They won a national 12s doubles title together at Manker Patten in the summer of 1964 and nearly 50 years later hall of famer tennis stars Jimmy Connors and Brian Gottfried return to Chattanooga on Sat. March 31 to help celebrate the Baylor School tennis reunion and new courts dedication.
The two net legends return to the Scenic City as the Baylor School tennis program hosts a reunion for former and current players and coaches and will dedicate eight new indoor and outdoor courts.
The talented Connors-Gottfried tandem – winning a pair of national doubles titles (12s in 1964, 14s in 1966) – were a product of the tennis craze of the 1960s which swept across the clay courts of Manker Patten and across American tennis courts - public or private, clay, grass or hard surface.
“It’s great to have Jimmy and Brian return to Chattanooga in a couple of months where they played some great tennis as juniors and be part of the Baylor tennis reunion,” said Zan Guerry who played No.1 for Baylor for six years (1961-67) and won national interscholastic singles and doubles crowns in a Baylor uniform as a senior in 1967.
The day of tennis with Connors and Gottfried participating, open only for the Baylor tennis family, will include some social doubles, a clinic, lunch and the dedication of the four new outdoor and four new indoor courts.
“We are thrilled with the state-of-the-art, temperature-controlled, four indoor courts as well as the four new outdoor hard courts and look forward to having many of our tennis alums return to campus and join us in celebrating the great Baylor tennis tradition, past present and future,” Guerry stated.
Following national titles in the juniors, Connors won an NCAA singles title at UCLA in 1971.
Known for his spirited play on the court, wielding his famous Wilson T2000 racquet, Connors rose to No.1 in the world, winning eight grand slam singles and two grand slam doubles titles.
Gottfried, who also won a National Boys 14s singles title in 1964 and a national 12s doubles title with Dickie Stockton (1963) – all at Manker Patten – (plus 18s singles and doubles in Kalamazoo, Mich.) returned to Chattanooga in fall of 1967 and enrolled at Baylor School to team with Roscoe Tanner, David Dick and Buzz Willett.
Gottfried won 25 singles and 54 doubles championships and was a member of the victorious 1979 Davis Cup USA team.
Both Connors (1986) and Gottfried (1990) are members of the Intercollegiate Tennis Hall of Fame (as is Zan Guerry, 2010), while Connors is also in the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
1963 – National 12s (at Manker Patten)
Singles champion: Dickie Stockton
Doubles Champion: Dickie Stockton-Brian Gottfried
Notes: Jimmy Connors beat Roscoe Tanner then Stockton beat Connors in the quarters … Gottfried beat David Dick in an early round match
1964 – National 12s (at Manker Patten)
Singles Champion: Brian Gottfried
Doubles Champion: Brian Gottfried-Jimmy Connors
Notes: Gottfried beat Connors in the singles semis.
1965 – National 14s (at Manker Patten)
Singles Champion: Dickie Stockton
Doubles Champion: Dickie Stockton-Erik Van Dillen
Notes: Forrest Simmons-Buddy Miles def. Gottfried-Connors in the doubles semis … in the singles semis, Van Dillen def. Simmons and Stockton def. Gottfried … Gottfried def. Connors in an earlier round
1966 – National 14s (at Manker Patten)
Doubles Champion: Brian Gottfried-Jimmy Connors beat Richard Hardaway-Joe Garcia …
Notes: Girls 12 Singles Final: Plums Bartkowicz (Mich.) def. Chrissie Evert (Fort Lauderale, Fla.)
Gottfield and Connors on Stockton:
“I was 10 and Dickie was 11 when we first played in Chattanooga … nobody beat Dickie in those days.”
… Brian Gottfried
“There’s never been a better junior player than Dickie Stockton ... I loved competing against him. We’ve played a lot of terrific matches since we were 8 and 9 years old … we’ve had great times together and still remain the best of friends.“
… Jimmy Connors
(quotes from tennis USTA Eastern Hall of Fame story in 2001 by Nancy Gil McShea)
contact B.B. Branton at william.branton@comcast.net