A Baylor Tennis Homecoming For Brian Gottfried

It was the spring of 1969 and a good-looking, talent-laden tennis-playing 17-year-old Brian Gottfried had a strong grip on his junior tennis career.

 

All seemed well for the boarding student from Florida who held down the No.2 singles spot for one of the top tennis prep schools in the country in Chattanooga’s Baylor School, played No.1 doubles with future NCAA doubles champion in Roscoe Tanner and held a high national ranking verified by a trophy case busting with national junior championship hardware.

 

A promising future lay ahead for Gottfried – a hall of fame future which would include prestigious national 18s singles and doubles titles, NCAA and Davis Cup team titles, a No.3 world ranking and Wimbledon, French Open and World doubles championships.

 

But with the freedom of being away from home – translation, discovering the teenage world of parties and girls – and the privilege of playing top level tennis came the responsibility of growing up and properly handling that independence.

 

But that freedom went south that spring faster than a Tanner first serve as Gottfried was kicked out of Baylor for drinking and a diploma and possible college tennis scholarship hung in the balance.

 

“I made a real stupid mistake that spring, my parents were quite upset and disappointed and all of a sudden life was not so great,” said Gottfried – now 60 and a grandfather – who returned to the Baylor campus Saturday for the first time since graduating to help dedicate the new Zan Guerry Tennis Center at Baylor along with former college teammate (Trinity U.) and touring pro Dick Stockton.

 

At a Cross Roads: “Since the age of nine, tennis had taught me dedication and discipline and now I was at a cross roads in life and I made the decision to apply some life lessons learned from the game I had spent hours and days perfecting and move forward with my life,” stated Gottfried who first came to Chattanooga in the summer of 1962 and a year later won his first national title (Boys 12s doubles) with Stockton at Manker Patten Tennis Center.

 

“For five summers from the age of 9 to14, I lived with teaching pro Nick Bollettieri and played tennis all summer. So when I came to Baylor as a 15-year-old in the fall of 1967 and discovered this new world of girls and parties outside of my structured world of tennis, well it was fun, to say the least.”

 

A product of second chances, Gottfried was allowed to return to Baylor later in the spring of ‘69, take and pass his exams, earn that much needed diploma and move on to college.

 

“My next life lesson came that fall as Trinity University tennis coach Clarence Mabry made sure I understood in no uncertain terms that I needed to stay on the straight and narrow and work hard at my game,” Gottfried said. “I learned from my mistakes that I had made in high school, realized I had a God-given talent to play tennis and have not had a drink since that spring.”

 

Yet there were consequences of his actions as his parents had to pay for his first year of college before a tennis scholarship was offered for his sophomore year.

 

Fortysomething years later, the remembrance of second chances has not been lost with the passing of time as Gottfried serves as a mentor to those not as fortunate.

 

“Through the prison ministry at the church my wife and I attend (Beaches Chapel Church), I mentor a small group of men at a prison near my home (Neptune Beach, Fla.).

 

“I want them to understand that decisions have consequences and to help them learn valuable life lessons to make key decisions and to be better people.”

 

Almost Tennessee: Gottfried and Tanner were on the verge of signing scholarship papers to play at Tennessee in the spring of 1969, but the night prior to signing with the Big Orange a call came from Stockton to consider playing for Trinity. Gottfried chose to reside in Texas for the next four years and Tanner headed west to Stanford and teamed with Sandy Mayer to win the NCAA doubles in 1972.

 

At the ’72 NCAAs, Gottfried and Stockton, beat Mayer and Tanner, respectively, in the national singles semis and although the Stanford duo won the doubles, Trinity had enough points to claim the NCAA team crown.

 

One Set Difference: Roommates for the 1971-72 school year, Stockton and Gottfried decided to keep track of who won the most sets during the year, whether practice or in a real match.

 

“It came down to the NCAA singles finals and I was able to beat Brian in four sets (matches were 3-of-5 in those days) and I think I won our little competition by one set,” Stockton stated.

 

The 1960s: “When myself, Zan, Dickie, Harold Solomon, Roscoe, Jimmy Connors and others were growing up in the 60s there was no pro tour to aspire for,” said Gottfried. “We played for the love of the game.

 

“Before the open era began in 1968, Davis Cup was the pinnacle for adult players and even that was a far-fetched dream for me.”

 

While Guerry, now 63, was winning a string of national singles and doubles titles starting in 1960, Stockton came along behind him to claim seven singles and doubles titles from 62-65. Gottfried won a national 12s doubles championship with Stockton (’63) and the 14s with Connors (’65) and the 12s singles in ‘64.

 

“I was 10 and Dickie was 11 when we first played in Chattanooga … nobody beat Dickie in those days, “said Gottfried.

Long Bus Rides: “My first national tournament was at Manker Patten as a nine-year-old playing in the 11s in 1960,” said Stockton who along with Gottfried were inducted into the Intercollegiate Tennis Association hall of fame in 1991. “I caught a bus from New York to Pittsburg and then rode with a friend of mine and his dad to Chattanooga. In 1961, I came here by myself on a long bus ride from New York.

 

“I took a lot of bus rides in those days as my brother and I would have 24 hour bus rides each way from New York to St. Louis to play in big tournaments.  You did whatever it took to get to the tournaments.”

 

Best of the Decade:  In 2000, the Florida Tennis Association produced an all-time player ranking by decade.

 

In the 1960s, Dick Stockton was No.1 … Zan Guerry was No.2 … Chris Brown was No.33 … Roscoe Tanner was No. 38

 

In the 1970s, Brian Gottfried (Boys 18s champion in 1970, singles and doubles) was No.9 ... his brother Larry Gottfried was No.10 .... Zan’s younger brother, Pem Guerry, (national interscholastic singles and doubles champion) was No.34.

 

Helping Tennis: Gottfried also gave back to the game he loves as after a 12-year pro career (1972-1984), as he served as the director of tennis for the ATP (Association of Tennis Pros) for 18 years (1989-2006) working with touring pros to improve their game.

 

Still Giving Back: Long after the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the opening of the Zan Guerry Tennis Center early Saturday afternoon and after the conclusion of a entertaining one-set exhibition – Gottfried/Guerry vs. Stockton/Ned Caswell – and with most of the tennis patrons already headed home, there were Gottfried and Stockton hitting ball after ball with a handful of youthful, eager school-age kids who if they could turn back the clock a half century would see a couple of tennis kids summers long ago on the clay courts of Manker Patten with wooden racquets and P.F. Flyers in hand and a thirst for the game and a dream to dare to be great in their hearts looking to people like Bollettieri, Jerry Evert, Tommy Bartlett and the late Alex Guerry hoping to hit just one more volley.     

 

“I was really excited to get on the plane to come here on Friday,” Gottfried stated.  “I am impressed with the campus and Zan and his family have done a great job with the tennis center.”

 

 

contact B.B. Branton at william.branton@comcast.net