Articles by Dan
About Dan Magill
Dan Magill is one of the great men of tennis - and a true
ambassador of the game of college tennis. Magill retired as the
all-time winningest coach in NCAA Division I history. He is the
recipient of the two most prestigious awards available to college
coaches: ITA National Coach of the Year (1980), and the J.D. Morgan
Award (1990).
In 34 years as coach of the Bulldogs, Magill had a career record of
706-183, winning 13 SEC championships and two national titles (1985,
1987). His teams featured fifteen All-Americans. The 1985 team
was the first to achieve the "hat trick" of collegiate tennis,
finishing #1 in the final team rankings, with the #1 singles player
(Mikael Pernfors), and the #1 doubles team (Pernfors and Allen
Miller).
Magill is also known for building over time what has been described
as the best college tennis complex in the nation - a facility
appropriately named the
Dan Magill Tennis Complex.
This complex has been the home to 23 men's and 3 women's NCAA Division
I championships - including both the 2004 and 2005 women's events.
Magill is also the author of two outstanding books -
Bull-Doggerel
and Match Pointers,
and he writes a regular sports column for the
Athens
Banner-Herald.
Magill and his wife Rosemary still live in Athens, GA where Magill
is the curator of the ITA Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame. The Magills
have three children: Dr. Ham Magill, Mrs. William Brown and Mrs.
Stephen Sloan.
27-Mar-2006
Al Parker: A Most Amazing and Courageous Athlete
Back injuries have hampered or terminated the careers of many a great tennis player, like world champions Jack Kramer, Tony Trabert and Lew Hoad. They also impacted the winningest U.S. junior player of all time - Georgia's Middleton Albert (Al) Parker, Jr. Parker won a still-standing record of 25 USTA junior titles (13 in doubles and 12 in singles).
28-Nov-2005
Recipe for Excitement? Seven Points and No-Ad
Certainly one of the greatest things ever to happen in
tennis was the invention of the tie-breaker and no-ad scoring
systems that prevent sets from lasting almost forever.
Two true tennis "blue-bloods" were responsible for
these improvements: the late James Van Alen (Newport, RI) and
Frank Van Rensselaer (King of Prussia, PA).
