American Tennis Hall of Fame

10/27/2024

This post is triggered by the news that John Hart, the CFO/Chief Financial Officer for Louisiana-Pacific. This is the inside story of the Davis Cup Code of Conduct LP and Harry Merlo called for after the Davis Cup Final in Sweden in 1984.

John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors were representing the USA in the '84 Davis Cup Final in Gotenburg, Sweden. LP was sponsoring the team.

In the first match, Jimmy told the British umpire to "stick it up your ass"....twice! The remark was picked up on ESPN's courtside microphone and went round the world. (I heard it in Portland, Oregon).

Alan Mills was the Head Umpire and considered defaulting Jimmy out of his second singles. The John behaved like six year old, cursing the court and destroying flowers and throwing the fishnets the Swedes used at one of the ballkids.

When the LP Chairman, Harry Merlo returned to Portland, he wanted to see JOHN HART, LEE SIMPSON, JERRY GRIFFIN and me in the LP Boardroom as soon as he got back to the LP offices in the US Bank Tower.

After Harry explained some other things to us, such as disrespecting the Swedish flag being raised during their anthem, Harry wanted to know what we thought about pulling the 3 year sponsorship with the USTA which was in it's first year.

The first two to speak were Jerry Griffen, the Communications Director for LP and Lee Simpson, the VP of Operations for the 12,000 employee Fortune 200 company.

Both suggest pulling out of the sponsorship.

Then it was my turn to speak, as I was the Director of Staging and had brought this million dollar sponsorship idea to Harry and LP.

"I think we should call for a Code of Conduct....four or five specific things to go over before playing US Davis Cup. This could help Arthur."

John Hart said...."I agree with Brian. Let's call for a Code of Conduct and if they (USTA) don't put it in, fair enough, we'll get out".

Harry looked at me and said...."I'm not sitting on this, I want this to go out tomorrow" So I drafted a letter, read it to Tom Gorman that night and we sent it to the USTA this next day, with copies to Jimmy, John, Arthur, Peter Fleming, Aaron Krickstein, Jimmy Arias and a copy to NEC's Chairman, the Worldwide Sponsor at the time.

Had it not been for John Hart's recommendation to accept my suggestion, there may never have been a US Davis Cup Code of Conduct.

There is more detail to this story, but I was just thinking about John Hart as I sadly learned yesterday that he has passed.

A good man.

02/06/2024

Thank you Toby Keith....

REMASTERED IN HD!Get Toby’s latest release here: http://smarturl.it/AllTobyKeith Subscribe here: https://goo.gl/ydEfi3Follow Toby Keith: https://www.facebook...

04/07/2022

Fun...

The Bryan Bros. Band featuring David Baron perform their hit song 'Autograph' at the US Open on Kids Day. The performance is broadcast Live on CBS Televisio...

04/07/2022

119 Doubles Titles....16 Grand Slam Doubles Championships (every Slam at least twice!) The Twins should be inducted into the first class of the American Tennis Hall of Fame for Doubles....all those in favor say AYE....all those opposed?....Hearing no objection.....:)

The Bryan Brothers have announced their retirement from tennis 💔 They've given us some special memories over the years...Subscribe to our channel for the be...

11/23/2021

I just had the first one of these made and picked it up today...if you would like one, I can set it up for it to be ordered directly. Let me know if you might be interested in ordering one, or more, of these I I will set it up with a link. With a little bit of good fortune, we may be able to launch the ATHOF next summer....thank you to all that have expressed support of this idea....there are so many to be recognized....Happy Thanksgiving everyone...:) bp

Here is the link to order:

American Tennis Hall of Fame

10/22/2021

Another American Tennis Hall of Famer...Chrissy Evert was such an important person for the popularity of tennis...and a great player...:)

10/14/2021

Opening Ceremonies for the LAST U.S. Davis Cup Final in the United States of America. USA vs Russia, Portland Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Portland, Oregon. 2007.

The bid fee to host this final was $400,000. The first $100,000 was pledged by Phil Knight, Nike Founder and Chairman. The bid organizer was Brian Sidney Parrott. $25,000 was then pledged by Chuck Paulson of Paulson Investments, $50, 000 was pledged by Jack Elder and Oregon Sports Action, $25,000 was pledged by Ron Sauer of Mazama Capital Management, $25,000 was pledged by Global Aviation/Bombardier, $100,000 was pledged by BANK OF THE WEST, which was/is owned by BNP Paribas (Bank of Paris, the Worldwide Sponsor of Davis Cup Competition at the time/2007),$5,000 was pledged by Allen Trust, $5,000 was pledged by Sentaur Homes, and $25,000 was pledged by the Oregon Sports Commission. This came to a total of $365,000 ($35,000 short of the $400,000 required by the USTA).

So I/bp bought $147,000 of Courtside Tickets (the best, and most expensive seats which were courtside). I believe it was 300 tickets and created a FRIEND OF THE FINAL ticket package which included a parking pass, separate entrance, Hospitality hosted by TOM GORMAN, former U.S. Davis Cup Captain and I believe the US Captain with the most wins in U.S. Davis Cup History. (16 wins I believe). These $5K and $10K special packages...you got 4 courtside tickets or 8 courtside for the $10K...so that raised the additional $35K to give the USTA is $400K and was the extra $ for me to achieve a very rare 'profit' for putting the deal together....:)

For all that effort, the USTA did NOT put my name in the event program...:) Why you might ask....well I was extremely critical of how the USTA charged NED NEELY a $500,000 'bid fee' for the first round of 1998 in another Russia vs USA Tie...held at Stone Mountain, Georgia. That ridiculous fee was a guarantee that the event would lose money...Tom Gorman and I helped Ned Neely go after a Davis Cup Tie as part of the "INTERNATIONAL TENNIS CITY OF THE YEAR" designation that the ITHOF gave Atlanta, Georgia. We tried to tell Ned the $500K was WAY too much...it should have been half that amount.....but Ned didn't want to give the USTA any excuse not to award Atlanta with that Tie....so Ned put up a $500K piece of land as collateral.

I laugh to myself how petty the USTA individual(s) were to try to erase any evidence that Brian Sidney Parrott had brought the Davis Cup Final to Portland, Oregon...(my third, and final Davis Cup Tie for Portland).

I will always be grateful to those individuals who contributed to the success of the 2007 Final...Mr. Knight's $100K was key....and to my brother Tod...when I told him BANK OF THE WEST was coming in for $100K but not before my deadline to sign a $400K irrevocable Letter of Credit to the USTA...Tod said..."Give me your routing numbers...I'll send you $100,000." Which he did...and I gave him that $100K back...:) What a brother!..:)

That's the inside story of how the last US Davis Cup Final came to Portland, Oregon in 2007. Sad that it will be the LAST Davis Cup Final in the rich history of Davis Cup in America...started in 1900 by Mr. Dwight Davis who put up the Silver Chalis known at the Davis Cup...in spite of Davis calling the event THE INTERNATIONAL CHALLENGE TROPHY.

Mr. Dwight Davis will be inducted into the American Tennis Hall of Fame as a SPECIAL CONTRIBUTOR....for all his trophy did for American (and Worldwide) Tennis...:)

10/12/2021

Mission Statement
The mission of the American Tennis Hall of Fame is to preserve history,
honor excellence, and connect generations. Our vision is to honor the
pioneers of American Tennis & recognize their contributions in such a way
that celebrates the past & inspires the future.

10/06/2021

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=259807039383379
This is fantastic footage of Pancho Gonzalez....in honor of a Hispanic Month..."Big" Pancho and "Little Pancho" (Pancho Segura) were awesome contributors to the Game of Tennis...and WILL be recognized by the American Tennis Hall of Fame when it launches.
I once asked Jimmy (Connors)...."Who do you think is the greatest player of all time (so far)?" (it was breakfast in Monticito early 2000)....and I said..."Before you tell me...I think Gonzalez" Jimmy said..."Well, if I had to pick someone to play for my life...I would pick Gonzalez....or McEnroe" he added. Then he said..."I might die!..." as I think he was saying if McEnroe knew Jimmy's life was on the line...he might tank!"...🙂
Please watch this footage...it's classic. And when you think that THREE OF THE FOUR Slams were on grass in Gonzalez's prime...he would have won A LOT of titles. "Little Pancho" was such a special human being...I still laugh out loud when I think of the little interactions I had with "Sneaky"....he was SO funny and fun to be around. When inducted....his son Spencer...and Jimmy C. should be those receiving the honor on the man from Ecuador's behalf...I am actually laughing to myself right now....remembering how Pancho Segura said...as I treated him to lunch at La Costa when he refused to let me pay the $50 bucks for the lesson he gave me...he leaned over and whispered..."Most of the people I teach around here don't even know the ball is round"...🙂
How lucky some of have been to experience both Big and Little Pancho...American Tennis Hall of Fame for sure....🙂 bp

09/02/2021

Don't you think it's about time we established an American Tennis Hall of Fame.. to one preserve history to honor excellence and three connect the generations..? BP