time general manager. The club remained open during the transition from a tennis club to a multipurpose athletic club. The club held its official opening ceremony April 8, 1989, and at that time claimed 1,500 individual memberships and 200 staff members.
The other clubs in the Riley's chain are the Downtown Athletic Club, the North Little Rock Athletic Club, and the Little Rock Racquet Club. Riley's claims 18,000 individual members.
